Abstract
Angler, M. W. (2017). Science Journalism: An Introduction. Routledge. 347 pp. ISBN 978-1-138-94550-0 (paperback). $50. Also available as e-book.
Written by a science and technology journalist, this book looks like a valuable resource for teaching the profession. While the focus is largely on concrete skills used in writing and storytelling about science, the approach seems both thoughtful and critical. The book also includes material about academically rich topics such as the scientific method, the history and nature of the field, and investigative science journalism.
Dan, V. (2018). Integrative Framing Analysis: Framing Health through Words and Visuals. New York, NY: Routledge. 170 pp. ISBN 978-1-138-04636-8 (hardcover). $140. Also available as e-book.
While at first glance this may seem more a methods text than a text about communicating science, its emphasis on a health communication example makes it relevant to our audiences. The authors explain why they believe verbal and visual material should be analyzed together in an integrative way and suggest how this can be approached, leading up to a case study of how people living with HIV/AIDS are presented in news and other texts.
Hook, G. D., Lester, L., Ji, M., Edney, K., & Pope, C. G. (2017). Environmental Pollution and the Media: Political Discourses of Risk and Responsibility in Australia, China and Japan (Studies in Environmental Communication and Media). New York, NY: Routledge. 203 pp. ISBN 978-0-415-71031-2. (hardcover). $140. Also available as e-book.
Four case studies of media discourse in the Asia-Pacific region on environmental issues are presented, focusing on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, atmospheric pollution in China, atmospheric pollution in Japan that may originate from China, and a “smart cities” response to climate change, also in Japan. The cross-national, cross-disciplinary project addresses important questions about responsibility for environmental pollution and its attribution.
León, B., & Bourk, M. (Eds.). (2018). Communicating Science and Technology Through Online Video: Researching a New Media Phenomenon. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-48349-1 (hardcover). $150. Also available as e-book.
Ten chapters, each separately authored, tackle the problem of how we should think about the emergence of online video as a central vehicle for science communication. The book explores some of the research approaches and opportunities this shift entails and includes a number of empirical studies that help describe just how the landscape here is shifting.
Logan, R. A., & Siegal, E. R. (Eds.). (2017). Health Literacy: New Directions in Research, Theory and Practice (Studies in Health Technology and Informatics). Amsterdam, Netherlands: IOS Press. 479 pp. ISBN 978-1-61499-789-4 (hardcover). $167.
This hefty collection is practically an encyclopedia of health literacy, from its definition to trends in research and theory, the study of vulnerable populations, leadership, developments in outside disciplines, and practice. This volume includes 24 chapters, most multi-authored. While some chapters are not directly centered on communication, all provide relevant context for those working to improve health literacy—including health communication scholars and practitioners.
Meyer, G. (2018). The Science Communication Challenge: Truth and Disagreement in Democratic Knowledge Societies. London, England: Anthem Press. 181 pp. ISBN 978-1-78308-753-2 (hardcover). $115. Also available as e-book.
In 5 broad chapters and 16 short “snapshots” focused on specific ideas and cases, this book explores the sometimes tense relationship between science, politics, and democratic governance. Can science as truth ever be reconciled with a political world in which people are assumed (even expected) to disagree? The author seeks an answer by rethinking the nature of science, “the public,” and politics.
Nguyen, A. (Ed.). (2018). News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World. London, England: Bloomsbury. 288 pp. ISBN 978-1-5013-3035-3 (hardcover). $108. Also available as e-book.
This edited collection is about journalists’ use (and misuse) of statistics, as well as the effects of those practices on audience perceptions. The problems discussed seem ever more pressing in this “post-truth” era. Only a few of the chapters directly concern science journalism, but even so most topics here are applicable to the work of generating science news—and to the work of journalism educators interested in improving their students’ abilities to understand and critique statistical arguments.
Priest, S., Goodwin, J., & Dahlstrom, M. F. (Eds.). (2018). Ethics and Practice in Science Communication. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 305 pp. ISBN 978-0-226-49781-5 (paperback). $40. Also available as e-book.
Fourteen chapters by a range of science communication scholars, philosophers, and science-technology-and-society specialists analyze the ethics of science communication. The book is divided into three sections: arguments about how ethics matters in our field, the analysis of specific professional practices, and a selected group of real-world cases. Little has been written about ethics in our field, which is distinct from both journalistic ethics and the ethics of science itself; this volume provides a start.
Yu, H. (2017). Communicating Genetics: Visualizations and Representations. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan. 271 pp. ISBN 978-1-137-58778-7 (hardcover). $110. Also available as e-book.
Enhanced by dozens of photographs and drawings, the book begins by reminding us that visual representations are important for science and particularly important for genetics—where many things are too small to be directly observed by the human eye. The book is organized in terms of a series of alternative views, from photographic to illustrative, graphical to metaphorical, and beyond. The authors reflect on the nature of each, often incorporating historical context.