Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, edited by Steven Pinker, is another "provocative and thoroughly enjoyable [collection] from start to finish" (Publishers Weekly). Here is the best and newest on science and nature: the psychology of suicide terrorism, desperate measures in surgery, the weird world of octopuses, Sex Week at Yale, the linguistics of click languages, the worst news about cloning, and much more.

Many years have passed since the last edition of the present book was published. The discovery during this period of many new reagents has resulted in a vast accumulation of data on their application and made this completely revised edition necessary. Numerous new tests and various new chapters have been added. Chapters 3,4 and 5 of the fifth edition have been combined into one chapter, which is divided into sections devoted to the elements. These sections are arranged in alphabetical order to make for easier location of information on a given element. To further improve the usefulness of the volume, a reference list has been provided for each sub-section followed by a biography of the appropriate quantitative methods.