About the Book: With eleven deeply reported, artfully crafted stories and annotations by some of the most thoughtful and respected science journalists working today, The Best Science Stories and How They Work is more than the sum of its impressive parts. Experience the pleasure of reading a "Best of" anthology, attending a science writing masterclass, and meeting journalists who become more than their familiar bylines. Each piece benefits from an introduction, annotations, and a conversation between the piece's author and annotator.

Siri Carpenter—editor of this book and cofounder of The Open Notebook, a leading source of training and educational materials for journalists who cover science—has long considered what's behind the best writing. The pieces in this guide are drawn from a range of publications such as Scientific American, Nature, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine and offer a unique perspective on how great science journalism happens: the careful structuring of a narrative, the delicate balance of skepticism and wonder, the ethical challenges of working with sources, the artistry of prose that sings. Readers will not only encounter outstanding examples of stellar storytelling, but they will also understand how these successful stories were reported and written, revealing the choices fundamental to good science journalism. Following each annotation, a Q&A with the original author provides an intimate look at the decisions and challenges that shaped their work.

About Siri Carpenter: Siri Carpenter is an award-winning journalist and is executive director and editor-in-chief of the non-profit organization The Open Notebook, a leading source of training, mentoring, and community support for journalists who cover science. She is also the editor of the books The Craft of Science Writing and The Best Science Stories and How They Work. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Science, Scientific American, and other publications. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers and serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication. She has a Ph.D. in social psychology from Yale University and lives in Madison.

About Kelley Tyrrell: Kelly Tyrrell is an award-winning science and health writer and directs communications strategy at The Open Notebook. By day, she oversees research communications and content strategy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and she is a former staff reporter at The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. Her work has also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Chicago Tribune, where she was a AAAS Mass Media Fellow in 2011. She recently co-authored the book Chasing the Stars, about the history and international importance of the astronomy done at the University of Wisconsin's Washburn Observatory. She lives in Madison.

Siri Carpenter in Conversation with Kelly Tyrrell