About the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Even we at ScienceBlogs have to concede that blogs aren't the only things worth reading, or the only venue that's pushing forward the conversation about science and culture. We're big book readers, and we suspect that many of you are, too.

In keeping with ScienceBlogs' status as the largest online community dedicated to science, and our commitment to being a true digital science salon, we're happy to launch an experiment in a new format for conversation: the ScienceBlogs Book Club.

Here's how it works. We've selected a recently-published science title that piques our interest. (This time, we haven't needed to go far from home: we're discussing Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life, by award-winning science writer and Loom author Carl Zimmer.) We've invited the author, plus three expert guests—fellow authors, bloggers and scientists—to gather at the ScienceBlogs Book Club, where they'll lead a discussion of the title for two weeks. Audience members are invited to read along with the book at home if they choose, and to add their views as comments. The author and guests, in turn, are encouraged to pick up on audience comments and fold them back into the discussion. Picture it as a round-table dialogue or a call-in radio show, committed to print and drawn out in time.

The ScienceBlogs book club is currently in beta mode. If our discussion of Microcosm is a success, we may follow with conversations about other books in the months to come. If there's a feature you'd like to see, or you have a comment or suggestion about the club, please let us know about it by sending an email to books@scienceblogs.com.

Thank you, and keep on reading.

Book Club profile image from wilhei55 on Flickr.