ASU’s Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (CSPO), a close collaborator with CSI, has just released the first two anthologies in its new series, The Rightful Place of Science. The mission of the series is to explore the complex interactions among science, technology, politics and the human condition.
The first book, The Rightful Place of Science: Politics, is edited and introduced by CSI Imaginary College member G. Pascal Zachary. The volume also features essays from a number of CSI collaborators, including ASU President Michael Crow, Dan Sarewitz, a co-director of Emerge and CSPO, and Dave Guston, a co-director of the Frankenstein Bicentennial Project and CSPO.
The second book, The Rightful Place of Science: Biofuels, examines prospects for large-scale production of affordable, sustainable transportation fuels, considering the opportunities and challenges of developing these new, cleaner sources of energy. Biofuels features a foreword from ASU’s Clark Miller, and is written by John A. Alic, technical consultant and writer for CSPO’s “Energy Innovation Systems From the Bottom Up” project.
We are fascinated not only by the thought-provoking content of the volumes, but also their innovative model for publication and distribution. Paperback copies are only $4.99, and CSPO is currently preparing the transfer of both of the first two volumes to Amazon’s Kindle e-book format, where the price will be even lower. This low-cost, high-impact model for academic publishing is fascinating in light of CSI’s research on the future of the book, because it represents one possible path for the future of scholarly publishing, simplifying and speeding up the publishing process without sacrificing quality and rigor.
We urge you to check out both of the books, and we’ll keep you posted as more volumes are released! Drop us a comment below to let us know what you think, or post your thoughts on our Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr!