Capsule Reviews

Tracks and Shadows, The Gap, The Cure in the Code, and An Appetite for Wonder

Written byBob Grant

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By Harry W. Greene
University of California Press, October 2013

These days, with a constant stream of news announcing whiz-bang technologies from labs around the world, startling biological insights gleaned from model organisms, and experiments that lift the veil on the very fabric of our universe, it’s too easy to forget that science started outdoors. Our forbearers studied the world around them as they scratched out their existence in unforgiving environments and eventually observed the natural world for the sake of observing.

Harry Greene conjures the spirit of that embryonic curiosity in Tracks and Shadows, a book that chronicles his own journey from curious child to renowned snake biologist, while celebrating the wonder and wisdom of nature. Greene invites readers into his most intimate thoughts on the beauty and harshness of the living world and highlights the importance of engendering an appreciation of nature in future generations. The writing in ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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