Siri Carpenter, Ed.—The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from the Open Notebook (Expanded Edition)

THE CRAFT OF SCIENCE WRITING:
SELECTIONS FROM THE OPEN NOTEBOOK
(EXPANDED EDITION)
Siri Carpenter, Ed.
University of Chicago Press, November 5, 2024
Paperback $26.50, eBook, $25.17
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-0226830292
eBook ASIN: B0DCRVF56M

Carpenter reports:

The first edition of The Craft of Science Writing came out in February 2020, days before a global pandemic overtook nearly every aspect of our lives. One of the many lessons the past several years have taught us is that writing about science is not solely the job of people who self-identify as science journalists.

Journalists on practically every beat, from education to politics—had to familiarize themselves with topics like PCR testing and vaccine development. The effects of climate change are now so inescapable that journalists covering topics such as agriculture, business, and travel must grapple with its effects. Public understanding of how science works is crucial to a healthy society—and the key to that understanding is found in science writing.

Given the vital importance of high-quality, trustworthy coverage of science from many perspectives, we at The Open Notebook wanted to publish a new edition of The Craft of Science Writing.

This expanded edition includes nine new essays, on such topics as establishing a science beat, critically evaluating scientific claims, doing data-driven reporting, working with sensitivity readers, breaking into English-language media for speakers of other languages, and more. It wasn’t easy to choose just nine essays from among the almost 200 that we’ve published at TON since the first edition was published!

For this edition, I worked with a fantastic agent, Gillian MacKenzie, to find a publisher that could help put our book in more hands, including journalists outside the U.S. and in university classrooms.

Gillian and I were thrilled when Joe Calamia at the University of Chicago Press greeted our proposal enthusiastically—so enthusiastically we ended up with a two-book contract! The second book, to appear in 2026, will be a collection of annotated science stories, presented alongside interviews with the authors.

As legions of others have said, publishing a book is a monumental task. I’m grateful for the support of so many—the 36 authors whose works are included in this volume, the hundreds of science writers whose insights have informed the essays, and the many friends of TON who have provided advice and help. If I were to offer one piece of advice about publishing a book, it is this: Line up friends like these!

Contributors to The Craft of Science Writing (NASW members’ names in bold)

Humberto Basilio, Siri Carpenter, Jeanne Erdmann, Dan Ferber, Tina Casagrand Foss, Geoffrey Giller, Laura Helmuth, Jane C. Hu, Alla Katsnelson, Roxanne Khamsi, Betsy Ladyzhets, Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Amanda Mascarelli, Robin Meadows, Kate Morgan, Tiên Nguyễn, Michelle Nijhuis, Aneri Pattani, Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, Mallory Pickett, Kendall Powell, Tasneem Raja, Sandeep Ravindran, Marion Renault, Julia Rosen, Megha Satyanarayana, Christina Selby, Knvul Sheikh, Abdullahi Tsanni, Alexandra Witze, Katherine J. Wu, Wudan Yan, Ed Yong, Rachel Zamzow, Sarah Zhang, and Carl Zimmer.

Contact info:

• Siri Carpenter, 608-616-0604, siricarpenter@theopennotebook.com, http://siricarpenter.com, https://www.theopennotebook.com
  X (Twitter): @SiriCarpenter
  Bluesky: @SiriCarpenter
• Book: The Craft of Science Writing: Selections from The Open Notebook (Expanded Edition, https://www.theopennotebook.com/the-craft-of-science-writing/
• Publicist: Carrie Olivia Adams, coa@uchicago.edu
• Agent: Gillian MacKenzie, 508-469-9018, gmackenzie@gmalit.com

---

NASW members: will your book be published soon? Promote it by submitting your report for Advance Copy.

Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book, or had done differently.

See https://www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines.

View Advance Copy archives at https://www.nasw.org/member-article/advance-copy.

Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 200 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at https://www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

View the recording of an Advance Copy Virtual Business Chat, A Primer for Authors on Book Publicity. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a Virtual Business Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee and Advance Copy column Writing Wikipedia Profiles. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Editing Committee How to Break into Editing. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee Using Generative A.I. as Writers and Editors. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee Tools to Help Automate Editing. NASW member login required.

Send book info and questions about book publishing to Lynne Lamberg, NASW book editor, llamberg@nasw.org.

Follow @LynneLamberg and @lynnelamberg.bsky.social for news about NASW authors, science/medical books, and writing.

Banner image adapted from original photo by Siri Carpenter.

NASW invites publishers and publicists to purchase NASW website ads to promote their authors and books via NASW’s self-service purchasing portal.