Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023

English language

Published July 27, 2023 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-329321-2

Award-winning writer, columnist, and journalists Carl Zimmer selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022.

“What's most compelling about a scientific story is the way it challenges us to think about the concepts we take for granted,” writes guest editor Carl Zimmer in his introduction. The essays in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer’s disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded a hurricane, these selections reveal how science and nature shape our everyday lives. With tremendous intelligence, clarity, and insight, this anthology offers an expansive look at where we are and where …

Award-winning writer, columnist, and journalists Carl Zimmer selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022.

“What's most compelling about a scientific story is the way it challenges us to think about the concepts we take for granted,” writes guest editor Carl Zimmer in his introduction. The essays in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer’s disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded a hurricane, these selections reveal how science and nature shape our everyday lives. With tremendous intelligence, clarity, and insight, this anthology offers an expansive look at where we are and where we are headed.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023 includes JESSICA CAMILLE AGUIRRE • VANESSA GREGORY • SABRINA IMBLER • FERRIS JABR • MARION RENAULT • ELIZABETH SVOBODA NATALIE WOLCHOVER • SARAH ZHANG and others

2 editions

The Weaver Reads reviewed Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023 by Carl Zimmer

Goodreads Review of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023

4 stars

This is a great but not perfect collection of nature and science writing. The most ass-clenching piece was certainly “American Motherhood,” but there were some other really good ones as well, like “Shadows, Tokens, Spring,” “True Grit,” “Brain Wave,” “Dislodged,” and “A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature’s Laws.”

Climate change and pandemics loom large here, and I wish there was more space and tech material, but most science writing reflects current concerns and this collection is a reflection of that.