a reference text

[Stephen Strauss <stephen -at- UNICAAT -dot- YORKU -dot- CA>]

I am the science writer for The Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. I
have just written a book which is being promoted by its publishers and
read by reviewers as a kind of fun-facts, quirky-quizzical thing.
This bothers me because, in some large part, I conceived it  to be
reference text for people having to convey the measures of science to a
non-scientific audience. What I have attempted to do is produce a kind of
thesaurus of measure comparison so that microns and pascals and Ph and
Calories etc. can be roughly translated into images that ordinary folks
can relate to. While there are a number of funny things - e.g. how cold
it has to be to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, the weight of a
bee's brain and how to measure the world in terms of the things that
McDonald's makes - I really hoped it would be a working tool for
journalists, and teachers, and technical writers and scientists and
public relations people; that is, anyone who must popularize science.
Therefore, I hope I am not violating any Internet ethic by telling you
that such a book exists. It is called The Sizesaurus and is published by
Kodansha America in the U.S. and Key-Porter in Canada.
 In an effort to make the next edition of a  very number-filled book more
useful than this one, I am also offering a $250 prize to whomever comes
up with the most verified  typos and errors.



--
Stephen Strauss              Internet: <stephen -at- unicaat -dot- yorku -dot- ca>