Books By And For Members

Ruth Winter

BOOKS BY AND FOR MEMBERS

by Ruth Winter

Pandora’s Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution by Robin Marantz Henig (NASW), published by Houghton Mifflin.

Robin Henig finds parallels between the controversy over in vitro fertilization (IVF) when it began more than 25 years ago and today’s debates over human cloning and germ-line engineering. She points out opponents of IVF argued it posed significant threats to society, including the risk of chromosomally damaged babies, the derangement of family relationships, and the incursion of science into matters of procreation best left to nature and God. IVF was feared as the precursor to surrogate mothers, frozen embryos, genetic engineering of babies, and human cloning. Henig acknowledges that certain of the aforesaid predictions were accurate, and she provides the historical context and bioethical perspective needed now as science advances even further and new moral dilemmas arise. She tells the moving story of the people behind the scientific and ethical debate, such as the infertile couples who found the answer to their prayers through IVF as well as the American and English doctors who forged ahead despite critics. The scientists, she notes, were prevented from obtaining government grants to support the research. So, financed by private money, they proceeded without adhering to any federal standards. A happy result was Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, born in England in 1978. Yet, despite the level of success and acceptance of IVF, there is an unhappy side because of the lack of regulation over the years. For example, it has recently come to light that test-tube babies are twice as likely to have multiple major birth defects, specifically chromosomal and musculoskeletal abnormalities. Henig can be contacted at robinhenig@nasw.org. The press representative is Megan Wilson at megan_wilson@hmco.com.

Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World’s Toughest Math Competition by Steve Olson (NASW), published by Houghton Mifflin.

Steve Olson has written about six incredibly talented and driven kids and how they achieved glory in math. The first International Mathematical Olympiad was held in 1974, the year that Olson, a small-town kid who liked math, graduated from high school. He eagerly followed the U.S. Olympiad teams’ performances through the years with growing interest. The six high school kids on each year’s team competed against the best young mathematicians in the world—solving incredibly difficult problems under immense time pressures. Olson says he knew that he would write about the Olympiad someday. The members of the U.S. team he chose for Count Down were different from each other but had one thing in common—an amazing mathematical creativity. “To excel at an Olympiad,” Olson explains, “you have to think of new and unusual ways to solve problems. The kids on the team are mathematical creative artists—they come up with solutions that no one has ever imagined before.” He writes that many of the team members are from immigrant families and that only one girl has made the team so far. He makes it clear why in his book. Olson can be reached at solson@comcast.net or 301-320-8554. The press representative is Dan O’Connell at dan_o’connell@hmco.com.

Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier by Laura S. Woodmansee (NASW), published by Apogee Books.

Laura Woodmansee, author of Women Astronauts, continues her exploration of what it’s like to be women in space. She introduces readers to more than 100 females who explore space in different ways, and the challenges they had to overcome. Among her subjects are Mars Pathfinder Engineer Donna Shirley, Director of the Center for SETI Research Jill Tarter, Astrophysicist Celestial Musician Fiorella Terenzi, Astronomer Sandra Faber, and Space Artist Lynette Cook. Woodmansee, a southern California freelance, emphasizes that female accountants, security officers, pilots, doctors, biologists, mission-control workers, outreach educators, teachers, and science writers are all needed in space exploration. The book includes a CD of exclusive interviews, Women in Science: Mentors at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA video), brochures on various space careers, and music of the galaxies. Woodmansee can be contacted at womenofspacebook@woodmansee.com or 818-631-9663. PR contact is Ric Connors at marketing@cgpublishing.com.

Great Feuds in Technology; Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever by Hal Hellman (NASW), published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Who really invented the telegraph, the automobile, the airplane, television? Conflicting claims over the answers have led to some of the longest and bitterest battles in the history of technology. For example, why Thomas Edison lost the biggest battle of his career, which may explain why we have regional blackouts today, and how one small, rude, and brilliant admiral flogged the United States into creating a nuclear navy. Hellman also looks behind the race to map the human genome and discusses the man who has had surprising success fighting the use of genetically modified organisms. The opening chapter looks at Luddites (the real ones) and compares them with the Neo-Luddites of today. The book is a follow-on to Hellman’s well-received Great Feuds in Science and Great Feuds in Medicine, which has been translated into ten languages (so far). Hellman, a New Jersey freelance, can be reached at hal.hellman@earthlink.net or 201-947-5534. Web site address is www.greatfeuds.com. Publicist is Sara Long at slong@JosseyBass.com.

Burn Unit: Saving Lives After The Flames by Barbara Ravage (NASW), published by DaCapo Press.

If you like TV’s ER, you’ll love Ravage’s book about the riveting inside look at the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the outstanding facilities in the world. She describes everyday heroes and their incredible but punishing work. She quotes a senior nurse who tells her, “I cry all the time. That’s what I do. I don’t blubber, but I’ll just tear, and a long time ago I stopped trying to even…I’m going to cry, it’s part of me, it’s who I am.” Ravage allows readers to meet the victims, accompany their families through the process of recovery, which may start in the ER but continues on for years. The book shows readers how “heat inflicts a terrible conflict within the body transforming it into a raging machine intent on consuming itself, and the specialized care required.” A Massachusetts freelance, Ravage describes both the human drama and engrossing scientific exploration of this little-publicized field of medicine. Why did she choose the subject? “It was sparked by a news bulletin I heard on my kitchen radio while preparing dinner one night,” she said. “Another building fire and another firefighter trapped in the blaze rushed to the nearest burn unit. I had heard such stories so many times…I wondered what happened to people who were severely burned.” The answer is intriguing: burns start with a traumatic injury, but they are actually an extremely complex progressive systemic disease. Burns set off a cascade of events as the entire body reacts to the violent assault. Every system in the body is affected, sometimes in bizarre and paradoxical ways. For that reason, treating a severely burned person requires a broad range of interventions drawing on the expertise of many medical specialties. Ravage can be reached at bravage@earthlink.net or 508-240-2103. The press representative for the book is Kate Kazeniac at kate.kazeniac@perseusbooks.com.

Visions of the Cosmos by Carolyn Collins Petersen (NASW) and John C. Brandt, published by Cambridge University Press.

This illustrated book is a comprehensive exploration of astronomy through the eyes of the world’s observatories and spacecraft missions. Featuring stunning images, it provides a picture of the beauty of the cosmos. The accompanying text is an accessible guide to the science behind the wonders and includes clear explanations of all the major themes in astronomy. Visions of the Cosmos builds on the success of the authors’ 1995 book, Hubble Vision which became an international best seller. “The project took two years to complete, between the gathering of the images, all the drafts and rewrites. Now that it’s out, I keep thinking how interesting it is that the entire book was put together electronically—the text files in Word, the images handled in Photoshop here in the U.S., the typesetting in LaTex, and the layout in Quark (in India, I believe). All this to send files to a printer in Italy to show people the universe!” Petersen is the former editor of Books & Products at Sky Publishing Corporation, and served as editor of SkyWatch and associate editor of Sky & Telescope magazines. Brandt is currently an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Mexico. He served for 20 years as chief of a major NASA scientific laboratory and was the principal investigator for the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. Peterson can be reached at ccpblog@hotmail.com. The press representative is Christopher Olberding at colberding@cup.org. More information about the book can be found at Peterson’s Web site www.thespacewriter.com/stack1.html.

Send material about new books to Ruth Winter, 44 Holly Drive, Short Hills, NJ 07078, or e-mail ruthwrite@aol.com. Include the name of the publicist and appropriate contact information, as well as how you prefer members to get in touch with you.