I start reading this book The Best Australian Science Writing 2025 and anticipate sensible, ordered reading. I enjoy Veena Sahajawalla’s overview on the current state of science, with a discussion on challenges of climate, energy and e-waste and potential research-informed solutions that value interdisciplinary collaboration and ‘cultivating a diverse and inclusive scientific community’. Science is human!
An introduction by Kean and Taylor provides engaging insights into some of the writing: articles, reports, essays and poems. Then my reading turns chaotic. The mention of ‘consciousness’ catches my eye, so I flick back to the Contents page, find the article about insects and start reading about Drosophila. But I’m sidelined by honeybees. (I seek out a ‘TED talk’ by the researcher.) My erratic reading continues until the end of the article. But then a handy, unexpected list of related works sends me off on a new direction. I read an article about memory and childhood, then return to the remainder of the Introduction, zipping off several times to other articles. Over a week of disordered yet enjoyable reading, I eventually finish the book.
Why am I sharing this? My non-linear experience of bouncing between dozens of articles evoked an unexpected delight. As I read, I felt I travelled along those conceptual connections, interdisciplinary relationships and human networks within the Australian scientific community. Butterflies can be turned into data!
Reviewed by Mark Parry
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Zoe Keen
Zoe Kean is an award-winning science writer with a focus on evolution, ecology and the environment. She has published in the Guardian, the ABC online, The Best Australian Science Writing 2022, 2023 and 2024, Cosmos Magazine and with the BBC. Her book Why Are We Like This? An evolutionary search for answers to life’s big questions was released in 2024.
Tegan Taylor is a multi-award-winning health and science reporter for the ABC. She hosts Radio National’s Life Matters and the hilarious health podcast What’s That Rash?
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