Book Review: Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Effective Engagement by Faith Kearns

This review was first published by Booklist on April 30, 2021.

With more than 25 years of experience as a science communicator, Kearns has a persuasive vision for how to improve the relationship between science and the public. She covers the history of science communication and offers guidance to make it more effective, illustrated by the experiences of a range of science communicators at work today. Science communication can’t be an objective authority handing down information to the public. Communicators must connect with people in the context of lived experience and the trauma that accompanies the natural and human-made disasters science seeks to solve. Science communicators aren’t separate from the public, instead often living in the communities they serve and affected by the same traumas. Science communication must engage with empathy, negotiate interpersonal and structural conflicts, interrogate the privilege and lack of diversity in the field, and embrace the emotional landscape of science. This book is written for professional science communicators but will appeal to anyone interested in a growing field, and it offers good advice about communication that applies far beyond the confines of science.