Wishing a happy pub day to Findings: An Illustrated Collection, which might be the perfect Xmas gift for anyone interested in facts, science, data, or earless rabbits born in Fukushima, Japan. It’s Amazon’s #1 New Release in “Scientific Experiments & Projects”!
The last page of every issue of Harper’s is dedicated to the Findings column, which compiles the month’s scientific findings into a brilliant and moving three-paragraph lyric of sorts. I’ve got an interview in the book with the current longtime writer of Findings, Rafil Kroll-Zaidi. In celebration of the book’s publication, the interview is up today at Tin House.
A lot of what I’ve learned about the creative use of facts and data in nonfiction comes from these two conversations I had with Rafil three years ago. He’s a guy who speaks in paragraphs. Someone should give him a tenure-track job.