nobody puts science in a corner

We might be missing the World Science Festival in New York City this weekend, but not to be outdone, Los Angeles is hosting the annual Book Expo America convention through Sunday, so there's still some excitement to be had locally. Actually, rather a lot excitement for hard-core bibliophiles like myself. Let me loose in a vast convention center filled with booths displaying all the forthcoming titles this fall from every single major publishing house (and countless independent publishers), augmented with complimentary novelty items, author signings, and tons of free giveaway Advance Review Copies (ARCs) -- honestly, it's like giving a junkie the keys to the crack factory. I wore myself out on Friday wandering through the booths, in what can only be described as "looting." (Back when I was a struggling young writer, snagging a pass to the book convention provided me with reading material for most of the year that I could otherwise ill afford.)

My scavenging efforts yielded quite the haul. I snagged 50+ free books, more than half of them Young Adult (YA) titles for my vast brood of nieces and nephews -- just in time for the summer break, when they might actually have time to read. The Spousal Unit received an autographed copy of Benjamin Wallace's The Billionaire's Vinegar (about the world's most expensive bottle of wine), plus an ARC of Mark Barrowcliffe's The Elfish Gene, a cheeky memoir about his teen years playing Dungeons and Dragons. We'll end up keeping a few titles for our own summer reading, giving most away as gifts, and donating the rest to the "library" in the tenant lounge of our building -- because it's all about spreading the book-love.

I was so caught up in the fever of the moment, that it didn't occur to me until yesterday afternoon that I hadn't seen a single popular science book among the promotional posters and giveaways. Not one. Nada. Zilch. "That can't be," I thought to myself, so I made a careful sweep of every single aisle, just to make sure. There was a single poster for Danica MacKellar's Math Doesn't Suck, and its sequel due out in the fall, but MacKellar herself -- a bona fide celebrity, with a book that did very well, sales-wise -- was nowhere to be found, not even among the 26 autographing tables where authors rotated in every hour (and sometimes on the half-hour). An author named Mark Kastleman was on hand signing his book Drug of the New Millennium, but even though the blurb mentioned "cutting-edge brain science," the actual book was listed in the Family & Relationships category, being more concerned with social issues than the underlying science.

Otherwise, I saw nothing. Science fiction and fantasy books were everywhere, of course, and there were course guides for math and science classes, and for acing standardized tests, plus a few plucky independent publishers pushing educational science products for younger ages. But none of the major publishing houses -- most of which have science titles in their catalogs -- were bothering to push those titles, or their authors, not even with posters and flyers. And in case you're wondering, yes, that includes the major academic/university presses.  I did ask about the popular science books at one such booth, but the person just handed me the usual thick printed catalog and waved me off: "There's a list of all our titles in there."

Stop and think a moment about what this means. Book Expo America is the single largest conference in the US for the publishing industry, bringing together publishers, marketers, distributors, bookstore owners, educators, librarians, authors, and hardcore bibliophiles who just want a sneak peek at all the goodies in store for them a few months down the line. It's where publishers make their big marketing push, reaching out to all those prospective book buyers and distributors (all of them devoted readers in the bargain), thereby creating "buzz" for forthcoming titles and ensuring that their books will be carried by as many stores and libraries and other outlets as possible. It's a very big part of what determines the "hot" books the mass market book readers will be devouring this fall.

Every conceivable genre was prominently represented -- sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, romance, foreign language, business, self-help, New Age/spiritualism, general fiction, the classics, nonfiction, children's/YA, comic books/graphic novels, manga, you name it -- except for popular science. I could pick up autographed copies of Michelle Whitedove's She Talks to Angels (said angels have apparently told Ms. Whitedove all the secrets of the Afterlife), and something called Inner Paths to Outer Space, "an investigation into experiences of other realms of existence and contact with otherwordly beings." (Apparently psychedelic drugs and "other spiritual technologies" were involved in the author's "experiences.")  But the work of popular science authors like Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Janna Levin, Alan Lightman, Dava Sobel, Mary Roach (actually, come to think of it, I did see a poster for her new book, Bonk), Chris Mooney, Carl Zimmer, Natalie Angier, etc., etc., was nowhere to be found. Talk about being marginalized! The biggest book event of the year, and science wasn't even invited to the party. Maybe the invitation got lost in the mail.

Now, I don't know squat about how these massive conventions are planned; it's possible this year's science-book-famine was an unintentional oversight. But as both a science writer and avid reader, I find it profoundly upsetting. There are plenty of readers like myself out there who don't divide our reading material neatly into "science" and "not science" -- we savor all genres, provided the book is well-written and holds our interest -- and there are almost as many science-themed TV shows on the air right now as there are cheesy reality shows. Is it too much to ask that this be reflected in the biggest book industry event of the year? The booths need not be awash in science books, but would it kill the major publishing houses to feature one or two of their most promising titles and/or authors, like they do for every other genre they publish?

Better yet, perhaps they could cooperate and put together a special popular science pavilion, like those this year that featured African-American literature, independent publishers, and so forth. Perhaps then, the New York Times would see fit to include at least one popular science title in its annual list of Notable Books; last year was, notoriously, a shut-out for science. I refuse to believe this marginalization occurs because science writers are producing suck-y books that nobody wants to read. Far from it!

It's all the more ironic since science and technology are literally re-inventing the publishing industry -- albeit against its collective will. (Hmmm, Jen-Luc Piquant catches a whiff of conspiracy.) There were several panel discussions during this year's BEA about "new markets" and "digital formats," including a panel on blogging and online communities and what this could mean for traditional publishing, featuring (among others) Cory Doctorow and Whatever's John Scalzi. (Jen-Luc was bemused to see Scalzi described in promotional materials as "sci-fi's fastest rising star." She bets it hasn't seemed all that fast to Scalzi himself, who's been slaving away in the trenches for over a decade, churning out first-rate work all the while. Jen-Luc is still trying to figure out when he sleeps, and suspects he's really a robot.)

Amazon had an entire booth devoted to its Kindle eBook reader, so I got to check out the device in person. I'd been mulling the possibility of buying one, just to see what eBooks are like, and was torn between the Kindle and Sony's E-Reader. Certainly the enabling electronic ink technology is fascinating. The specifics of each particular technology might vary, but essentially, all involve two sheets of thin plastic holding millions of two-color beads surrounded by oil to ensure the beads can rotate easily. When an electric voltage is applied, the beads rotate from black to white, or vice versa, as need be, to produce patterns on a page, very much like the pixels in a computer monitor. In this way, the text of a book can be electronically represented on the "page."

Storage capacities being what they are for electronic devices these days, you can pack quite a few entire "books" on one of those little devices. Considering how much of my carry-on luggage on longer trips consists of reading material, that's a very attractive option. Alas, I wasn't overly impressed with the Kindle. It looked... well... kinda cheap, even though the screen was perfectly readable. (One can only dream about the sort of e-Book reader Apple's kick-ass industrial designers would come up with, complete with the choice of lots of pretty colors. At least the Sony E-Reader comes in both silver and blue.)

So I guess I'll have to wait for the e-Book technology to develop a little further before it becomes a serious option. In the meantime, what can we do about the wholesale exclusion of popular science books from this year's BEA?  Maybe we can sneak some science themes into the next crop of YA novels -- I am most impressed with the imaginative approaches taken by YA authors in this year's offerings, and young adults represent a huge fraction of the reading market, plus, it's always a good idea to get them hooked on science when they're young. Maybe popular science authors and their publishers can band together and set up their own booth at next year's BEA. Other ideas are welcome. We need a metaphorical Patrick Swayze, in Dirty Dancing, gallantly standing up for science and announcing, "Nobody puts science in a corner!" Science is part of our broader culture, too, after all -- surely that warrants at least a brief turn in the spotlight once in awhile.

Comments

[chezjake]

How sad and disappointing that popular science got such short shrift this year. If there are very few new popular science titles in the pipeline, that bodes ill for my holiday shopping this year. Let's hope that it's not repeated in the future.

I also agree that YA books, fiction or non-fiction, involving science are needed and should prove popular.

[Erica]

Don't know if you know, but your own books are available on ebook. Saw them linked to Kindle versions on Amazon. :-)

Cheers,

Erica

[Juan Nunez-Iglesias]

Amen. I've been lucky enough to read the opening chapters of Leonard Susskind's Black Hole War, which comes out this July. It's excellent, and I've already pre-ordered my copy on Amazon. The Book Expo sounds like it would have been the perfect place to show it off!

I also echo the desire for an Apple-powered eBook reader, but unfortunately Mr. Jobs thinks that we don't want to read anymore:
http://digg.com/gadgets/People_don_t_read_books_says_Steve_Jobs

[Skip]

If the Kindle had been hacked, I would own one today. Not because I want to steal content and post it, but just to make sure that I don't lose it. In the last year I've reread books that I've owned for ten, fifteen, even twenty-five years. Is the Kindle, or whatever Amazon's successor devices are, still going to be around then? What about the download servers? Even giant Microsoft has already discontinued support for one digital rights format only a few years in. Why would I trust Amazon?

The Kindle to me looks like about a 2-3 year device before it's going to break.

[Lab Lemming]

I reckon that Jen should write a science book so compelling that people can't help but take notice...

[Allyson]

I totally missed you! I took home four bags of loot.

[Blake Stacey]

THE ELFISH GENE!?

Best. Title. EVAR.

[Carey Evans]

At least there’s the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books to acknowledge that there is excellent writing in science: http://royalsociety.org/sciencebooks .

[ZZMike]

It's disappointing to read of the lack of science books, especially given the abundance of "metaphysical" books.

This may be a result of a general retreat from science by the public (probably more like a full-scale mad rush). One unhappy consequence of that is that not only are people led to metaphysics (much less math), but are easy pickings for things like global warming. I read recently that there are actually cases of people claiming to be allergic to Wi-Fi. It was not reported whether they used cell-phones.

Maybe there's a market opportunity here. Hats and caps, made of aluminum or some such, which would enable the wearer to avoid the ill effects of Wi-Fi radiation.

[gmrath]

Jennifer, you definitely struck a chord with your article “nobody puts science in a corner.” Years ago I began an unofficial survey of book stores I visited when I slowly became aware of an increase in the number of self-help and “new age” books and books on religious topics and at the same time a decrease in the number of books on science. I looked for the science section in book stores I visited and roughly estimated the number of titles, the range of subjects, the general quality and technical level of the subject matter of the books present. Of course, this was after I visited the Science Fiction section – and by the way, fantasy is NOT Science Fiction; I never understood why these genre are always intermixed – but I digress – maybe a topic for another post another time. To state the results of observations over thirty years simply: Science literature in book stores other that those of most colleges and universities has become almost non-existent. Even the Borders on North Michigan Avenue in Chicago which used to have a good selection of Science and Engineering titles now relegates what remains to a couple of bookcases on the third floor, tucked out of the way. (I live in the Chicago area and in fact remember your post about visiting Chicago. I was Millennium Park the day before you were, staring at the Great-Inverted-Stainless-Steel-Bedpan, the Bean, or the Cloud whatchamacallit, you pick.) At any rate, I noticed this decrease in Science titles has accelerating during the last decade or so; now few science, engineering or technology titles remain to be found on bookstore shelves. If you're looking for a serious science title, it's Amazon.com as long as they remain in business. Guess you can't blame the book stores wanting to offer titles that sell; after all it is a business run for profit. And perhaps you can't blame the major publishing houses for similar reasons. I can blame whatever is causing this generalized dumbing down of America on almost all intellectual fronts and I wish I knew how this movement to dumb and dumber could be stopped. Even most sheet music in music stores has been simplified to a greater or lesser extent.

And me? I am an armature, interested in astronomy, physics and science in general from an early age, became fascinated by mathematics in my thirties, went back to school and still continue to study to this day. I out-grew Scientific American, Popular Science and the like years ago and am a many-year subscriber to Science and Nature plus I'm a member of a couple of mathematical associations. I'm mystified why people aren't interested in the beauty of science, or aren't aware of – or sadder, don't care about - the important part science plays in day-to-day life. Science and critical thinking go hand in hand and people who fail to sharpen important critical thinking skills may be doomed to fall prey to creationism repackaged as “intelligent design” or the alternative medicine / faith-based healing movement that has managed to gain a foothold in major university medical schools and other attempts to replace science with pseudo-science, anti-intellectualism and fundamentalist religious beliefs in everyone's life.

But enough. Do you remember hearing of a fellow, an Englishman, named James Burke? Had a BBC tv series aired on PBS years back called “Connections.” Very good stuff. Science and the history of science. Some of your articles remind me of these shows, how science and ideas thread together in unpredictable ways with unpredictable and generally fascinating results.

I should apologize for the length of this post but you did, after all, strike a chord. . .