By STAFF - THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Added: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:13 UTC

PZ Myers is an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota at Morris and the man behind the popular science blog Pharyngula.

Q: What’s the first thing you read in the morning? A: My site, Pharyngula, of course. I have to clean up spam, catch up with the conversation, and feed the fires with my own contributions.

Q: What newspapers and magazines do you subscribe to or read regularly? What do you read in print versus online or mobile? A: I read Nature, Science, BioEssays, Development, Developmental Biology, PNAS [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] regularly, and a few other journals irregularly. I read almost nothing printed on paper—I prefer to download PDF's and read them on my laptop or iPad. Newspapers I might read occasionally for the novelty, usually if there's one left on the table at the coffee shop. I do browse The New York Times online

Q: What books have you recently read? A: I read a book every day or two, except lately when I've been swamped with work. Last book read was Lone Frank's Mindfield: How Brain Science Is Changing Our World, before that was Oren Harman's The Price of Altruism, Erik Larson's Thunderstruck, a fun little book called Quirks of Human Anatomy by Lewis Held, it goes on and on. I tend to slurp up any printed matter that stumbles before my eyes.

Q: Has your reading of professional journals changed in the past 10 years? If so, how? A: Not in subject matter, which remains almost entirely in developmental and evolutionary biology. I have picked up browsing the PLoS journals. The big change is in the switch to electronic media—10 years ago, it was a matter of regular trips to the library to photocopy papers. Now I just stuff PDF's onto a hard drive.

Q: Do you read blogs? If so, what blogs do you like best? A: My faves right now are Why Evolution Is True, Sandwalk, Butterflies and Wheels, ERV, a few others—anything where the personality of the author shines through, and I do favor hard-edged godless science writers who don't mince words.
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TAGGED: BOOKS, INTERVIEWS