I love Elizabeth Kolbert, so I couldn't resist. There are always some essays in a collection like this that are keepers.

This is the first book I've read in this series and I very much enjoyed most of the essays! The ones that really made an impression:-- "Did Life Begin in Ice?" by Douglas Fox-- "Contagious Cancer" by David Quammen (about the mouth tumors in Tasmanian Devils) (oh and "The Itch" by Atul Gawande, made an impression, but I do wish I could get that image out of my head!) ;)

Once again another fantastic book from the "Best American" series. A must read for anyone interested in science/nature or anyone who just enjoys learning new things. The only bad thing I have to say about the book is that it shares several of the same stories with the Best American Science Writing of 2009 book. Other than that it was a great read.

I love this series and look forward to it every year. However, this is the first one of the series that I can't give 5 stars. Somehow the articles included just don't grab me the way the ones in the previous editions have. Still very good, though, with lots to think about.

Can't get enough of this series (along with the Essays series). Most pieces in here are excellent, with only a few dull moments. I told everyone I know about "The Itch," which is just a great piece of writing: informative, imaginative, and insightful.

Another interesting collection! This edition contains 26 articles from 15 different publications. The top contributors are a tie at three each from Harper's Magazine, National Geographic and The New Yorker. Here I'll just point out the articles that piqued my interest.Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas CarrA look at how the internet may be literally reprogramming our brains. (Though the author's fear that his internet use has caused him to lose his ability to concentrate on reading long pas...

i don't read many anthologies, i find them uninteresting and usually pretty basic, this is different. different enough that i gathered the rest of the series to read.variety, with a common theme, good science, well written, interesting, for the common reader, nice idea, broadens my reading, perfect for short periods of time or when you dont want to be carrying around a big book.. . thanks.read the itch first. ugh.

So far it's not as amazing as the 2008 collection but there is someting for everyone here: evolution, outer space, compulsive itching and pahntom limbs. Science is awesome!!!

I read half of this one and then had to leave it behind on my travels. I didn't love it nearly as much as the 2016 edition. The essays selected are more complex and less accessible. Still a great compilation, but definitely takes more brain power to digest.

Twenty-six engrossing essays on fascinating topics related to human beings, animals, plants, Earth, the universe, and inventions. As a lay science fan, I appreciate the clear, precise prose which explains complex ideas and systems. Some essays are spirited and even funny; others are grim, not for the faint-hearted (ex., "Contagious Cancer"). An excellent collection full of surprises, whether woeful or wondrous.

As I've noted about other such anthologies, I find it a bit more interesting to read these collections about 10 years after they are written. Naturally there are numerous predictions and speculations about the future in these stories and it is interesting to compare then with now. As someone with a background in atmospheric science, the articles on the ethics of climate change and one on the PETM climate maximum were perhaps the most interesting. Since 2009 the Mauna Loa CO2 level has risen from...

This 2009 volume, edited by Elizabeth Kolbert, of The Best American Science and Nature Writing contains several essays worth reading. I'll detail all of them if I can.Wendell Berry's "Faustian Economics" (pp. 1-10) argues that in addition to being immoral, the pursuit to exhaust natural resources and the avoidance of environmental protection is not economical in the broad sense of the term. That is, to treat natural resources as being limitless is to make a false assumption and does not allow fo...

Collections like this are hard to review, because I typically read them in bits and pieces -- a story here, a story there -- in between other books. (Case in point, it took me around 15 months to read this book.) I've been a fan of the Best American series for a while, and buy a few of them every year. The Best American Science and Nature Writing is reliably fascinating, and the 2009 volume is no exception. There are bound to be a few duds in any book like this, but on the whole the articles cho...

I really enjoyed the articles discussing the Big Bang, the Day Before Genesis, Singularities, Neanderthals, Evolution and Darwin (especially the essay by Oliver Sachs about Darwin's obsession with plants). Though this book is 5 years old, I feel as though it prepares me to have a deeper understanding of today's issues.

I know 'green' is the new hot thing, but this collection seriously suffered from a huge overemphasis on articles about the environment. I'm happy to read them, but I also want to read about physics and neurology and mathematics and biochemistry and other fields I don't even know about! The articles in the book were quality, as usual, but I sorely missed the variety of previous years in this series. If this pattern is going to continue, they might want to consider spinning off a new "Best America...

This is another strong entry in a winning series. The guest editor for this volume has written extensively about global warming. This subject comes up in a few of the entries selected. One such article, "Big Foot" by Michael Spector describes how corporations are taking the idea of their own carbon footprint seriously and trying to minimize it.A couple of noted authors are included. Atul Gawande goes to great lengths to describe what happens when we scratch an itch in his entry "The Itch". Olive...

so much great information and writing in one place--I don't usually like non-fiction and won't read short stories but I find myself just loving in this book--if you are interesting in all the exciting new stuff that science is finding out, you need to pick up this book.

Some pieces were more interesting than others, but I definitely learned some new things.

This annual included a couple dozen examples of the best science and nature writing published in 2008. Arthur C Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) died that year. The foreword to this volume remembered Clarke, who regarded science as a discipline that requires the questioning of received wisdom. The science in this book goes back just seven years. But since then, scientists learned that Sapiens who migrated out of Africa thousands of years ago carry about three percent of Neanderthal DNA, thanks to

Damn fine collection of thought-provoking science essays that challenge and inform, and not a one inspired boredom.