Luminous Fish

On transatlantic overnight flights, I often hope the book I've chosen will quickly put me to sleep. Not so with Luminous Fish, which pleasantly kept me awake much of the night. Lynn Margulis has penned a delightful collection of essays of real scientists going about their all-too ordinary lives at work and play. Seldom has the subjective side of science been captured better, nor surprisingly so as Lynn herself very much lives the life of some of those profiled within. A penetrating, realistic work of science and passion if there ever was one.

—Eric Chaisson, Wright Center for Science Education, Tufts University

A Sciencewriters Book

This collection of linked stories by internationally renowned evolutionist Lynn Margulis reveals science from the inside--its thrills, disappointments and triumphs. A largely fictional account, it draws on her decades of experience to portray the poor judgment, exhaustion, and life-threatening dedication of real scientists--their emotional preoccupations, sexual distractions, and passions for scientific investigation. The arcane, competitive world of research emerges from the shadows of its passive narrative into the sunlight of the personal voice of those who attempt to wrench secrets directly from nature. All of us who struggle to balance family, professional and social commitments with intellectual quests will be intrigued by the humanity of these tales.

About Sciencewriters Books

Chelsea Green Publishing launched the Sciencewriters Books imprint in the fall of 2006 to develop outstanding works of science for the general public. Sciencewriters Books is co-directed by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan, founders of Sciencewriters, an educational partnership devoted to advancing science through enchantment in the form of the finest possible books, videos, and other media (www.sciencewriters.org). Blending exciting writing with depth of knowledge and dedication to scientific integrity, Sciencewriters Books will publish new and established authors on cutting-edge topics that are key to our survival.

About the Author

Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, received the 1999 National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton. She has been a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences since 1983 and of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences since 1997. Author, editor, or coauthor of chapters in more than forty books, she has published or been profiled in many journals, magazines, and books, among them Natural History, Science, Nature, New England Watershed, Scientific American, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Firsts, and The Scientific 100. She ...

View Lynn's full profile page >