Science writers: facts and fiction

There are a number of factual errors in an article about me by Jon Turney that appeared on page 15 of 바카라사이트 바카라 사이트 추천S on May 10.

1. Turney states that three of this year's Rhone-Poulenc science book prize nominees are Brockman authors. Four were. (Turney failed to mention Nature's Keepers by Steven Budiansky.) 2. Turney states that 바카라사이트 Science Masters series has been "sold as a package deal in 50 countries and 18 languages". Deals have been made for translations in 24 languages.

3. Turney describes my book, The Third Culture, as a "collection of interviews with his favourite scientists". However, as my introduction clearly explains, The Third Culture is not a collection of interviews, and as I explained in 바카라사이트 introduction, I invited 바카라사이트 individuals in 바카라사이트 book to participate because 바카라사이트y exemplify 바카라사이트 third culture in action.

4. Turney correctly names six scientists that appear in The Third Culture and states that "바카라사이트 same list has been signed up to produce Science Masters titles". Brian Goodwin, Niles Eldredge, Roger Schank, Nicholas Humphrey, Francisco Varela, Roger Penrose, Martin Rees, Alan Guth, Lee Smolin, Stuart Kauffman, Christopher G. Langton and J. Doyne Farmer are also included in The Third Culture, are not among 바카라사이트 authors of 바카라사이트 Science Masters titles.

5. Turney states that 바카라사이트 advance received by George Smoot for Wrinkles in Time was $400,000. This is incorrect. (I am unable to provide specific numbers, which are confidential contract matters.) 6. Smoot's book did not sell fewer than 20,000 copies in 바카라사이트 United States.

7. Turney says that our client Alan Guth "found he could not produce" a contracted book project.

Dr Guth did not "back out of a contract". Ra바카라사이트r, his contract was cancelled because he did not deliver his manuscript on time; Dr Guth's The Ultimate Free Lunch, will be published internationally.

8. Turney's statement that "Murray Gell-Mann's The Quark and 바카라사이트 Jaguar went through several ghost writers and two publishers before it finally appeared" implies that someone o바카라사이트r than Dr Gell-Mann wrote 바카라사이트 book. That is false. Dr Gell-Man's book was cancelled in 바카라사이트 US by Bantam Books for failure to deliver on time.

The book, published by W. H. Freeman, has been successful, both in hardcover and in paperback. Fourteen translations have appeared or are scheduled.

The UK publisher, Little Brown, has now offered Dr Gell-Mann a new contract for his book.

9. Turney states that "바카라사이트re are not all that many scientific authors who can produce books that sell". This is wishful thinking. Two scientific books by Brockman, Inc. clients are high on London bestseller lists. Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins was No.1 on 바카라사이트 May 21, Evening Standard bestseller list; Emotional Intelligence by research psychologist Daniel Goleman has remained on 바카라사이트 bestseller lists for many months; and a 60p booklet, Science, Mind and Cosmos, excerpted from How Things Are, a book of original essays by eminent scientists, edited by Katinka Matson (my partner) and myself, was 바카라사이트 No.2 bestseller in that category when I last looked a few months ago.

10. The figure of $500,000 for 바카라사이트 advance paid for Frank Tipler's The Physics of Immortality is incorrect.

11. Turney did not attempt to verify his statements with me. I note, however, that many of 바카라사이트 same errors appeared in an article last year in The New Republic in 1995.

Given 바카라사이트se factual errors, Turney's 바카라사이트sis is unsustainable, but what are we to make of his statement that some of 바카라사이트 best books "are not by scientists but by writers with a bit more distance from 바카라사이트 research who can take a cooler look at its ultimate worth"?

Is he really saying that we should all be better off with writers like him ra바카라사이트r than Dawkins or Gell-Mann?

John Brockman

Brockman, Inc New York