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Books and Arts

Nature 451, 129-130 (10 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/451129b; Published online 9 January 2008

Open Innovation Challenges

Rex appeal

Frank A. J. L. James1

BOOK REVIEWEDThe Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802–1856

by Ralph O'Connor

University of Chicago Press: 2008. 448 pp. $45

BOOK REVIEWEDVictorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences

by Bernard Lightman

University of Chicago Press: 2007. 528 pp. $45

 The popularization of science has become a growth area for historical study. It is a natural continuation of the historian's quest to understand the social and cultural context and impact of science, and a consequence of scientists' admonitions over the past 20 years that the public should be better informed.