What is Eric Roston reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Eric Roston, author of The Carbon Age: How Life's Core Element Has Become Civilization's Greatest Threat.

His entry begins:

Writers Read asked for book picks during the 30-hour span in which I absorbed John M. Barry's 500-page The Great Influenza, an epic synthesis of seven years of research. The writing is spare: He steps out of the way and lets the material tell the grisly tale of how 50 million to 100 million people succumbed to the inaptly named Spanish Flu in 1918-1919. I reported on the threat of a pandemic flu a couple of years ago, and the world's lack of preparedness on this front causes grave concern.[read on]

Visit Eric Roston's website and blog.

The Carbon Age, "based on three years of research, traces the dynamic, fundamental science that unifies seemingly disparate parts of our experience: Climate, energy, health, industry--the fastest way to learn the most about the world is through the carbon atom."

The Boston Globe included The Carbon Age in its list of the most-anticipated books of 2008, and the book has received endorsements from several prominent thinkers.

Watch Eric Roston on The Colbert Report.

Writers Read: Eric Roston.

--Marshal Zeringue