The New York Times Book of Science Literacy, Vol.II: The Environment from Your Backyard to the Ocean Floor

Wade, editor of the New York Times science section; Dean, past deputy editor; and Dicke, present deputy editor, here collect approximately 120 of the environmental pieces that appeared in the paper between 1990 and 1993, along with a series of articles on the Brazilian rain forest that ran in 1988 and 1989. Written by 28 different authors, the pieces cover many aspects of the environment--from global warming to the use of disposable diapers. Articles range from three to seven pages. Although the book provides ample material for browsing, the repetition across pieces is annoying, as is the occasional disagreement over facts. And the editors have neither updated information nor provided relevant addenda. For example, we read in a piece dated April 1990 that villagers in the coal belt of what was then Czechoslovakia planned to petition their government to save their homes from destruction, but we are not told the outcome. In a March 1991 article, we learn of an imminent conference to discuss disposal of nuclear waste on the German frontier, but not whether the project has since begun. Nonetheless, a great deal of first-rate environmental journalism is represented here. (July)