This is a great but not perfect collection of nature and science writing. The most ass-clenching piece was certainly “American Motherhood,” but there were some other really good ones as well, like “Shadows, Tokens, Spring,” “True Grit,” “Brain Wave,” “Dislodged,” and “A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature’s Laws.”

Climate change and pandemics loom large here, and I wish there was more space and tech material, but most science writing reflects current concerns and this collection is a reflection of that.