“The Best Australian Science Writing 2011”

Essentially an anthology of scientific writing, including everything from research articles to works of fiction, these books are worth getting on your hands on. I know I’m three years late to this particular edition, but a lot of the articles still hold up, while others are simply timeless. A sampling of topics includes malaria, vaccines, and suicide, in a variety of prose.

My favourite belongs to Deb Hodgkin:

“You’ll have to indulge me a little here, but ‘elements and compounds’ is Year 7 or 8 science so this is class I teach pretty much every year. … Sodium is a soft, silvery metal that is extremely reactive in water… You would think that a substance with [sodium] in would be hazardous and treated with utmost care.

Introducing sodium chloride… made up of one chloride ion bonded to one sodium ion and forms a crystalline white solid. …Common table salt. …

And that’s why there has never been mercury in vaccines. There used to be a preservative called thimerosal … that contained mercury as part of a compound. But the properties of a compound have nothing to do with the properties of the elements that make it up. …

…Thimerosal and every other ingredient of a vaccine, needs to be evaluated on its own properties, not those of mercury or whatever other atoms happen to be in it. Otherwise you would need to be wary of poison gas when cooking, and stay well away from salt and vinegar chips – they might explode.”

So good.

Jack Canfield & Gay Hendricks "You’ve Got To Read This Book!"

You’ve Got To Read This Book! Jack Canfield & Gay Hendricks

“To be honest, I really don’t believe any book can change your life – only you can. Look, two people read the same book: One is inspired, while the other is bored. It’s the person – not the book – that creates the transformation. The power lies within each of us. That said, I do believe that an author’s insights, when combined with the reader’s inspiration and desire to change, can lead to a new life for the reader.”

The above quote belongs to Bernie Siegel, M.D., who contributes a chapter in “You’ve Got To Read This Book!” Each chapter is by a separate author, who shares a personal story about a book that changed their life.

As Siegel noted, the influence of books is a very subjective experience. For instance, “The Bible”, quite disappointingly, is the most read book in the entirety of the English world, but it hasn’t had the same impact for everyone, noticeably sceptics like myself. Amongst the life-changing books included are quaint and beautiful works of fiction, self-help books, to huge manuals.

Each story is unique as the writer outlines their discovery of the book, whether their mother would read it to them before bed, or it just called to them sitting on the shelf. They talk about how it changed or reaffirmed their life, or simply gave them new perspectives. There are common themes, like dealing with loss, death, injury or sickness, and simply just feeling lost.

It was fascinating to read these deeply personal and sometimes tragic stories, following along with them as them as they chose a book to cling to in times of trouble (or happiness). I enjoyed watching each writer handle their situation, and experience the lead-up into their love of their particular choice of work.