... Sylvius Aeneas, the son of Aeneas, the uncle of Brutus, and the third king ofthe Latins. 22 Geoffrey of Monmouthit not to them, but pardon it; since it is the common sentiment of everycaptive, ... this time Eli the priest governed in Judea, and the ark ofthe covenant was taken by the Philistines. At the same time,also, the sons of Hector, after the expulsion ofthe posterity of Antenor,reigned ... all the provinces, forced the giants to fly into the caves ofthe mountains, and divided the countryamong them according to the directions of their commander. After thisthey began to till the...
... writer, 25 Culture of science, 32 33, 52, 55–56, 61, 124 ; ideal of open-ness, 32 34; preliminary re-search, 56–57; referrals to otherscientists, 58–59; research teams,53–54Curiosity, ix, 20 22 Delta ... types of error, 1 32 Term papers, compared to journal-ism, 1 32 133Theory, scientific, evaluation of, 14–18This, that, these, and those, 125 Throat-clearing, 116, 117, 125 – 126 Thurber, James, 12 Timid ... and fer-tilize and weed. There is work to be done. But the work paysoff biggest when the plants are right for the soil and micro-climate ofthe particular garden.Is there some subject or writing...
... off by 7 percent.”Then I remember the 9 percent. It was like a predictionfor me: I went home and got this theory that says the neu-tron decay should be off by 9 percent, and they tell me the next ... “un-sure,” even when they are sure (in the ordinary sense), becausetheir idea of truth is so lofty. Also, they feel responsible notto scare the public.I well remember from the early 1980s not ... partial.Yet,for the most part, the best scientists agree on the currentbest theory, which they recognize because, well, it fits. It an-swers the most questions with the greatest precision and the fewest loose...
... interest in it.Science writers and editors needn’t start off knowingmuch science. Some ofthe best of them do, but some of the best of them don’t. They must, though, be able to learn sci-ence, be ... one way or the other, sitting beside her at her desk, the manuscript on the sliding desk tray between us, I learned.I can attest to the wisdom ofthe writerly injunctionsyou’ll find in these pages ... intelligentquestions, and shake off the high intimidation quotient of adense, jargon-laden article in the Proceedings ofthe National Acad-emy of Sciences. Elise was a member of this breed; she was...
... terial as they do with the readers. Indeed, their curiosity andits fruits are a large partof what the reader senses, of whatlets the reader trust them—a process that begins with the first sentence.When ... . . See you at the bar?” Ten minutes later,while the grousers were presumably at the bar, I walked by the room of exchange copies—and there was John Bethell,combing through other people’s magazines ... interesting about how the worldworks, and then another something, and another, and an-other. For the rest of your working life, you will get paid totalk to people and pass along the great stuff...
... of Being that inturn gives rise to appropriate Doing.You can spot the best mentors, like the best parents and the best shrinks, because their former protégés are out theredoing the work. They ... parties,people often tell me that they have decided they want to bewriters, and they’ll get started as soon as they have moretime, or when they have their study fixed up, or when theyget a new ... professionalnetwork as well, but the network is the least ofthe gift, be-cause a so-called “network” is really more like a tribe. If youare the right breed of cat for your mentor’s tribe, the net-work quickly...
... on.Another whole class of story ideas arrives from the otherdirection: from outside the world of research, in the form of a question, observation, or piece of news.To under-stand the phenomenon then ... you get the picture.Spot what appeals to the visual sense. Today’s technology lets uslook at everything from the eyes of flies to the birth of stars,from the bottom ofthe ocean to the everyday ... as for the rest of us, ideas spark each other off, showing theirfull size only as they connect. Sometimes it’s hard to knowwhat you think till someone asks the right question or offersone...
... clouds of dirt stop rain falling in the desert.” “AgentOrange is still poisoning the Vietnamese, but now it’s in the food.” (These catchy news heads come from the May 26 , 20 01, issue of New ... complex issue there is a fabulous book to be written.Go for it. The beauty of case studies is that they carry the readeralong on the wings of story, to which you can append pods of explanation ... the Insured, the Uninsured, the Doctor, the Insurance Company, the Taxpayer, the Hospital, the Residents and Medical Stu-dents, the Medical Teachers, the Makers of Medical Parapher-nalia ....
... too. The researcher will not mind. In fact, the better the scientificteam, the more the leaders seem to want to credit the juniorResearchand the Interview53 large, basic chunk of knowledge; the ... line of research and not someother? Why now and not before? Guaranteed, there must havebeen other ways to approach the issue, so what was the advan-tage of this one? The answers are always part ... yourtroubles a kiss and skootch them over. They will wait.Once in the room, there’s no rush to start. Allow a fewmoments for the two of you to get used to being in the same room, the process that I call...