Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Introduction Freeman Dyson xv
Part 1 Visions of Space
The Believer from GQ Andrew Corsello 3
One Giant Leap to Nowhere from The New York Times Tom Wolfe 16
The Missions of Astronomy from The New York Review of Books Steven Weinberg 23
Cosmic Vision from National Geographic Timothy Ferris 32
Seeking New Earths from National Geographic Timothy Ferris 40
Part 2 Neurology Displacing Molecular Biology
Don't! from The New Yorker Jonah Lehrer 47
Out of the Past from Discover Kathleen McGowan 61
Brain Games from The New Yorker John Colapinto 73
Part 3 Natural Beauty
The Alpha Accipiter from Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Gustave Axelson 99
Flight of the Kuaka from Living Bird Don Stap 106
Modern Darwins from National Geographic Matt Ridley 114
The Superior Civilization from The New York Review of Books Tim Flannery 122
Still Blue from National Geographic Kenneth Brower 133
The Lazarus Effect from Discover Jane Goodall 144
Darwin's First Clues from National Geographic David Quammen 149
Part 4 The Environment: Gloom and Doom
All You Can Eat from Orion Jim Carrier 161
A Formula for Disaster from Wired Felix Salmon 172
Not So Silent Spring from Conservation Magazine Dawn Stover 182
The Catastrophist from The New Yorker Elizabeth Kolbert 188
The Sixth Extinction? from The New Yorker Elizabeth Kolbert 202
Part 5 The Environment: Small Blessings
Scraping Bottom from National Geographic Robert Kunzig 229
A Life of Its Own from The New Yorker Michael Specter 239
Purpose-Driven Life from The American Scholar Brian Boyd 259
The Monkey and the Fish from The New Yorker Philip Gourevitch 272
Part 6 The Environment: Big Blessings
Graze Anatomy from OnEarth Richard Manning 301
Hearth Surgery from The New Yorker Burkhard Bilger 311
Green Giant from The New Yorker Evan Osnos 334
India, Enlightened from OnEarth George Black 352
Contributors' Notes 377
Other Notable Science and Nature Writing of 2009 383