The Best American Series(r) First, Best, and Best-Selling The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected and most popular of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 includes Atul Gawande, Jonathan Franzen, Deborah Blum, Malcolm Gladwell, Oliver Sacks, Jon Mooallem, Jon Cohen, Luke Dittrich, and others Mary Roach, editor, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. She has written for National Geographic, Wired, New Scientist, the New York Times Book Review, the Journal of Clinical Anatomy, and Outside, among others. She is a member of the Mars Institute's advisory board and a winner of the American Engineering Societies' Engineering Journalism Award, in a category for which, let's be honest, she was the sole entrant. More at www.maryroach.net. Look for the other best-selling titles in the Best American series: The Best American Comics The Best American Essays The Best American Mystery Stories The Best American Nonrequired Reading The Best American Short Stories The Best American Sports Writing The Best American Travel Writing "