I skipped a few chapters.

I love these Best of the Year series; in a fantasy world I would subscribe to tons of magazines and read them all cover to cover. But obviously there's no time for that and I don't even like the physical format of magazines. The 2015 Nature and Science didn't disappoint; it includes stories on: Deep caving, corvids, getting light to rural India without electricity, why darkness (the natural light cycle) is good for our health, the shitty, shitty genitalia situation of female hyenas and the also unfortunate reproduction methods of the Surinam toad, curiosity, the dumbass law suit against the Italian scientists who were unable to predict the earthquake in L'Aquila (because earthquakes are not predictable), and reconsolidation in memory. Overall, a good read.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016: Book about science

Some great reads in here, but my favorites are when historical science is updated by new discoveries... from 2015.

This book was a rather pleasant surprise- when I first started reading it, I was under the impression that it would be full of dry, dense, and heavily-detailed essays about obscure scientific topics that had little in the way of interesting topics. Instead, many of the articles and essays in this collection are ten times better than the essays found in the annual “Best American Essays” collection. Definitely looking forward to reading the 2016 edition of this series.

This is the first anthology I have read of this series. I felt there were quite a few essays examining ethical and social aspects of the impact of science.

My favorites were:

In Deep - cave diving, redefining your expectations for exploring and mapping uncharted territories
The Empathy Exams - medical acting, one woman's reflection on her past
One of a Kind - use of social media and the internet to bring together a very small group of people affected by NGLY1 mutation

Really solid collection of science writing. Opens with a fantastic essay about mapping the world's deepest caves. Atul Gawande piece had me in tears.

Only read a couple of entries

Great collection of articles from a variety of sources, covering everything from cave explorers to gene patenting to passenger pigeons. There are SO many science articles published every year, wading through them is nearly impossible unless you know what you're looking for, so this was good for me. One article in particular, about right whales that get caught in fishing lines and are slowly sliced up and exhausted until they drown, kindled an ember of rage in my chest, and has given me a cause I would like to throw my money towards; if you're interested in marine conservation, it's well worth a read. Some of it was not my cup of tea, and some of it was awesome, but I learned something from all of these articles, and I can't ask for more than that.

Unfortunately this was a meh collection. It ran heavy on eco and nature, lighter on hard science. The only physics essay (that I can recall) was a bio-essay on Higgs (of particle fame). Even that article felt thin. Nothing on computers or jiggery pokery Internettery, alas.

At its best, this series has blown my mind and opened up my horizons. At its worst (and this 2015 edition was pretty bad), it's just OK. I mean, it's never been BAD. But the disappointment of non-inspiration can be acute. Oh well, obviously I'll read all the other editions I can get my hands on, and I recommend you do too. :)

As per usual, an excellent assortment of writers and knowledge.