Keep the Momentum Going: Buy a Book

I review books, but I rarely pitch specific titles. However, an article from PW Daily, an e-mail newsletter from Publisher’s Weekly, tells me it’s time to buy Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science to support the cause of scientific progress and free speech in the United States.

The PW Daily article begins: “Last weekend was a big one for Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science. Such a big one that staffers at Perseus, the house which published Mooney’s book under its Basic Books imprint, think it was the spark which led a hacker to try to bring down the book’s site, www.waronscience.com.”

You don’t have to agree with Mooney, although I do, to support his right both to speak freely and use the tools of commerce to sell books. Apparently Mooney’s free speech and salesmanship got in the craw of someone who supports the Republican Party so much that he or she is willing to trample on the very rights that conservatives hold dear.

And for the record, we who are proud to call ourselves progressives or liberals support free speech and entrepreneurial ventures like www.waronscience.com. It’s worth visiting that site simply for the clever opening sequence of an elephant trumpet and smashed laboratory glassware.