Jesse Cohen

While certainly a collection of interesting science ideas presented to the public in 2012, this collection is certainly not an example of the best science writing produced during that time. The articles almost exclusively come from such large publications as The New York Times and Science, which suggests that the editor did not go out of their way to find the best examples of writing and rather settled for high-profile pieces. After reading Michio Kaku's introduction, which is a general feel-good piece about how /amazing/ science is, I was skeptical about the choice of him as editor for this volume. It would seem the articles were chosen because they were close to fields he was familiar with (physics, about 1/3 of the book) and topics he found interesting (medicine, another 1/3 of the book), with little regard as to the merit of the work itself. Some of the pieces also display a clear bias, such as an scare-article about nuclear power written in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, and others have little to do with science at all, such as a lengthy piece attacking the ideas and career of Sam Harris.
Overall, if you're looking for an uninvolved read about some new ideas in the world of science back in 2012, this book will pass the time. If you're looking for examples of excellent writing, I would recommend either another volume in this series or The Best American Science and Nature Writing, which in my experience presents much better examples of interesting and modern work by a variety of authors.… (més)