The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2022

By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Jaime Green

Narrated by: Tracey Leigh, Jennifer Aquino, Ulka Simone Mohanty, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Gisela Chipe, Shaun Taylor-Corbett

A collection of the best science and nature articles written in 2021, selected by guest editor renowned marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and series editor Jaime Green.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, renowned marine biologist and co-founder of the All We Can Save climate initiative, compiles the best science and nature writing of the year.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Fascinating & motivating

I bought this because I loved the All We Can Save anthology and it did not disappoint. The collection is eclectic, beautifully diverse, educational, fun, and motivating all at the same time. Great performances, too. Highly recommend as a kickstart for your curiosity and motivation in 2023.

Too little science

Too little science relative to past books.
A lot of focus on conservation and climate change. The balance is off.

The worst book in the series I have read.

The Editor, Ayana smuggled in her woke ideology into her selection process and the book itself. Johnson, said “I added columns for race, gender, and age” into the selection process, then said “It would have been a narrower “best of” had she not done that because the collection pieces were “on track to be exceedingly white”.

The reader or listener will have to submit to the beliefs of woke ideology for some of the essays selected.

Standards of excellence don’t exist anymore.

I hope the 2023 edition goes back to science and away from woke ideology.

There are times when Ayana went away from promoting ideology; this edition does have some essays worth reading and learning from. It’s just too bad how far this anti-racism, led by Kendi has gone. It’s infiltrated science, now and one of my favorite books series.

Thanks for reading my review.