 Jack Hitt |  Marion Roach |  Gary Taubes |
Journalism: The State of the Art February 19, 2004 (Thursday) 8:00 p.m. Panel Discussion Recital Hall, PAC UAlbany, Uptown Campus |
Jack Hitt is a contributing writer for Harper�s, GQ and Lingua Franca. He also writes for The New York Times Magazine, Outside and Mother Jones, and contributes frequently to NPR�s This American Life. In 1990, he received the Livingston Award for national coverage.
Recent feature articles in the New York Times Magazine have included a profile of internet "Spam King" Richard Colbert; a portrait of a subculture of conspiracy theorists who persist in believing that the Apollo lunar landings were faked; an examination of the evidence that the Chinese discovered America long before Columbus; and a portrait of environmentalist mercenaries who wage wars against poachers in obscure corners of the globe.
Hitt�s books include Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim�s Route into Spain (1994) and In a Word: Dictionary (1992). He also edited The Harper�s Forum Book (1991) and Perfect Murder: Five Great Mystery Writers Create the Perfect Crime (1991).
"This modern-day version of Chaucer�s tales is lively enough to wake St. James from the dead." - San Francisco Chronicle on Off the Road
Marion Roach is a science journalist, former New York Times staff writer, and contributor to NPR�s All Things Considered. Her work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Prevention, Vogue, Maxim, Newsday, Good Housekeeping, Discover and American Health. Two recent stories are included in The New York Times Book of Women�s Health, (2000). Roach is also the former author of a column called Mother�s Day, for the Sunday New York Daily News. Her 1983 New York Times Magazine article about her mother�s struggle with Alzheimer�s disease remains one of the most reprinted articles in the magazine�s history.
Roach�s books include Another Name for Madness (1985), a ground-breaking journalistic examination of Alzheimer�s disease, and Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers (2001, co-authored with Michael Baden), a profile of one of the world�s leading forensic pathologists.
"a fascinating window into the world of the medical detective." - Tracy Kidder on Dead Reckoning
Gary Taubes, one of America�s leading science writers, contributes regularly to The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Discover, Esquire, GQ and Technology Review. He currently serves as contributing correspondent for Science. Taubes is also a three-time winner of the National Association of Science Writers award�the maximum allowed. Only one other writer has achieved that distinction in the NASW�s 68-year history.
In July of 2002, Taubes created a storm of controversy with an article that appeared in the New York Times Magazine, entitled What If It�s All Been a Big Fat Lie? The article presented new scientific research that appears to vindicate the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet popularized by Robert Atkins. The new thinking on dietary fat will also be the subject of a new book by Taubes due to appear in 2004.
Taubes is the author of two previous books: Bad Science: The Short Life and Weird Times of Cold Fusion (1992), the story of a much-hyped and misguided quest for cheap nuclear energy; and Nobel Dreams: Power, Deceit and the Ultimate Experiment (1988), the story of Carlo Rubbia, an Italian physicist famous for making enemies and driving staff members to nervous breakdowns in his single-minded pursuit of the Nobel Prize (which he ultimately shared in 1984).
"If you read only one book on cold fusion� let it be this one. And let it be the last. Thanks to veteran science writer Gary Taubes, we now have the most comprehensive account of that appalling debacle that anyone is ever likely to need." - Curt Suplee, Washington Post on Bad Science