Anchorage Public Library has partnered with Science Friday to bring the Sci Fri Book Club to the science and reading enthusiasts in our community. The SciFri Book Club is a program created by Science Friday to bring people together around all things science reading – anything from sci-fi short stories to nonfiction science books to science articles from various publications to science-y poetry!
There’s lots of ways to participate: Read the book, join our community space, attend an event, or send a message on the SciFri VoxPop app.
December Selection
As we close out the year, the SciFri Book Club will read The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023, edited by Carl Zimmer with Jaime Green. The essays in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing probe at the ordinary and urge us to think more deeply about our place in the world around us. From a hopeful portrait of a future for people with Alzheimer’s disease, to a fascinating exploration of the rise of nearsightedness in children, to the heroic story of a herd of cows that evaded a hurricane, these selections reveal how science and nature shape our everyday lives.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023 brings together a range of topics, including biology, neuroscience, psychology, ecology, technology, medicine, identity, and much more—and we’ll touch on these ideas throughout this Book Club season.
Get the book from the Anchorage Public Library. Ebook available from the Alaska Digital Library.
This Book Club season kicks off Friday, December 1, and you can read along with us! We’ll be (loosely) following this schedule, but all our readers are welcome to join us at their own pace:
- December 1-3: Svoboda’s An Invisible Epidemic through Zhang’s The Myopia Generation
- December 4-10: Wolchover’s A Deepening Crisis… through Gregory’s Bright Flight
- December 11-17: Jabr’s Brain Wave through Reveley’s In Salvador and Beyond…
- December 18-24: Benson’s The Climate Underground through Lowrey’s American Motherhood
- December 25-31: Final thoughts
Plus, we’ll be hosting events throughout the month! Keep an eye out on our website or join our Events newsletter to be the first to know.
There are so many ways to dive in and participate! You can buy a copy of the book (and support the author and SciFri), join the discussion in our online Book Club community, sign up for our email newsletter, or RSVP for our upcoming Book Club events. Check out all the details below.
Book Club Meeting
Want to meet other SciFri Book Club members, talk about the book selection, and find more resources for deeper learning—all without leaving your home? Our community meeting is the place for you!
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023
Wednesday, December 20, 4 PM - Zoom
This discussion meeting will focus on themes and topics featured in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023. You’re welcome to join us no matter your reading progress—come chat with other science-interested folks about biology, neuroscience, psychology, ecology, technology, medicine, identity, and much more.
Virtual Author Event
Join us online for a conversation with the author on the science topics featured in the SciFri Book Club pick. Come with your queries and wonderings—we’ll be taking your questions in the livestream comments!
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023: Livestream and Q&A
Monday, December 11
1 PM, Science Friday's YouTube Livestream
The editors of this year’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology—and special guest journalists and writers—will take the virtual stage to reflect on their favorite stories from last year, the biggest news from this year in science, and the future of scientific discovery and journalism.
Upcoming Selections
- January: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong. Ebook and audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library (Libby).
- February: Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Ebook and audiobook available from the Alaska Digital Library (Libby). Audiobook always available on Hoopla.
- March: Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine by Uché Blackstock.
