by Ruth Winter
Surprise! Scientists are human. You may have learned this in your years of science reporting but most of the lay public would argue the point; and this misapprehension, Hellman, a New Jersey freelance (with an M.S. in physics) feels, is a serious barrier to their understanding of what science is really about. To help combat this misapprehension, he shows that scientists are indeed susceptible to human emotions; that they are influenced by pride, greed, belligerence, jealousy and ambition, as well as religion and national feelings; that they are subject to the same frustrations, blindness and petty emotions as the rest of us; that they are in truth human. Organized in chronological order, the chapters add up to an idiosyncratic history of modern science. The feuds covered are Urban VIII versus Galileo, Wallis versus Hobbes; Newton versus Leibnitz; Voltaire versus Needham; Darwin’s Bulldog versus Soapy Sam; Lord Kelvin versus the Geologists and Biologists, Cope versus Marsh, Wegener versus Everybody; Johanson versus Leakey, and Freeman versus Mead. In the same way as political history helps statesmen interpret today’s events, so too do these short dramatic episodes tell us about science, but as a human enterprise as well as an organized activity. In the case of Pope Urban VIII vs. Galileo, the opening chapter, the fracas represents a much larger picture. Some writers argue that this feud was the start of a still-existing schism between science and religion. Others maintain that the split came later, and arose out of the evolution controversy. Perhaps, as some maintain, there is no schism at all? We could argue about that. Two TV producers have already expressed interest in the book and Hellman has been asked to lecture at the Smithsonian Institution. Hellman, can be reached at 201-947-5534, fax: 201-585-9746, or email: hhellman@compuserve.com. Pub. The PR contact is Michael Darden.
Secrets of St. John’s Wort, by Larry Katsenstein (NASW) published by St. Martin’s Paperbacks.
Katsenstein, former medical editor of American Health and health writer for Consumer’s Reports presents a step-by-step program for using the herb, Hypericum, often referred to as “nature’s Prozac.” Now available over-the-counter in health food stores and pharmacies, St. John’s Wort has been used for thousands of years throughout Europe and Asia. Katsenstein proves the following information:
Katsenstein can be reached by phone at 718-548-0083 or by e-mail at 76123.1540@compuserve.com. The PR for the book is Walter Halle at 212-674-5151 ext. 698.
Vitamin E, by Ruth Winter (NASW), published by Crown’s Three Rivers Press.
Once called “the shady lady of nutrition” and a “vitamin in search of a disease,” Winter describes the research that evaluates vitamin E’s ability to protect against exercise fatigue, weakened immunity, heart disease, cancer, aging, diabetic damage and environmental toxins. Being a science writer for a long time has its advantages. She cites the response of Dr. Campbell Moses, president of The American Heart Association, in the 1970s that “There is no proof that vitamin E has any effect on heart disease.” She then quotes Jan Breslow, MD, president of the American Heart Association, who stated 25 years later that “Vitamin E appears to prevent coronary heart disease, a disease caused by fatty plaque clogging the arteries that feed the heart. Several studies in 1996 lend credence to this antioxidant vitamin’s possible role in preventing heart disease.” Winter includes descriptions of studies in which vitamin E is being tested to delay or alleviate such conditions as Alzheimer’s, cancer, lung disease, skin problems and muscle fatigue. Winter can be reached by phone at 973-376-8385 or by e-mail at ruthwrite@AOL.com. The PR for the book is Mary Ellen Briggs at 212-572-2542 or by FAX at: 212-940-7868.
Clone: The Road to Dolly and the Path Ahead, by Gina Kolata, published by William Morrow.
The reviewer in the newspaper for which she writes, The New York Times, by a professor of evolutionary genetics at the University of Leeds, was John R.G. Turner. He commented, “Kolata writes in the tradition of scientific journalism rather than as a philosopher or prescribing moralist. She objectively quotes varying opinions, and raises more questions than she answers.” Turners concludes that Kolata has produced a book that is especially valuable in three ways: “It explains clearly and intelligibly to a wide and nontechnical public how and why we reached this step; it records diverse contemporary opinions on the implications (so that the book itself will become a useful historical document); and it lays out some of these implications for us to chew over.”
Red-Tails In Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park, by Marie Winn published by Pantheon Books.
A Wall Street Journal columnist, Winn has long been intrigued by the wildlife that inhabits Manhattan’s Central Park. In this book she describes the epic drama of the Fifth Avenue hawks, who migrated, nested and raised their chicks in the most unlikely of places, a fancy apartment building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 74th Street, directly across the street from the park. She describes how the hawks build their nest three floors above the apartment of Mary Tyler Moore and across the street from Woody Allen’s. Winn takes the reader through the daily life of the hawks and their search for food and battles with other birds as well as their love stories. The PR for the book is Mary Zegarek 212-572-2687.
The Origin of Modern Humans, by Roger Lewin, published by W.H. Freeman.
The author, who received the first Lewis Thomas Award for Excellence
in Communicating Life Science, is an associate of the Peabody Museum at
Harvard. He describes paleoanthropology’s findings and the scientists
who found them. He includes the debacle of Piltdown hoax, the recent DNA
analysis of Neanderthal fossils, the foibles of various great scientists
and their triumphs. He notes that each new method of analysis is met with
an avalanche of debate, the proposal of new interpretations, and the refutation
of competing theories. The PR for the book is Sloane Lederer, who can be
reached by phone at 212-576-9423 or by e-mail: slederer@whfreeman.com