Ann Parson will give an illustrated talk in connection with her new book The Birds of Dog; An Historical Novel Based on Mostly True Events. The story opens in the early days of the Boston Society of Natural History, closes with the founding of the Audubon Society, and along the way brings together diverse stories about 19th-century America’s emerging sciences and its first scientists. Ann will take us back to that early era, touch on lost stories and forgotten pioneers, read from her book, and explain what inspired her to write her first fiction after several nonfiction titles. The Boston Society of Natural History eventually evolved into Boston’s Museum of Science.
A science journalist, Ann has written extensively about the environment, medicine, and technology. Her previous titles include The Proteus Effect; Stem Cells and Their Promise for Medicine, selected for Library Journal’s annual list of best science books; Decoding Darkness; The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer's Disease, co-authored with neuroscientist Rudolph Tanzi; the memoirs Antonio Ferri; Partisan Scientist, about the revered father of supersonic flight, and The House That John Built; Ten Generations of the Pickering Family in Salem. Her book can be purchased at the event or from online booksellers.