A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers PDF

FOREWORD

Science, though young, has already transformed our world, saving over a billion people from starvation and fatal disease, striking shackles of ignorance and superstition from millions more, and fueling a democratic revolution that has brought political liberty to a third of humankind. And that's only the beginning. The scientific approach to understanding nature and our place in it—a deceptively simple process of systematically testing one's ideas against the verdict of experiment—has opened limitless prospects for inquiry. There is no known limit to the knowledge and power that may, for better or worse, come within our grasp.

Yet few understand science, and many fear its awesome power. To the uncomprehending, the pronouncements of scientists can sound as opaque as the muttered spells of magicians, and the workings of scientific technology resemble, as the French say of the law, a machine that cannot move without crushing someone. Technophobes warn that science must be stopped before it goes "too far."Religious fundamentalists enjoin the righteous to study only one (holy) book, consulting what Galileo called the book of nature only insofar as it serves to confirm their beliefs. Fashionable academics teach that science is but a collection of socially conditioned opinions, as changeable as haute couture. Popular culture is so suspicious of science that, according to one study, scientists portrayed in American feature films are more likely to be killed by the last act than are members of any other profession, including Western gunslingers and Mafia hit men.

The cure for fear and loathing of science is neither propaganda nor persuasion but knowledge—conveyed, preferably, in stories that capture and reward an audience's attention. Science writers, whose work involves crafting such stories, are few in number, relatively unheralded, and often underestimated: Like sportswriters and business journalists, they are too often assumed to be mere interpreters or translators rather than "real"writers, as if crafting an accurate, evocative paragraph about biochemistry or quantum physics were less of an achievement than doing the same thing when the subject was a lotus blossom or a love affair. But we science writers also enjoy certain advantages. We have what are, in many respects, the best stories to tell—the most momentous, important, and startlingly original stories, as you will find demonstrated by the writers collected here. Plus, science writers tend to be generous in spirit. "Interested in writing about science?" reads the subtext of this rich and readable book. "Come on over and give it a try!" Heed their counsel, accept their invitation, give it your best shot, and I'm betting you'll never go back.