The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024

by Bill McKibben, Jaime Green

Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year.

A collection of the best science and nature articles published in 2023, selected by guest editor Bill McKibben and series editor Jaime Green. 

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Essays, Environment, Nature, Science Nature, Anthologies

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 22, 2024

About the author

Bill McKibben is the author of Eaarth, The End of Nature, Deep Economy, Enough, Fight Global Warming Now, The Bill McKibben Reader, and numerous other books. He is the founder of the environmental organizations Step It Up and 350.org, and was among the first to warn of the dangers of global warming. In 2010 The Boston Globe called him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist," and Time magazine has called him "the world's best green journalist." He studied at Harvard, and started his writing career as a staff writer at The New Yorker. The End of Nature, his first book, was published in 1989 and was regarded as the first book on climate change for a general audience. He is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He has been awarded Guggenheim Fellowship and won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000. He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billmc...

Reviews

[Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

TLDR: Bearing witness to our warming world matters. I love journalism!!!! I love nature!!!

My takeaways, in snippets of articles from this collection: This is an emergency / How could something this immense and forbidding be so vulnerable? / The more I work with living things, the more there seems to be a magical component / Our species is worse off without those experiences of awe / They hope that telling the world … will help people everywhere realize what we can save.

[Rossdavidh · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the plus side, we have gotten far enough past the pandemic that it is no longer the case that every author writing about every topic feels compelled to somehow connect it. Also, basically it is well written, on a wide variety of topics, well selected by the editor. Nothing mind-blowing, though, I have to admit, just a lot of well crafted prose on how our world works.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will no longer be reading BASS (short stories), and instead will only be reading this science collection. Reading about the Lahaina fire right after the LA fires was especially revelatory 😭

[Emma Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously not a traditional and sequentially told story, but an artfully composed collection of essays from 2023. Beautiful. How many more adjectives can I use? Thoughtful, delightful, inspiring, captivating, at times terrifying but at other times hopeful. (Actually, a lot of terrifying— this is, after all, climate in the 21st century.) I had favorites. “Why Maui Burned”, by Carolyn Kormann. “Lolita Still Floats in Miami” by B. M. Owens. “Be Tenacious on Behalf of Life on Earth” by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. And so many others.

[Niklas Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly loved this collection. I really like the articles on rewilding and discussions around animal habitats and populations in the era of climate crisis.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling book. The articles were well written and argued and covered quite a range of environmental topics. It's a hard book to put down once started. I have to say, though, that my personal favorites are ones I've tried to do something about. The first was City of Glass. Meant to try and stop mass killing of birds by highrise windows and lights at night! My home picture window was a problem I addressed after a bird flew into it and died. How To Make Sense of My MOther's Desicion to Die covers euthanasia from a son (also a doctor)'s pov. Solving Climate Change Will Have Side Effects. Get Over It, was a good look at alternatives. Many more stories are in the book and all are worthy of a good read. Anyone interested in enviromental issues will find the fascinating. Lots of great and passionate authors in this book.
I received a Kindle ARC fromNwtgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Emma Strawbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic selection, great variety, appropriate ratio of “everything is bad” to “isn’t this cool”, and some pieces i never would have even considered reading if they were not in this collection. how fun!

[Elot Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book solely summing many different articles in 2023 that the editor wanted to platform. I love the concept of appreciating great written articles as more pieces of art, and the topics of science and nature blend really well together- themes of climate change, ecological protection, and natural sciences are prevalent throughout multiple articles and work with each other incredibly well. Some of these articles are beautiful pieces, where Buried Under the Ice, Has the Amazon Reached Its Tipping Point, Why Maui Burned(genuinely made me cry) and Hot Air(especially) have been perfect, insightful stories about things we need to address and the things they effects. My only possible problem is since it is a collection of articles typically describing nature and its history, it's occasionally hard not to feel depressed due to the noticed change to climates and environments. That said, its with this knowledge that allows us to continue to improve situations and discovery, and as an enginner/nerd this provides me passion and desire to try to improve these situations. I genuinely look foward to reading further versions of these collections and highly recommend any friend of mine to read them- even just as one article every week as I had to do while dying from massive workloads. Y'all will like these pieces!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I set out to read this collection of articles & stories involving nature, animals, and climate change, I didn't expect to cry as much as I did (even though, I admit, I'm an emotional reader), but there was a lot of heart and hope baked into this. I appreciate the tenacity of scientists, environmentalists, and nature writers covering these topics, especially lately. Definitely a worthwhile read for anyone interested in those above-mentioned topics.

My favorites:
Has the Amazon Reached Its "Tipping Point"? by Alex Cuadros
Hot Air by Heidi Blake
City of Glass by Ben Goldfarb
Lolita Floats Still in Miami by B.M. Owens
Nathan by Dan Musgrave
Talk to Me by Elizabeth Kolbert
Homeward Bound by Isobel Whitcomb
The Lonely Battle to Save Species on a Tiny Speck in the Pacific by Joe Spring
How Do I Make Sense of My Mother's Decision to Die by Lindsay Ryan

[Trish Remley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked Up because Editor was Bill McKibben. Frightening, Introspective, Great Mix of Subject Matter:
Informative, Heartening - went straight to Deep in the Wilderness, the World's Largest Beaver Dam Endures, and wonderful ending graduation speech pick: Be Tenacious on Behalf of Life on Earth by marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection (better than last year). I really like that this collection has gotten back to essays about the continuous degradation of the world and away from COVID. Recommended.

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some interesting articles in this series, and the editor seems to have an inter species communication. These best of books are a good way to find new authors to read. Some of the topics are getting stale though, like climate change. We know about it by now, but who is going to reverse the changes. I think we will be gone long before nature takes care of it on her own.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year, I look forward to the vast "Best of" collections - the selected editors can give clues about what you might find within those pages. I was excited to get an early look at the Best American Science & Nature Writing 2024 edited by Bill McKibben and Jaime Green. I first read Bill McKibben back in the 1990s when he was already talking about climate change and the human impact on the earth. Not surprisingly, the articles selected for this book show some of the many sides of this topic. As a reader, I travelled to the Amazon rainforest to the ice fields in Greenland to flooded villages in Pakistan to the Colorado river in the American Southwest, etc. I learned a lot about a variety of different topics all with ties to climate change. In collections such as this, as a reader, some pieces resonate more than others (topic, writing style, etc.). Some pieces definitely kept me riveted (or shaking my head or greatly saddened, etc.) more than others - that's to be expected. But on the whole, all the articles gave me a lot to ponder and led to some interesting conversations with others who are interested in the topic, but aren't necessarily experts or scientists in the field and maybe this is one of the intentional or unintentional aims of this particular collection. There's no doubt that many of the articles feel bleak, but I can only hope that books, stories and information like this will spur greater action on the part of individuals, communities, corporations and governments. 4.5/5

Many thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for this thought-provoking e-arc.

[Brandon Pytel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My annual tradition of reading this series — this one edited by the great Bill McKibben, whose “underlying theme of this volume… is life and death — the attempts to stave off the death of a lively plane,” and who views the job of the writers selected here to “tell the story of our monet as honestly and vividly and beautifully as possible, so as to reach our hearts, our imaginations, our self-interest.”

Like with my reviews in the past, I will highlight only a couple of my favorite essays, essays who capture this moment in time with clarity, grace, and urgency, teeling human stories at the heart of the greatest crisis of our lifetimes.

In “The Grand Canyon, a Cathedral to Time, is Losing Its River,” Raymond Zhong details a Colorado River in crisis, strained by a booming population that is slowly regulating the river into a dead pool, where water gets so low it will fail to pass through dams. He tells the stories of the “people who will shape how we live with the environmental fallout of past choices. Choices like damming rivers. Like building cities in floodplains. Like running economies on fossil fuels.”

In “Solving Climate Change Will Have Side Effects. Get Over It,” Sammy Roth wrestles with the tradeoffs of building out renewables to replace coal, oil, and gas, and how that buildout will inevitably come with consequences. This realist perspective rings truer in an age where urgency is the most important thing.

In “A Good Prospect,” Nick Bowlin describes the booming industry of rare minerals, and the global geopolitics that come with such an industry — one that relies on lithium and copper and cobalt to power the batteries of the future, one that has historically relied on the risky and dangerous business of an extraction and exploitation economy in the Global South, and one that shifts extraction to these areas in order to satisfy our growing demand for greener energy.

In “Lolita Floats Still in Miami,” B.M. Owens renders the heartbreaking tales of orcas in captivity: “Your entire world is this pool and there are no other fish or hales or oceans.”

In “The Sea Eagles That Returned to Mull,” we learn of the ongoing tensions between shepherds and eagles in Scotland, the tradeoffs of biodiversity and culture, and how death is integral to any food chain, no matter how much farmers pay to maintain biodiversity or sequester carbon.

And finally in “How Do I Make Sense of My Mother’s Decision to Die?” we again are faced with the theme of death amid so much life, how life’s ambiguities define it and how death can be beautiful, terrifying, tragic, and human at the same time.

[Cherryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024" is a thought-provoking and engaging collection of twenty essays showcasing the best examples of science and nature writing published in the previous year. Award-winning environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben serves as guest editor, curating a diverse range of topics that highlight both the challenges and triumphs of our planet.

The essays selected for this anthology delve into the complex relationship between people and the planet, exploring the consequences of environmental destruction while celebrating the beauty and resilience of nature. From the devastating impacts of wildfires to innovative solutions for protecting wildlife, these essays offer a compelling glimpse into the pressing issues of our time.

McKibben's selections not only inform and educate but also provide a sense of hope for the future, demonstrating that there are still ways to make a positive impact on our world. The collection serves as a reminder of the importance of continued efforts to protect and preserve the planet for future generations.

Overall, "The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024" is an enlightening and inspiring read that showcases the best of the genre and encourages readers to reflect on their own role in shaping the future of our planet.

** Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. **

[Robert Yokoyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned an insightful fact about science and nature from most of these writing pieces. My favorite piece is "The White Oak Tree at Mclean's: A Case of Recovery". The insightful fact I learned from reading this piece is that certain plants emit chemicals called monoterpenes, which can reduce a person's level of stress. The author of this piece is a woman named Rachel May, who suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder. By merely sitting under a white tree on the campus of a mental health hospital, the author's condition improved. My other favorite piece is "Talk to Me". The insight I learned from this piece is that whales communicate with each other by using clicks called codas. I also learned that an artificial chatbot can used to create a version of the novel Moby Dick from the whale's point of view. " What Plants Are Saying About Us" is an insightful piece about plants instinctively respond to factors like soil, sunlight and water. I also learned that the Amazon rainforest has 4 billion trees, and that cutting down a tree can release so much carbon that warms up the atmosphere. "How Do I Make Sense of My Mother's Decision to Die" enlightens me of the practice of dying with dignity. This piece resonates with me, because it is a reminder to enjoy every moment of life with my loved ones. I hope my loved ones die with dignity too. The subject matter is terse and moving in this book, and that is why I enjoyed it.

[Jeffrey P-s. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot reading this book and had some of my own opinions challenged. I entered this book as someone who absolutely believes climate change is human caused and is bad, but I doubted the notion that climate change is a life-or-death issue akin to wealth inequality, education, or other major things. I came from an environmental economics background - the estimated "cost" of climate change is not expected to be as great as these other issues. The articles shared here made me realize how we are collectively underestimating the destruction climate change will bring. Hundreds of millions will be displaced (we knew this), and we are not ready to face the ramifications of this transition. The cost will be higher than expected. The essays NOT about climate change were super interesting as well, especially the one near the end about physician assisted suicide. The only article that I had major doubts about was the one about plants. I agree, plants are underatedly cool and complex, and its naive of us to think that humans for some reason are more complex or "special" than plants. But it implies that plants have the same sort of free will and decision making abilities as humans, and I think it's bold to conclude that ANY of us have free will or decision making capability. It does not let the idea of determinism permeate.

[Terry L · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Wildfires to Rainforests: A collection for the Curious Mind

"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2024," edited by Bill McKibben, is a captivating anthology that offers a profound exploration of our planet's most pressing issues. This collection of twenty essays, curated from the previous year's publications, provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking look at the complex relationship between humanity and nature.

McKibben's selection showcases a diverse range of topics, from the devastating Lahaina wildfires to the gradual transformation of the Amazon rainforest into savanna. The essays not only highlight environmental challenges but also celebrate nature's resilience and beauty, offering a balanced perspective on our world.

What sets this anthology apart is its ability to inform, educate, and inspire hope. The contributors' expertise and engaging writing styles make complex scientific concepts accessible to a broad audience. This collection serves as a poignant reminder of our planet's fragility and the urgent need for action, while also emphasizing the potential for positive change.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2024 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing edited by Bill McKibben focuses on climate change. The comprehensive collection contains an incredibly diverse group of stories covering topics such as carbon markets, the fires in Maui, changes to specific plant and animal species, the current state of the amazon rainforest, the impacts of extreme heat, and many more diverse topics. I learned so much reading this collection and I highly recommend it.

I review many books each year for NetGalley and decide to purchase a copy of only a few excellent books. I will definitely purchase a personal copy of this outstanding collection. My only feedback is that in focusing on climate change, there were many other interesting topics that were not included. I would have like to see more on biomedical science and drug development. There was so much great science and nature writing in 2023, the editor had a challenging task.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an Advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Jacob Heil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of articles is a mixed bag. A few excellent articles. Mostly middling articles. One article so bad it soured the whole book for me.

The excellent articles are well worth reading:
Buried under the ice by Sarah Kaplan
A good prospect by Nick bowlin
Hot air by Heidi Blake

On the bad side, “What Plants are Saying About Us” by Amanda Gefter covered a scientist who is going against the mainstream to prove that plants have cognition, are thoughtful. Normally I would encourage articles that cover non-mainstream thought. Not this one. This writing of this article was uncritical and hand-waved the legitimate arguments against the plant-thought scientists. On top of that many of the things stated in the article are against very fundamental scientific fact. Here is one inexcusable quote:
“We humans are basically stuck with the shape of our bodies, but at least we can move around; plants can’t move around, but they can grow into whatever shape best suits them.”
A statement this wrong should not be in a collection the best science and nature writing.

[Sevim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of 23 science and nature (mind-blowing) essays that were published in various media outlets.

It’s heartbreaking to read these scientific findings and observations on how bad the environmental problem is. We are facing vicious natural disasters, most likely never seen before, and continue to live the way we do, as if everything is normal. We are experiencing nature’s most dramatic signs ever. We need to try harder to stop the damage.

The essay that impressed me the most was the one on Carbon Finance. There is so much behind the “good” things we hear about cutting carbon emissions to slow climate change. It was eye-opening.

From the Lahaina wildfire tragedy to the lush Amazon jungle slowly turning to a grassy plain and the melting glaciers of Antarctica, these essays describe trying times while showing a way for a better future. There is still SOME hope if we can help it …

[izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this year’s edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing! While I have only recently begun to read this anthology, what I most enjoy about it is the diversity of pieces within the collection. Though this year’s edition focuses on the theme of climate change, there was plenty to read both within and beyond that theme that was compelling and attention-worthy. I usually struggle to read pieces on climate change because it can feel disheartening to read about how our planet is falling apart, but I felt that McKibben picked pieces that, while addressing the severity of the issues, also emphasized the need for optimism and ingenuity. If you’re looking for an introduction into the variety and depth of today’s science writers, I would highly recommend this anthology.

[Ula Tardigrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always look forward to reading the latest edition of this anthology, which features the best articles from the previous year's periodicals. Even if you're a fan of a particular genre, like science and nature writing, it's impossible to keep up with everything that's being published-especially since major newspapers have joined the magazines in setting up dedicated climate desks, as this year's editor, Bill McKibben, notes in the preface. And because climate crisis is a recurring theme in this volume, you will find some of those pieces here.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in science and nature.

Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still an interesting read, though at this point it's depressing how much the collection has been taken over by climate change almost exclusively. Even articles and essays that aren't singularly focused on climate change -- like one about the dangers of glass to birds, or another about communication among whales -- inevitably also needs to incorporate considerations of climate collapse as part of a larger picture. An especially depressing article concerns corruption concerning carbon credits and a seemingly delusional CEO who started out seemingly sincere but allowed his greed to blind him to the flaws in the system he believed in. Will be interesting and possibly painful to see how this continues to progress over the coming years.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally getting started on my Best American 2024 reading, whoops.

This volume of Science and Nature is heavily weighted toward climate change and ecology articles. Now, each guest editor has their own focus etc., but I don't think I've read a volume in this series that was so weighted to one sub-subject that it actively excluded others. There's 1.5 articles on medicine/healthcare and exactly zero on cosmology, physics, engineering (the carbon offset one is the closest to engineering I think), etc. Not to knock the included articles, they're all good, but the collection needed a bit more breadth.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

required reading

Every article is a gem. Excellent editing and choice of writers. I also liked the list of other possible articles - many new to me. And all will be explored. It was a slow read cover to cover as it takes time to digest. It also requires a step back or it is too depressing. But it absolutely imperative that this message gets out - now more than ever and it is already 2 years out of date. I underlined a lot of passages and scientists. I am going to recommend this to a number of people too. Every age should read this - it is very readable and easy to comprehend, even if it is also hard to stomach. Be part of the solution is the answer.

[Peyton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teed up with a description of the decline of scientific journalism in the U.S. resulting from buyouts and conglomeration. Each story was a tragically beautiful investigation to nature’s reality in a time of crises of globalization, urbanization, and climate change. I loved the essays on birds in chicago, sperm whale decoding, and plant intelligence, to name a few. Getting to the closing commencement speech with the charge to find your heart a home to conjure transformation was well worth the read.

[briz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with the top-rated review: bearing witness to our warming world is important. Unfortunately, I don't love nature. :( I mean, like, I love living on this planet and am freaking my shit out daily with climate emergency panic. But I've never been a naturalist and so the back-end of this collection, which is mostly vivid essays about naturalism things, was... well, super boring to me.

The front-end was, instead, panic-inducing and very well-structured. Now I get why Bill McKibben is everywhere! Wow, his writing's amazing! His intro was like, wow, yes. I GET IT. I mean, I already got it but I GET IT AGAIN NOW. And the way he ordered his selection of essays was also very illuminating.

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to love reading these for the diversity and breadth of articles/essays. I get that each guest editor has a “thing.” But that doesn’t mean they should be limited by that, and I don’t remember past editions being like this. But the last few editions have largely been very heavy on the climate crisis. We get it. I would have loved a selection of pieces on a wider range of scientific disciplines and topics and to branch out from the usual sources.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of science and nature writing covered a number of topics, with a particular focus on writing about climate change this year. The standouts for me were City of Glass by Ben Goldfarb, How Do I Make Sense of My Mother's Decision to Die? by Lindsay Ryan, Talk to Me by Elizabeth Kolbert, and Buried Under the Ice by Sarah Kaplan.

Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for an early copy.