A review by swoody788
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014 by Tim Folger, Deborah Blum

5.0

Usually I can only read so much about climate change and endangered species and rare diseases without becoming depressed, but this collection was absolutely riveting. With the exception of maybe one or two, I experienced true joy and wonder as I read each article, fascinated by the things I learned and excited with their correlation with what I've retained from other science-y things I've been reading lately. Genealogy-based genetic testing, living in Antarctica, the rise of fire ants, modern-day leprosy, trapping otter, bioethics, soap operas as birth control around the world, waking up from anesthesia during surgery, the chaos of our solar system.... With each piece I just kept thinking, "How cool is it to be a human on earth right now and learn all of these things that we have already and are currently figuring out?" I can't tell you how much I love reading something that just makes me want to learn as much as I can about the subject being discussed, so hats off to these authors for writing in a way that made their stories so compelling.