The New York Times Reader: Science & Technology. Holly Stocking, ed. (2011). Washington, DC: CQ Press/Sage. pp. 258.
Many newspaper-writing anthologies read like yesterday’s news—a dated pile of clippings with little attention paid to whether the subject matter has much enduring appeal or value. The New York Times Reader series generally avoids this pitfall by selecting subjects that retain their appeal, and presenting them in some of the best journalistic English anywhere. The range of subject matter is impressive, and a reminder of just how often today’s news has a basis in natural sciences, from the effects of cell phones on the brain, to shrinking ice caps and disappearing bats, the prospective nature of life on planets yet to be discovered, and the nature of societies among animals.
