https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/best-australian-science-writing-2017/
New South Books
ISBN: 9781742235554
AUD$29.99
This anthology compiles the best science stories of 2017, either about Australian science or authored by Australians. In his introduction, Michael Slezak explains how the stories were chosen by him with an advisory panel, and, importantly, he makes no claim that this process is anything other than subjective. He also makes a compelling plea to appreciate the importance of quality science journalism which has essentially collapsed in the midst of headline-grabbing, truncated, and sometimes dishonest news. As Slezak points out, the number of full-time science reporters in Australia is now less than five (on a side note, this made me really glad I chose a career in ecology instead of journalism!). As bleak as this seems, it has actually opened doors for other writers – and scientists themselves – to tackle subjects or audiences they may otherwise have avoided.
The result is an anthology of articles written by not only by journalists and freelance writers describing life-changing, innovative, or just plain weird scientific discoveries; but also scientists writing about their own research or discipline. And the unexpected and wonderful thing is that you can’t tell the difference!
Although brief, one of my favourite parts of the book was Professor Emma Johnson’s forward which candidly addresses a traditional fear of writing among many scientists. She eloquently explains why the ability to write outside of the rigid scientific format that we’ve constructed for ourselves is now an integral part of science… and arguably always has been.
The book itself contained articles spanning medicine, biotechnology, futurism, anthropology, conservation, astronomy, and ethics, with a noticeable chunk of marine science articles. 28% were devoted this topic, likely due to the devastating bleaching events seen on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017. We’ve all heard about the consecutive hammers to the GBR over the past few years, but Jo Chandler’s ‘Grave Barrier Reef’ adds a gutting personal element to this by highlighting the unapologetic distress of our colleagues at what is happening. Adam Morton gives a refreshingly candid – and probably uncomfortable, to some – account of an institutional shakeup in ‘What Happened to Climate Science at the CSIRO’. Elle Hunt writes a broad-ranging and educational, if rather dry, piece about octopuses in ‘Alien Intelligence’, a stark contrast to the much more lyrical, almost spiritual, manner in which these animals have been previously described (e.g. Soul of an Octopus). Of course, there are also appearances by the media stars of the marine realm – whales (“Lonesome Leviathans’ by John Pickrell) and sharks (‘Shark Alert” by Peter Hannam and ‘The Myth and Reality of Monster Sharks that Once Ruled the Seas’ by John Long), all of which delve deeper into the science behind recent headlines.
Despite the high caliber of writing and the range of interesting topics, something about this book fell flat to me, and it took me a few days after I’d finished to figure out the reason: there were no images. It sounds like a simple and even silly reason, but I’ve subconsciously become used to seeing striking visuals online and in magazines with most science. When you’re reading about night parrots, star maps, and animal sanctuaries, you want to see, not just read. I was both dismayed at my reaction for not being able to rely solely on words and heartened that this justifies the continued existence of high-quality science magazines like Cosmos that perfectly link science writing and imagery.
Overall, I found most of the stories in the anthology interesting, with some standouts and just a few that fell flat due to unclear purpose or dry writing. I’m deliberately not naming these because I think that, unlike scientific writing, science writing should have a diversity of style and tone. Some prefer their science writing to present the facts in a logical flow; others like a story; and still others favour poetic flair – examples of all of these can be found in this book.
Reviewed by Rachel Przeslawski