Publishers Weekly has some nice things to say about "Science Next," the volume from the Center for American Progress in which I'm thrilled to have a pair of chapters:

Science Next: Innovation for the Common Good from the Center for American Progress
Edited by Jonathan D. Moreno and Rick Weiss. Bellevue Literary, $16.95 paper (288p) ISBN 9781934137185
Bioethics professor Moreno (Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense) and science reporter Weiss, both of the Center for American Progress, have compiled a compact volume exploring the status and future of many hot topics in science and public policy today, which should leave readers appalled at the past eight years and hopeful for the next. Despite subsidized Big Oil, infrastructure collapse, food inspection system failures and ever worsening wildfires, this volume brings hope into focus with reports of innovation that will enhance lives, from caregivers to those running out of fresh water, from No Child Left Behind to university research. Concise, informative contributions include internet co-creator Vinton Cerf on why the U.S. should respond to climate change like it did to Sputnik, and CAP senior fellow Rick Weiss proclaiming bluntly that “federal tax dollars should not be supporting schools that persist in teaching myths in science classes.” There's also numerous recommendations from CAP's 2008 National Innovation Agenda for enhancing the utility, visibility and “sexiness” of science in the U.S. (Apr.)

I will say this: if you're interested in getting quickly up to speed on the scientific challenges and possibilities facing the Obama Administration after eight rocky years, you could do worse than this book.

Science Progress, the science and technology wing of the vast Center for American Progress empire, has put together a nice little book detailing what a progressive vision for innovation might look like. It's called "Science Next," and in it are lovely pieces by folks like Chris Mooney and Vint Cerf. Elizabeth Edwards wrote the introduction. I'm enormously humbled and pleased to have two essays in the book — one describing the fragmented and fractured federal food oversight system, and the other profiling the rather neat Peer-to-Patent program where citizen-experts help the U.S. Patent Office make sense of software patent applications. Not sure how widely it's being distributed, but I found a copy in my neighborhood Barnes & Noble. Many of the essays, I suspect were written before the election (mine both were) and were more advocacy pieces than anything else. But with the Obama Administration looking like it's chomping at the bit to be a science-based presidency, there's a good chance that these essays will really serve as an early look at "what's next." If it's up your alley, hope you might think about picking up a copy.

One question above all others has stuck with me since my recent three-day jaunt over to Germany: what's with all the squishing together of words? Take Freidrichstrasse, for example. Strasse, from what I understand, simply means "street." I'm really not getting the benefit of smooshing together the proper name of the road with the noun itself. And then there's Bundespressekonferenz. Bunde is "federal." And presskonferenze is, obviously enough, "press conference." Is there a German tax on white spaces? The way that 47-letter words look incomprehensible at first glance puts a bit of fear in the stomachs of non-native speakers. Though I guess might be useful in and of itself.

I came here, though, not to condemn the convoluted German language but to highlight this thing called Bundespresskonferenz. As we in the States flail about a bit looking for some working models for how to manage a modern press (seriously, the look of pity in the eyes of journalists from abroad when they talk about the American press scene is a good deal unsettling), I find BPK intriguing.

From what I gathered from talking to a few new German friends and the Internet, the deal is thus: representatives from federal ministries are summoned before a few dozen select members of the press, who assemble every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in a beautiful conference center overlooking the Spree river. The press sets the topics, asks questions, and the ministers are put on the spot and expected to answer. It's the journalists running the show, not the principle. Watch Obama's press conference tonight to see how we do things a bit differently here.