杏吧原创

IS BLOGGING replacing the old-fashioned science journalism found in newspapers and magazines? Can science blogs do a better job than mainstream media? These questions have been , and a few bloggers are convinced the answer is .

It was with these questions in the back of my mind that I read , a collection of 50 blog posts chosen by a panel of judges from 520 submissions.

Series editor seems to have no doubt that blogging is ultimately a force for good. 鈥淪mall groups of people peddling misinformation are capable of鈥� temporarily gaining online prominence, but over time, the larger groups tend to prevail and ensure that true quality wins the day,鈥� he writes. Really?

Take the most important scientific issue of our time, climate change. For the last two years, the 鈥淏est Science Blog鈥� in the Weblogs Awards, which are based on readers鈥� votes, has gone to blogs by climate change deniers. Such blogs may be having an influence: more and more Americans now think the threat posed by climate change is exaggerated even though denialism has become rarer in the mainstream media, with even Fox News finally embracing the truth.

While newspapers may indeed have an abysmal track record when it comes to reporting on science, many blogs out there are far worse. And people are generally drawn to blogs that reinforce their own views, not ones that challenge them. Overall, I suspect that the rise of blogging, far from improving people鈥檚 knowledge and understanding of science, has made matters worse.

This, however, is not true of the blog posts selected for this book, which represent the cream of the crop. In this collection, there is no shortage of diverse and fascinating essays. Did you know that part of a late draft of On the Origin of Species was lost when the children of botanist ? Or that ? And would you be prepared to

There are many highly entertaining pieces here, but also some less than engaging ones. Too many are mini-lectures, with no narrative or personal angle to sustain your attention. This kind of writing works for readers interested in specific areas, but will never draw a wider audience.

If these pieces really do represent the very best science writing on blogs, I鈥檓 afraid I have to agree with : 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to compare the entire blogosphere with The New York Times, in terms of how much is worth reading for the average non-professional interested in science, the blogosphere is worse by an order of magnitude.鈥�