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Turning Theories into Bestsellers
by Doug Addison
Bookstores are growing in both size and number, and by many accounts the science sections are keeping pace, even growing as well. Books by the likes of Stephen Hawking and the late Carl Sagan have cleared a path for other writers, both scientists and non-scientists, to bring interesting stories about scientific research to the book-reading public.
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William Sheehan surveys our fascination with the Red Planet in the era of modern astronomy.
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Though few popular science titles get anywhere near the blockbuster sales figures of well-known bestsellers -- Hawking and Sagan being two exceptions -- their impact on a core group of knowledgeable readers, on the public's opinions about science, and on the topics publishers will pay top dollar for in the years ahead are significant.
The sure-fire popular science books in recent years have focused on the three C's -- cosmology, consciousness and complexity -- says Jeff Robbins, senior editor at Addison Wesley Longman. Hawking helped fuel the cosmology craze with 1988's A Brief History of Time, which has sold more than eight million copies. Hawking's book introduced readers to a topic so provocative and an author so inspiring that they sought more of the same.
"There seems to be something deep down inside us that responds to things cosmic," Robbins says.
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In his first book, Alfred Mann offers a personal memoir of his role in detecting the neutrino burst from the brightest supernova in 400 years.
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Publishers went looking for more, too. The feeding frenzy on publishable Nobel laureates has only recently calmed down, says Holly Hodder, senior editor at W.H. Freeman. The importance of subject matter has risen to balance it out, she says, and authors have responded.
"We're not so motivated anymore to publish big name authors," says Hodder, "but to take what's interesting in research and turn it into a book that will interest a general audience."
That means the author doesn't need to be a writer first and a scientist second. It helps if a scientist can step out of his or her everyday role and communicate without equations.
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E.C. Krupp shares his expertise in archaeoastronomy with a survey of astronomers' roles throughout the ancient world.
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Doing so can have its advantages. Many scientists are putting words to paper in hopes of influencing public and government support for their research. In an era when many people doubt the worth of spending money on science, every little bit of promotion helps.
The result may be that a fourth C should be added to the list: controversy. In many ways, astronomy books have to aim for a certain level of sensationalism in order to stand out on the shelf among the dinosaurs and the plagues. The tendency on the part of both writers and publishers can be to favor controversial subjects over an old-fashioned story of scientific triumph based on cautious research. Controversy no doubt helps the bottom line, but it may not be good for science.
Astronomy's been hard-pressed to avoid controversial subjects of late, with the announcement of possible life on Mars and life-sustaining worlds beyond our solar system. Watch for shelves to crowd with books about both subjects in the months ahead.
Certainly many science books are written and published because they tell a good story or offer a fresh, plain-English explanation on an interesting subject. Often their success is a surprise to just about everyone.
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David Harry Grinspoon uncovers the wonders of Earth's sister planet in his first book.
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One of last year's surprises -- Longitude by Dava Sobel -- recounts the eighteenth-century quest to devise a method for measuring longitude. Its initial press run of 10,000 copies belies its improbable success: To date it has sold more than 400,000 copies. Or take A Tour of the Calculus. Sales of David Berlinski's remarkably unmathematical look at higher math haven't reached their limit yet.
But if you pay attention to some of the science offerings, you may begin to think there's not much left to explain or that fewer people are interested in reading about it. Books like Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World and John Horgan's The End of Science have questioned the public's interest and science's ability to continue making book-worthy breakthroughs.
Cait Anthony, editor of the Science News Books catalog says Sagan may have had a point, but her market continues to grow: "People have a fascination with a subject and they're looking for someone to explain it to them."
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