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| Volume 46, Number 3, Winter 1998-99 |
By Ruth Winter
What Are the Seven Wonders of the World?: And 100 Other Great Cultural Lists—Fully Explicated by Peter D’Epiro and Mary Desmond Pinkowish (NASW ), published by Anchor Books/Bantam/Doubleday/Dell.
Is it “Culture by the Numbers” or “Culture 101”? Either way, this challenging, yet entertaining book acquaints (or reacquaints) the reader with vast amounts of information on literature, mythology, religion, art, music, and yes—science. What differentiates this book from most other “list” books and reference works are the fact-packed essays that accompany each list, where you learn how Kepler kept a roof over his house by casting horoscopes, and why Henry VIII never slept with his fourth wife. Nothing trivial lives between these covers. These lists were selected because they tend to crop up in an educated person’s reading. Publisher’s Weekly described the book as “engaging.” A complete index and a detailed, subject-by-subject suggested reading list are included. Pinkowish can be reached by phone at 914-834-5172, by fax at 914-834-5259, and by e-mail at Mary.Pinkowish@medec.com.
Guide to Nontraditional Careers in Science by Karen Kreeger (NASW) published by Taylor & Francis, Philadelphia.
Overall, it provides many examples of fields (e.g., publishing, writing, law, public policy, business, and education) in which people use their scientific training to nurture a satisfying professional life. Yet, it also acknowledges that there are trade-offs in any veer from a traditional path. Resource lists tailored to science, along with close to 100 interviews with people who have taken various career paths, illustrate these points. For more information, contact www.taylorandfrancis.com. Kreeger, a science writer at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, is on maternity leave until April 1999, so the best way to reach her is by e-mail at kreeger@mail.med.upenn.edu or by e-mail at 74511.2131@compuserve.com.
Mac OS 8 WEB Server Cookbook by David Hart (NASW) and Philip E. Bourne, published by Prentice Hall PTR.
A hands-on guide to Internet/intranet site management using MAC OS 8—the Web server platform that the authors say is easy to set up and maintain. The Cookbook teaches the reader how to build a world-class Internet or intranet site. The easy-to-follow “recipes” show how to:
Hart and Bourne add state-of-the-art interactivity with JavaScript, forms and CGI scripting to the mix. They give a preview of today’s hottest technologies from Rhapsody to DHTML and XML. For the latest “recipes,” the book has a continuously updated dedicated Web site www.sdsc/ edi/Cookbook/Mac. Hart is a senior technical editor and webmaster at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Bourne is senior staff scientist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center and an adjunct profession in the department of pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego and The Burnham Institute. Hart can be reached by phone 619-534-8314; by fax 619-534-5113 and by e-mail at dhart@sdsc.edu. The PR for the book is Christ Schaack. Phone 201-236-7139; fax 201-236-7123.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Guide to Common Childhood Infections by Louis Bell, MD, Mary Lou Manning, RN, PhD, Marion Steinmann (NASW) and Jane Brooks, published by Macmillan Reference USA.
Children catch up to five times as many infections as adults (and often give their ailments to parents and teachers). The common cold, earaches, croup, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, chicken pox, mumps, measles, strep throat, rubella, lice, Lyme diseases, rabies, E. coli, botulism, hepatitis, tuberculosis—this book covers them all and a lot more. With its long and distinguished history of pediatric care and infectious disease research, The Children’s Hospital provides a source of wisdom for readers. Authoritative and accessible, this resource is written by pediatrician Louis Bell, MD, a member of the hospital’s Section of Infectious Diseases, and Mary Lou Manning, RN, PhD, director of the hospital’s Infection Control Department, and medical writers Marion Steinmann and Jane Brooks. Its foreword is by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Organized from A-to-Z with bold headlines and boxed checklists for rapid access, entries provide the essential information on the cause, incubation, symptoms, diagnoses, courses of treatment, and prevention of each infection.
Steinmann, a former science writer at Life Magazine, is now a freelance working in both New York and Philadelphia. She says the book is a true outgrowth of a longtime interest of hers. She studied microbiology as an undergraduate at Cornell. She can be reached by fax 215-248-3812 and by e-mail cjoiner@ix.netcom.com. The PR for the book is Barbara Shear 212-654-8644, and for review copies 212-654-8240.
The Family Encyclopedia of Disease: A Complete and Concise Guide to Illness and Symptoms edited by Bryan Bunch, published by W. H. Freeman and Co.
A reference guide to the various diseases and disorders that affect humans, its intended purpose is to provide easy-to-follow source material on the causes, symptoms, possible treatments, and history of diseases. It not only includes everything from acne to warts, it describe newly discovered diseases such as Ebola. The PR for the book is Melissa Wettengel at 212-576-9477 and by e-mail at mwettengel@whfreeman.com.
Toxic Friends/True Friends: How Your Friends Can Make or Break Your Health, Happiness, Family, and Career by Florence Isaacs (NASW), published by William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Isaacs, a New York freelance explores the impact of friendship on different areas of a woman’s life: marriage, career, parenting, the single life, getting through a divorce, health, and retirement—and includes chapters on on-line friendships and making family your friends. Each chapter addresses the difference between positive friendships that add to your life and negative friendships that can drain you. It’s full of how-to advice on nurturing your good friendships and preventing damage from negative relationships. Isaacs can be reached by phone at 212-627-4197 and by e-mail at 103061.41@compuserve.com. For review copies contact Michael Fischer at 212-261-6667.
The Handy Dinosaur Answer Book by Patricia Barnes-Svarney (NASW) with Thomas E. Svarney, published by Visible Ink Press as a Borders Books Special Edition, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Magic Handbook by Patricia Barnes-Svarney.
The first is the latest in VIP’s successful adult science series of The Handy Answer Books. Barnes-Svarney says she and her husband are currently working on an expanded version of this one, and another one, too. The book is in a question-and-answer format with over 500 questions on the creatures, including information on dinosaur fossils, evolution, characteristics (bones, teeth, skin, claws, etc.), behavior; trips through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods of geologic time; and why dinosaurs went extinct (and includes the latest birds-as-dinosaurs controversies). There are also listings of dinosaur discoveries in the US and internationally, digging for dinosaurs, and extensive resources (media sources, Web sites, books, museums, videos, organizations, and publications). Sort of what you’d want to read before going to Jurassic Park. Lots of fun, facts—and controversy—the best type of science. PR at VIP is Kim Marich 313-961-2242.
The second book, Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Magic Handbook, Barnes-Svarney says, is part of her continuing effort to get kids to read, enjoy, and understand science. Sabrina (of the ABC Friday night sitcom) is the “hostess,” taking middle readers (age 8-13) through around 40 homegrown science experiments and discoveries. It stretches from things you can do in the kitchen (the seltzer experiment is wild) and out-of-doors, to things about the human body (why do we get goosebumps?), optical illusions, number tricks, and sundials. It’s published by Pocket Books, and PR is through Jane Ginsberg, 212-698-2352. Barnes-Svarney can be reached by phone/fax 607-748-0892; by e-mail svarney@ibm.net, or home page www.sff.net/people/P.Barnes-Svarney.
City of Light by Jeff Hecht (NASW) published by Oxford University Press.
This is the story of fiber optics, tracing its transformation from nineteenth century parlor trick into the foundation of our global communications network. Written for a broad audience by Hecht, an engineer and the Boston correspondent for New Scientist, who has covered the field for twenty years. The book is a lively account of both the people and the ideas behind this revolutionary technology. The basic concept underlying fiber optics was first explored in the 1840s when researchers used jets of water to guide light in laboratory demonstrations. The idea caught the public eye decades later when it was used to create stunning illuminated fountains at many of the great Victorian exhibitions. The modern version of fiber optics—using flexible glass fibers to transmit light—was discovered independently five times from the early 1900s to the early 1950s. One of its first key applications, Hecht says, was the endoscope, which allowed physicians to look inside the body without surgery. Endoscopes became practical in 1956 when a college undergraduate discovered how to make solid glass fibers with a glass cladding. With the invention of the laser, researchers grew interested in optical communications. While Bell Labs and others tried to send laser beams through the atmosphere or hollow light pipes, a small group at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories looked at guiding light by transparent fibers. Hecht describes how Charles K. Lao and his colleagues proposed the idea of fiber-optic communications and demonstrated that, contrary to what many researchers thought, glass could be made clear enough to transmit light over great distances. Following these ideas, Corning Glass Works developed the first low-loss glass fibers in 1970. From this point fiber-optic communications developed rapidly. The first experimental phone links were tested on live telephone traffic in 1977, and within half a dozen years long-distance companies were laying fiber cables for their national backbone systems. In 1988, the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable connected Europe with North America, and now fiber optics is the key element in global communications. Hecht can be reached by phone 617-965-3834 and by e-mail at jhecht@world.std.com. The PR for the book, Scott Andersen can be reached by phone at 212-726-6052, fax 212-726-6442.
Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8—The First Manned Flight To Another World by Robert Zimmerman (NASW), published by Four Walls Eight Windows.
Apollo 8 was the mission that broke humanity’s absolute bond to the Earth; it was the first manned vehicle to leave the Earth’s orbit. Zimmerman, a filmmaker as well as a frequent contributor to The Sciences, had the cooperation of the three astronauts, Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, in his dramatic description of the historic flight. Among the breakthroughs achieved by the flight was the demonstration of the power of television and the media. “Almost two decades before the arrival of CNN, the television camera aboard Apollo 8 put nearly every person on the face of the Earth in orbit around the moon. No longer was history made from a distance. Now every event would be seen as it happened.” He also noted that the flight delineated the differences between the Soviet vision of society and the freely religious American system. “Yuri Gargarin proclaimed he saw no god in space,” the author writes, but “Borman, Lovell, and Anders saw Him everywhere and said so.” Zimmerman can be reached by phone 718-647-0200 or fax 718-463-8002. The PR for the book is Jacqueline McBride 617-254-4500 or fax 617-254-9088.
The Encyclopedia of American Activism: 1960 to the Present by Margaret Di Canio (NASW) published by ABC-CLIO.
A resource that focuses on the people, events, movements, organizations, and issues associated with activist movements in the late twentieth century America from the Weathermen of the 1960s to the militias of the 1990s. Some of the many subjects Di Canio, a Massachusetts freelance, includes:
Di Canio holds a PhD in sociology and this reference volume is her eighth.
Send information about books, including the name of the publisher’s contact, to Ruth Winter, 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com.