Pulitzer Prize-winning UW-Madison Journalism Professor Deborah Blum discussed the process of writing a successful scientific book through a journalistic lens at a Go Big Read lecture Wednesday.
Blum said there is a stigma that scientific books only explain scientific issues in a non-narrative way.
She said this year's Go Big Read book, Rebecca Skloot's ""The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,"" is an exception because it addresses a specific scientific issue in a narrative way.
Chancellor Biddy Martin created The Go Big Read program last year to generate conversation among students by selecting one book annually to be included in the curriculums of select classes.
Skloot's book is about the preservation Henrietta Lacks' 60-year-old cancerous cells for research.
The book focuses on the controversy of bioethics and whether Lack's cells belong to research doctors or her family members.
Blum said authors should write in a narrative way to enhance interest and reading pleasure for the reader.
Blum said she believes Skloot's characters create a narrative journey by giving their individual perspectives on the Lack situation. She said this is a strategy authors use to focus the reader's attention on specific important aspects of the story.
Blum commended Skloot's ten-year dedication to writing the book, but cautioned future authors from devoting too much of their lives to one project.
""You have to force yourself not to let the book become you,"" Blum said.
—Kelly Kallien
