The Best Australian Science Writing 2014

Now in its fourth year, this popular and acclaimed anthology steps inside the Australia’s finest scientific and literary minds to present a collection that celebrates the nation’s finest science writing of the year. Featuring prominent authors—such as Tim Flannery, Jo Chandler, Frank Bowden and Iain McCalman, as well as many new voices—this annual anthology covers topics as diverse and wondrous as our “lumpy” universe, the creation of dragons, why are Sydney’s golden orb weaver spiders getting fatter and fitter, and the frontiers of climate science.

Ashley Hay is the author of four books of narrative nonfiction, including Gum: The Story of Eucalypts and Their Champions, and two novels, including The Railwayman’s Wife, which was short-listed in the fiction category of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and won the People’s Choice Award. She was literary editor of the Bulletin and her science writing has appeared in several magazines. Her work was awarded one of the inaugural Bragg Prizes for Science Writing in 2012 and short-listed for a Eureka award. Ian Lowe is the president of the Australian Conservation Foundation; an emeritus professor of science, technology, and society at Griffith University in Brisbane; and an adjunct professor at both Sunshine Coast University and Flinders University. He is the author of A Big Fix, Bigger or Better?, Living in the Hothouse, and A Voice of Reason.