We invite you to be among the first to download and browse our 2012 Earth Science catalog at:
http://press.princeton.edu/catalogs/earth12.pdf

Check out what is new in our Princeton Primers in Climate series. You will find books by Geoffrey K. Vallis, Shawn J. Marshall, David Randall and David Archer. Princeton Primers in Climate is a new series of short, authoritative books that explain the state of the art in climate-science research. Written specifically for students, researchers, and scientifically minded general readers looking for succinct and readable books on this frequently misunderstood subject, these primers reveal the physical workings of the global climate system with unmatched accessibility and detail.

We are celebrating the new series at the AGU annual meeting in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 6th. You are invited to join us at our exhibit booth (no. 1449) at 3:30 p.m. for the party. We hope to see you there.

James Kasting, author of How to Find a Habitable Planet, will be speaking at the Christopher Ingold Chemistry Lecture Theatre on Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 5:30 pm. A wine reception and book signing will follow the lecture. This event is free to attend, but please register tickets at: www.eventbrite.com/event/2278312494

“In their 2000 book, Rare Earth, Peter Ward and Don Brownlee argue that complex life (i.e., animal life) is rare in our galaxy for a variety of reasons, some of which are based on the idea that habitable planets are themselves rare. Possible reasons for this include: 1) Plate tectonics (possibly necessary to stabilize planetary climates) is rare; 2) large moons (possibly necessary to stabilize planetary obliquities) are rare; 3) magnetic fields (possibly necessary to retain atmospheres) are rare; 4) the Sun is anomalously metal-rich; 5) Jupiter-sized outer planets (possibly necessary to protect the Earth from frequent large impacts) are rare. In my talk, I will review these Rare Earth arguments and show that most, or all, of them are less troubling than Ward and Brownlee supposed. Despite this, perhaps there are other factors that could make habitable planets scarce. But this should not discourage us from building the types of large space telescopes required to actually answer this question.”

The Associated Press (via NPR) is reporting that some college applicants are deliberately not checking Asian on their applications in hopes that this will increase their chance at getting a fatter envelope in the spring.

The AP report cites one student saying:

“I didn’t want to put ‘Asian’ down,” Olmstead says, “because my mom told me there’s discrimination against Asians in the application process.”

The report also quoets Kara Miller, a former admissions office reader at Yale, who said “it often felt like Asians were held to a higher standard”

“Asian kids know that when you look at the average SAT for the school, they need to add 50 or 100 to it. If you’re Asian, that’s what you’ll need to get in,” says Miller, now an English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

So what gives? Is there truth lurking behind these anecdotes? Well–and this is where PUP’s interest is piqued–the AP article notes:

Asian students have higher average SAT scores than any other group, including whites. A study by Princeton sociologist Thomas Espenshade examined applicants to top colleges from 1997, when the maximum SAT score was 1600 (today it’s 2400). Espenshade found that Asian-Americans needed a 1550 SAT to have an equal chance of getting into an elite college as white students with a 1410 or black students with an 1100.

This research was actually published in a PUP book called No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal: Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life by Thomas J. Espenshade & Alexandria Walton Radford (a free excerpt here: http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9072.pdf). The book just recently won the 2011 Pierre Bourdieu Book Award, Sociology of Education Section, American Sociological Association and you can read an earlier article that Tom and Alexandria wrote for the PUP Blog that answers the question “How International Are U.S. Colleges?”.

Olivier Zunz, author of Philanthropy in America, will be speaking at Zócalo Public Square on January 17th at the Goethe-Institut of Los Angeles:

“Charity has been around for as long as humankind, but philanthropy as we know it is much younger. Launched by titans like Andrew Carnegie and enshrined in the U.S. tax code, philanthropy in America is big business—as well-funded, by some measurements, as the Pentagon. While non-political in principle, philanthropy strongly influences politics and public policy, and government views the nonprofit sector as both a partner and a competitor. But is the sway of philanthropy good for society? Or are charities just one more way for the contributors to achieve their agendas? University of Virginia historian Olivier Zunz, author of Philanthropy in America: A History, visits Zócalo to explore the origins of modern American philanthropy—and whether its power is a good thing.”

More information can be found at the Zócalo Public Square website, and feel free to RSVP to the Facebook event!

This week’s “featured creature” from the Mammals of North America App is the Ursus americanus — also known as the American black bear. These bears can be seen throughout the U.S., and are commonly found in forested areas away from human settlements.

Fun fact: A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh was named after a black bear named Winnipeg, who lived at the London Zoo from 1915 to 1934. This image shows Winnie with her owner, Lt. Harry Colebourne.

Check out our other Mammals Monday posts:
the chipmunk

the blue whale

the reindeer

This week’s giveaway is The New Atlas of World History: Global Events at a Glance by John Haywood.

When did humans first inhabit different parts of the world? What was happening in China when Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire? What was the global reach of the great religions at the time of the Reformation in Europe? The New Atlas of World History is the first historical atlas to present global history in a series of uniform world maps, allowing at-a-glance comparison between different periods and regions.

This stunningly illustrated atlas features 55 specially commissioned full-color maps that cover the whole of human history, from 6 million years ago to today. Accompanying 48 of the maps are detailed illustrated timelines that list important cultures, events, and developments. Maps and timelines also come with concise introductions that summarize notable historical and cultural changes, as well as striking graphic displays that present key data such as the world’s five largest cities and total world population for the relevant year. An extensive glossary of peoples, cultures, and nations gives added depth to the maps and timelines.

Hint — it is one of the Wizard of Oz trifecta…

Click through for the answer and to access a wonderful interview with one of the leading carnivore conservation voices in the world (and coincidentally PUP author), Luke Hunter.

FACT: “Following the Revolutionary War, college building expanded rapidly beyond the original 9 colonial colleges to include nearly 250 by 1860. The central government’s sale of ‘land grants’ stimulated some of this growth. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 disbursed land grants in order to pay down the nation’s revolutionary war debt and promote the creation of schools and colleges in newly conquered lands. Congress built on this earlier precedent with the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862. Passed in the throes of the Civil War, the legislation secured the government’s role as a key supporter of public higher education.”

Between Citizens and the State:
The Politics of American Higher Education in the 20th Century
by Christopher P. Loss

This book tracks the dramatic outcomes of the federal government’s growing involvement in higher education between World War I and the 1970s, and the conservative backlash against that involvement from the 1980s onward. Using cutting-edge analysis, Christopher Loss recovers higher education’s central importance to the larger social and political history of the United States in the twentieth century, and chronicles its transformation into a key mediating institution between citizens and the state.

The jig is up! Or is it? The Edinburgh Library Phantom, an anonymous literary artist, has left a farewell note right out of the pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. NPR’s Krulwich Wonders has a post with the Phantom’s portfolio to date and look! There’s a T. rex in the pages of The Lost World.

Two weeks until the premiere of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows on December 16. Need a sleuthing fix till then? Check out Michael Dirda’s On Conan Doyle on sale now.

Harry Potter fans and owlers, rejoice! eBird data shows that snowy owls are traveling further south this year which means a lot of birders who formerly haven’t had a chance to see one in the field may actually catch a glimpse this year. So, it’s time to brush up on our snowy owl id by studying The Crossley ID Guide‘s plate below. Aren’t they gorgeous creatures?

And here’s a map of sightings from the eBird site over the last few months showing spots as far south as Kansas and Pennsylvania!

(hat tip to Ian Paulsen, my Birdbooker Report friend for the idea of this post and sharing the eBird link)

(UPDATE! Circling back to this because Ian has now pointed me to The Hedwig Fund notice on his site. This is an open letter to JK Rowling about the possibility of setting up an NGO for the study and conservation of owls. Go read his post and leave a comment)

Continued »

On Wednesday night, philosopher John Marenbon gave his inaugural lecture as Honorary Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Marenbon is also Senior Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, and is preparing a book for PUP on Pagans and Philosophers from Augustine to Leibniz.

Attention aspiring literary types: the New York Times profile on up-and-coming journal darling, The New Inquiry, should provide a balm to your aching joints – you know, the ones at risk of chronic fatigue from typing all those cover letters, seemingly in vain – and curb your anxieties over what becomes of bright young things after college. At the very least, it offers hope.

Would-be literary luminaries are seeking refuge in an offbeat, alt-uni publishing realm which novelist Jonathan Lethem terms “extrainstitutional intellectualism.” For every New Yorker rejection letter or unreturned phone call from the gazillionth internship application, this group seems particularly bent on forging their own way in literary criticism. Sure, they modeled their exploits on the smoky salons of yore but this is not the Lost Generation of gin-drinking gadabouts. This is a bourbon-toting crowd of crackling talent waiting to be kindled into something greater. Call them the Must Generation, refusing to compromise passion in favor of a stable income. They must write, they must publish, they must keep believing it somehow gets better.

PUP has been in contact with The New Inquiry since early 2010 and we are proud to support their efforts by sending review copies for consideration. Now my question is: how do we get an invite to the invite-only meetings?