When we think of plagues, we think of AIDS, Ebola, anthrax spores, and, of course, the Black Death. But in 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic killed an estimated 40 million people virtually overnight. If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the U.S. population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die.

In Flu, Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. From Alaska to Norway, from the streets of Hong Kong to the corridors of the White House, Kolata tracks the race to recover the live pathogen and probes the fear that has impelled government policy.

A gripping work of science writing, Flu addresses the prospects for a great epidemic's recurrence and considers what can be done to prevent it.

Provocative and engaging, this collection brings together the premiere science writing of the year. Featuring the imprimatur of bestselling author and New York Times reporter Gina Kolata, one of the nation's foremost voices in science and medicine, and with contributions from Atul Gawande, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Oliver Sacks, among others, The Best American Science Writing 2007 is a compelling anthology of our most advanced, and most relevant, scientific inquiries.

A "New York Times Book Review "Editors' Choice
In this eye-opening report, "New York Times" science writer Gina Kolata shows that our society's obsession with dieting is less about keeping trim and staying healthy than about money, power, trends, and impossible ideals. Kolata's account of four determined dieters in a study comparing the Atkins diet to a low-calorie one becomes a broad tale of science and society, of social mores and social sanctions, and" "of the place of diets in American society. Brimming with anecdote, scientific data, and common sense, "Rethinking Thin" offers a challenge to the conventional wisdom about diets and weight loss.

The birth of Dolly -- the world's first clone -- placed in our hands the secret of creation. Few discoveries have so altered our notion of what it means to be human, or presented such a Gordian knot of ethical, spiritual, and scientific questions. Noted science journalist Gina Kolata broke the news nationally in The New York Times and was the first reporter to speak with Dr. Ian Wilmut, the embryologist who cloned Dolly. Now Kolata reveals the story behind Dolly, interweaving the social and cultural tales of our fear and fascination with cloning, reaching back nearly a century, with the riveting scientific accountof how a clone came to be and the mind-boggling questions Dolly presents for our future.

Clone is a compelling blend of scientific suspense, dreams dashed, and frauds exposed, with provocative philosophical questions and an astute assessment of why Dolly's birth was only possible now. Like The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Lucy, and Chaos, this book gives us a window on history in the making, and an understanding of its profound effect on our lives.

For the first time ever, Sex in America reveals the myth-shattering results of the only comprehensive and methodologically sound survey of America's sexual practices and beliefs. In 1992, highly regarded social scientists Robert T. Michael, John H. Gagnon, and Edward O. Laumann embarked on an unprecedented study of America's sex life. Working through the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, their staff of 220 interviewers spent seven months interviewing 3,432 scientifically selected respondents about all aspects of their sex lives, histories, and beliefs. More important, unlike the famous but inherently flawed reports of Alfred Kinsey, Redbook and Playboy magazines, Shere Hite, Samuel and Cynthia Janus, and others, this survey relied on a random sample of Americans rather than on an unrepresentative group of volunteers. The resulting data reveal not just what we do sexually but how society shapes even our most private sexual experiences. They show not just why we are the way we are, but what it might take to change this behavior. Sure to arouse considerable controversy, the survey directly contradicts many of the conclusions of previous reports and defies widely held conventional wisdom about America's sexual practices and beliefs, with startling revelations about how often people have sex, how many partners they have, and where they meet them; the likelihood that the AIDS epidemic will spread into the heterosexual population; what people like to do in bed; how many Americans are homosexual; the incidence of forced sex; and why some people are more satisfied with their sex lives than others. After years of misleading statistics and unsubstantiated claims, Sexin America presents a comprehensive, reliable look at America's collective sex life, the definitive word on American sexuality today.