# Science essays
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 13, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826 "2016-07-13T17:47:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@robz2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz2)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/1 "2016-07-13T17:47:46Z")
Issac Asimov used to author books with collections of science essays. Is there anyone more recently doing this sort of thing? Any recommendations?
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/2 "2016-07-13T18:30:03Z")
Meditations at 10,000 Feet by James S. Trefil. He has a few other collections as well.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/3 "2016-07-13T18:50:56Z")
More recent than Asimov, but still fairly old now are the collections of essays by Stephen Jay Gould.
Jeremy Bernstein is also worth noting [Jeremy Bernstein - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bernstein#Books), as is the host of Science Friday - Ira Flatow [Ira Flatow - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Flatow)
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### Author:  [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/4 "2016-07-13T20:55:19Z")
Most of Asimov’s collections were reprints of the monthly column he wrote for _Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine_ for many years. I’ve yet to find any science writer who was as much fun to read as the Good Doctor.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/5 "2016-07-13T22:05:03Z")
High recommendation for David Quammen, who is my favorite living science-fact writer. Mostly nature and ecology. His book “Flight of the Iguana” is dated, but superb. “The Song of the Dodo” is one of the most depressing books I’ve ever read – it’s about habitat collapse and extinction – but it’s also an excellent book, and incredibly informative.
These days, Quammen is one of the headline essayists for National Geographic magazine. He wrote the recent (May, 2016) cover story about Yellowstone.
Also, he’s a nice chap and wrote back when I sent him a fan letter.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/6 "2016-07-13T23:26:05Z")
Very few authors have the same breadth as Asimov, but there are plenty writing on any given subject. Is there any particular topic you had in mind?
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/7 "2016-07-14T00:02:43Z")
[The Best American Science and Nature Writing](https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/054428674X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468454270&sr=8-1&keywords=best+science+essays) series has been published annually for many years. There’s also an annual [The Best Writing on Mathematics](https://www.amazon.com/Best-Writing-Mathematics-2015/dp/0691169659/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1468454270&sr=8-3&keywords=best+science+essays).
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### Author:  [@robz2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz2)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/8 "2016-07-14T14:33:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Very few authors have the same breadth as Asimov, but there are plenty writing on any given subject. Is there any particular topic you had in mind?
Astronomy, geology, and history.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/9 "2016-07-14T15:19:36Z")
> [@robz2](#):
>
> Astronomy
I haven’t read it myself, but I see that Neil deGrasse Tyson’s collection of essays [Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries](https://www.amazon.com/Death-Black-Hole-Cosmic-Quandaries/dp/039335038X/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468509317&sr=1-17) is popular; and it is, like Asimov’s books, a collection of essays that previously appeared in a magazine.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/10 "2016-07-14T16:24:28Z")
I could recommend a book on essays on Weird Optics.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/11 "2016-07-14T16:46:01Z")
Ok, it’s not a book, but there is an annual “Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate” on Youtube hosted by Neil Tyson and with a panel of distinguished scientists and mathematicians that discuss an interesting subject in depth – well, in-depth for TV at least. Typically a two hour discussion on a single subject. My favorite to date is about the nature of NOTHING. Does NOTHING exist? If so, what is it? What isn’t it?
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### Author:  [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-essays/759826/12 "2016-07-14T21:52:05Z")
Freeman Dyson’s books are great reading particularly **Disturbing the Universe** and **The Scientist as Rebel**.