Reviews

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2019, by Sy Montgomery, Jaime Green

klmcadams's review

5.0

Such a great collection. The essay by Ed Yong, written in 2018 about the next pandemic… how prescient. 

akthackray's review

Had to return to the library and wasn’t invested enough to take it out again

pearseanderson's review

5.0

This is a great collection of mostly biology, ecology, or medical journalism! I didn't expect nearly as much medical stuff as there is here, and it's all terrifying. This collection has overlaps, like discussing underfunded federal programs, or the breeding campaign for the California condor, but I like that because I felt smarter when stuff was introduced twice. I read the collection in whatever order I wanted, and after being told it was arranged ALPHABETICALLY I think I made the right choice there. Some amazing writing here and really just stellar research and science comms on the part of the authors.

Winners:

“The Hidden Toll: Why Are Black Mothers an Babies in the United States Dying at More Than Doube the Rate of White Mothers and Babies? The Answer Has Everything to Do with the Lived Experience of Being a Black Woman in America” by Linda Villarosa, published in The New York Times Magazine

“Why Paper Jams Persist” by Joshua Rothman, published in The New Yorker

“The Fading Stars: A Constellation” by Holly Haworth, published in Lapham’s Quarterly

Connection: Rowan Jacobsen, one of the contributors, helped me teach Food Writing 101 and advise me in this journalism world.

sherilees's review

4.0

Well, I finally finished! Many of the articles were very moving. "When the Next Plague Comes" by Ed Yong seemed particularly prescient, given the current state of things. I skipped two of the articles, one because I was uninterested in the topic and one because it's the same type summary article that I've read many times. But overall, I found each article intriguing and educational without being dull. I have already purchased the 2020 edition and am excited to get started on it.

rebecca_m's review

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

visualradish's review

5.0

I am a long time fan of this series. I wish more people believed in science and responded to the alarming trends made clear by research.

karwolfkill's review

4.0

Reads this was like sitting down with a stack of magazines and poking through the most interesting articles. Probably some of them I won't have read, but since they were in the book, I read them. If you more or less pay attention to science news there is nothing earth-shattering here, but there is some great writing. A couple of favorites were the articles about the science of paper jams and one very prescient article by Ed Yang about the coming pandemic.

bridgett's review

3.0

The second half of the essays were generally stronger than the first half.

balletbookworm's review

4.0

All the pieces Sy Montgomery included are phenomenally written but taken together many of the middle pieces blend together. I'm not sure if the Alphabetical-by-Author arrangement of articles worked for this volume. The balance of the book tips heavily toward pieces about nature and the environment (not surprising, given Montgomery's own writing choices, but it felt much less of a spectrum this year). The standout articles fall to the end of the volume - Linda Villarosa's "The Hidden Toll: Why Are Black Mothers and Babies in the United States Dying at More Than Double the Rate of White Mothers and Babies. The Answer Has Everything to Do with the Lived Experience of Being a Black Woman in America," Ed Yong's "The Next Plague is Coming. Is America ready?" and Iliana Yurkiewicz's "Paper Trails: Living and Dying with Fragmented Medical Records."

chaoticbibliophile's review

My review + a selection of my favorite ones can be found here.