Science journalists must have a difficult time, I imagine, writing full-length treatments of technical subjects. On the one hand, they are keenly aware of their audiences’ likely unfamiliarity with the details of their subjects—unlike many scientists who have forgotten what it is like not to know what a parsec and a redshift are and expect readers to consult a glossary every page or so. Journalists tend to be careful of using too many terms, and then being very patient in explaining everything they use, which can make for a long book. On the other hand, science journalists are very respectful of their sources, the scientists, and want to be careful not oversimplify or fail to show their own familiarity with those technical terms, for fear of losing the respect of their scientist-sources. So the journalist has a competing impetus to include a more terms, with more explanations. This can make...

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