The Best Science Stories and How They Work
A Collection with Commentary
Will be published approx. on 21. July 2026
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-226-84852-5 (ISBN)
Description
An invitation to engage with some of today's most respected science journalists as they take readers beneath the surface to reveal the making of eleven of the best science stories.
With eleven deeply reported, artfully crafted stories and annotations by some of the most thoughtful and respected science journalists working today, The Best Science Stories and How They Work is more than the sum of its impressive parts. Experience the pleasure of reading a "Best of" anthology, attending a science writing masterclass, and meeting journalists who become more than their familiar bylines. Each piece benefits from an introduction, annotations, and a conversation between the piece's author and annotator.
Siri Carpenter-editor of this book and cofounder of The Open Notebook, a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science-has long considered what's behind the best writing. The pieces in this guide are drawn from a range of publications such as Scientific American, Nature, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine and offer a unique perspective on how great science journalism happens: the careful structuring of a narrative, the delicate balance of skepticism and wonder, the ethical challenges of working with sources, the artistry of prose that sings. Readers will not only encounter outstanding examples of stellar storytelling, but they will also understand how these successful stories were reported and written, revealing the choices fundamental to good science journalism. Following each annotation, a Q&A with the original author provides an intimate look at the decisions and challenges that shaped their work.
Taken together, these pieces and annotations reveal the detailed, technical narrative work required to tell science stories. The book will delight, inspire, and equip readers with new tools to appreciate the stories that matter most.
Contributors: Jordana Cepelewicz, Shraddha Chakradhar, Nadia Drake, Ben Goldfarb, Sabrina Imbler, Ferris Jabr, Emily Laber-Warren, Stephanie M. Lee, Dana Mackenzie, Amy Maxmen, Emiliano Rodriguez Mega, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Debbie Ponchner, Sandeep Ravindran, Mary Roach, Paola Rosa-Aquino, Ashley Smart, Jessica Seigel, Ramin Skibba, Kamala Thiagarajan, Bijal Trivedi, and Ed Yong
With eleven deeply reported, artfully crafted stories and annotations by some of the most thoughtful and respected science journalists working today, The Best Science Stories and How They Work is more than the sum of its impressive parts. Experience the pleasure of reading a "Best of" anthology, attending a science writing masterclass, and meeting journalists who become more than their familiar bylines. Each piece benefits from an introduction, annotations, and a conversation between the piece's author and annotator.
Siri Carpenter-editor of this book and cofounder of The Open Notebook, a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science-has long considered what's behind the best writing. The pieces in this guide are drawn from a range of publications such as Scientific American, Nature, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine and offer a unique perspective on how great science journalism happens: the careful structuring of a narrative, the delicate balance of skepticism and wonder, the ethical challenges of working with sources, the artistry of prose that sings. Readers will not only encounter outstanding examples of stellar storytelling, but they will also understand how these successful stories were reported and written, revealing the choices fundamental to good science journalism. Following each annotation, a Q&A with the original author provides an intimate look at the decisions and challenges that shaped their work.
Taken together, these pieces and annotations reveal the detailed, technical narrative work required to tell science stories. The book will delight, inspire, and equip readers with new tools to appreciate the stories that matter most.
Contributors: Jordana Cepelewicz, Shraddha Chakradhar, Nadia Drake, Ben Goldfarb, Sabrina Imbler, Ferris Jabr, Emily Laber-Warren, Stephanie M. Lee, Dana Mackenzie, Amy Maxmen, Emiliano Rodriguez Mega, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Debbie Ponchner, Sandeep Ravindran, Mary Roach, Paola Rosa-Aquino, Ashley Smart, Jessica Seigel, Ramin Skibba, Kamala Thiagarajan, Bijal Trivedi, and Ed Yong
Reviews / Votes
"A great piece of longform writing is like a beautiful building: you never see the undergirding that keeps the whole thing from crashing down. This book renders the invisible visible, taking us deep inside eleven outstanding works of science journalism. Writers at all levels will profit immensely from the illumination." -- Dan Fagin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation and professor of science journalism at New York University "Siri Carpenter created a completely unique, constantly compelling site for science journalists with The Open Notebook. In The Best Science Stories and How They Work, she distills all of that into an absolutely brilliant book that will be cherished by the general public and will be on my syllabi for years to come." -- Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus and director, The Graduate Program in Science Writing, MITMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-84852-5 (9780226848525)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Siri Carpenter, PhD, is an award-winning science journalist and editor whose writing and editorial work have appeared in the New York Times, Science, Scientific American, and other publications. She is the editor of The Craft of Science Writing, and she is cofounder, executive director, and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook, a non-profit organization that is widely regarded as a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers and serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Content
Introduction
By Siri Carpenter
1. "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Their Many Tiny Legs and Love the House Centipede"
By Sabrina Imbler ? Defector ? Annotated by Mary Roach
2. "Fatigue Can Shatter a Person"
By Ed Yong ? The Atlantic ? Annotated by Amy Maxmen
3. "Mind Blender"
By Ferris Jabr ? The New York Times Magazine ? Annotated by Bijal P. Trivedi
4. "CrossFit's 'Holy War': The Rise and Fall of Its Science Crusader"
By Stephanie M. Lee ? BuzzFeed News ? Annotated by Emily Laber-Warren
5. "How Rising Groundwater Caused by Climate Change Could Devastate Coastal Communities"
By Kendra Pierre-Louis ? MIT Technology Review ? Annotated by Paola Rosa-Aquino
6. "Voyager 1's Immortal Interstellar Requiem"
By Nadia Drake ? Scientific American ? Annotated by Ramin Skibba
7. "A Field at a Crossroads: Genetics and Racial Mythmaking"
By Ashley Smart ? Undark ? Annotated by Shraddha Chakradhar
8. "Seeing the River for the Fish"
By Kamala Thiagarajan ? bioGraphic ? Annotated by Ben Goldfarb
9. "He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He's Won a Fields Medal."
By Jordana Cepelewicz ? Quanta Magazine ? Annotated by Dana Mackenzie
10. "The Truth About Lying"
By Jessica Seigel ? Knowable ? Annotated by Sandeep Ravindran
11. "How the Mixed-Race Mestizo Myth Warped Science in Latin America"
By Emiliano Rodriguez Mega ? Nature ? Annotated by Debbie Ponchner
Acknowledgments
Credits
Index
By Siri Carpenter
1. "How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Their Many Tiny Legs and Love the House Centipede"
By Sabrina Imbler ? Defector ? Annotated by Mary Roach
2. "Fatigue Can Shatter a Person"
By Ed Yong ? The Atlantic ? Annotated by Amy Maxmen
3. "Mind Blender"
By Ferris Jabr ? The New York Times Magazine ? Annotated by Bijal P. Trivedi
4. "CrossFit's 'Holy War': The Rise and Fall of Its Science Crusader"
By Stephanie M. Lee ? BuzzFeed News ? Annotated by Emily Laber-Warren
5. "How Rising Groundwater Caused by Climate Change Could Devastate Coastal Communities"
By Kendra Pierre-Louis ? MIT Technology Review ? Annotated by Paola Rosa-Aquino
6. "Voyager 1's Immortal Interstellar Requiem"
By Nadia Drake ? Scientific American ? Annotated by Ramin Skibba
7. "A Field at a Crossroads: Genetics and Racial Mythmaking"
By Ashley Smart ? Undark ? Annotated by Shraddha Chakradhar
8. "Seeing the River for the Fish"
By Kamala Thiagarajan ? bioGraphic ? Annotated by Ben Goldfarb
9. "He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He's Won a Fields Medal."
By Jordana Cepelewicz ? Quanta Magazine ? Annotated by Dana Mackenzie
10. "The Truth About Lying"
By Jessica Seigel ? Knowable ? Annotated by Sandeep Ravindran
11. "How the Mixed-Race Mestizo Myth Warped Science in Latin America"
By Emiliano Rodriguez Mega ? Nature ? Annotated by Debbie Ponchner
Acknowledgments
Credits
Index