Black Dog & Leventhal, whose mission is to publish original nonfiction that brings complex subjects to a mass audience via experts in their fields, has two books on its fall list that the editors are particularly enthusiastic about.
The first, Michael Backes’s Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana, with a foreword by Andrew Weil (Sept.), is a comprehensive book for the layperson on how to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. The other is Theodore Gray’s Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything, with photographs by Nick Mann (Oct.), the second book in the author’s examination of the building blocks of nature.
“Both authors translate their information in an engaging and accessible way,” says executive editor Becky Koh. “Molecules is the second book we’re doing with Theo Gray. He’s very passionate and it comes through in his writing.” Backes “is a pioneer in medical marijuana . He understands the science and policy.”
Backes, who lives in Southern California, is actively involved with influencing marijuana laws in the state and describes the policy arena as “really fascinating, but, like sausage being made, you don’t want to see it done.” He got involved with his subject and wrote the book, his first, because he was a medical marijuana patient himself and he couldn’t get his questions answered.
The most common question people ask him, he says, is how to dose medical marijuana in order for it to be effective, but not to provide too much of a high. “I provide lots of evidence-based advice,” he says. Marijuana is just another medicine, he says.
Galleys of Cannabis Pharmacy will be given away at the Black Dog & Leventhal booth (839) daily throughout the show.
Theodore Gray, a veteran author, says Molecules shouldn’t be described as “basic,” though it doesn’t assume any scientific expertise on the part of the reader. “It just assumes you’re a person interested in the world and willing to pay attention.” The book begins with an explanation of how atoms bond to form molecules and compounds, as well as the difference between organic and inorganic chemistry. It then goes on to explore the vast array of materials molecules can create.
As with Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, the first in the series, the book was written with adults in mind, but many of Gray’s readers, he discovered, are children in the 8–12-year age range. “Kids are much smarter than we give them credit for,” he says. Recognizing that a lot of his readers are children, he tried not to let that influence him. “I don’t shy away from topics kids might consider adult, painkillers and things like that. They are molecules.”
Gray, along with photographer Nick Mann, will be signing posters for at the booth today, 11 a.m.–noon.
