The Ed's Up - "I'm dying for some action..."
“… I’m sick of sitting round here trying to write this book.”
- Bruce Springsteen
I feel you, Bruce! These last few months have been tough; hence the protracted absence from this newsletter. For various reasons, I ended up writing the most conceptually challenging chapters of The Infinite Extent in a row between May and August, which utterly fried my brain. I knew going in that this book was going to be more ambitious and challenging than any project I’ve tackled before, but boy did I feel it by September. When I delivered the finished manuscript to my editor a week ago, my body unexpectedly and spectacularly crashed within hours of hitting Send, with what felt like a combination of terrible jetlag and an abysmal hangover.
I buried the lede, though. The book is done! It’s temporarily out of my hands and off to my editors—a month ahead of time, no less. There’s still a lot to do, including various rounds of editing, fact-checking, referencing, and a lot of production before it sees print, and it won’t be out until spring 2027, which seems eternally far away. But it exists. And while I don’t want to jinx anything while I wait on feedback, I will say this: It’s good.
Before sending it off, I put the whole thing together and went over it top to bottom, reading over material that I had first written 11 months ago and hadn’t thought about since. That proved to be unexpectedly delightful, as for perhaps the only time, I got to experience and enjoy large chunks of the book as a reader might. I think it delivers what I wanted it to, and it feels like the culmination of a career—of the themes and ideas I’ve been exploring, the values I’ve been working towards, and the skills I’ve been building. When I wrote An Immense World, I had this strong sensation that it was the right second book, and that I couldn’t have written it if I attempted it as a first book. I have exactly the same feeling with The Infinite Extent: It feels like the right third book. We’ll see if everyone else agrees in a year and some change.
Speaking of books…
In 2019, I wrote a piece about endlings—the last members of a species—and the people who take on the solemn burden of caring for them. In particular, I focused on a team of researchers in Hawaii who are caring for the island’s indigenous snails or kāhuli. I hoped the piece would paint a moving portrait of the extinction crisis, and linger with readers who might not have cared less about the plight of endangered snails. I didn’t expect, however, that two different writers would independently use the piece as inspiration for novels. Maria Reva published hers in English, Jasmin Schreiber published hers in German, and amazingly, both books are called Endling.
Maria recently wrangled all three of us for a virtual chat, which she wrote up for Lithub. I loved this conversation in part because it touches on many topics that have been occupying my mind of late. These include: wrangling emotion and vulnerability in writing; the difference between being wrong and being incorrect; the evolution of an idea; and finding hope amid catastrophe. And I also love that when both Maria and Jasmin found out about each other’s books, their instinct was “let’s chat about this” and not “I should tear down my rival.” Competition is for amateurs.
Bird photography
Some other stuff
I did an interview with the Science Vs podcast about my book, which also ended up touching on the continuing attacks on science in the U.S. Have a listen.
Speaking of which, I continue to encourage everyone who cares about science and higher-ed to subscribe to Liz’s newsletter, Meeting the Moment, where she continues to catalog and parse the attacks in both domains. I recently described it to someone as a combination of journalism and a pep talk from your kindest, wisest friend.
I’m very excited about Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s second book, The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, which is out in April. I could tell you that it’s a book about cosmology, but that would be a little like saying Yellowstone is a place with some trees. Here’s what I wrote in a blurb: “With this extraordinary book, Prescod-Weinstein cements her status as one of the most accomplished and important science writers of our time; as polymath, griot, teacher, and more; as the guide to the universe that we don’t deserve but absolutely need. She has given us a book about physics as story and metaphor, as revelation and revolution, as answer and antidote. It’s suffused with gorgeous poetry and frequently very, very funny.”
Another book rec: Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene, by Lorraine Boissoneault, which is also out in April. It’s a book about disability, climate change, and the overlaps between the two. Me again: “I’m amazed at how seamlessly Lorraine Boissoneault dances between the physiological and geological, between the personal and universal, between grief and hope. From grand sweeps of scientific history to poignant slices of memoir, Body Weather connects the challenges of the planet to the trials of the body, and dares to imagine a future where we address both with humanity. It’s a singular, stunning book.”
Upcoming talks
Oct 30 - Macalester College
Nov 4 - University of Washington
That’s it for this month!
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Stay safe.