Went in the wrong direction at university and soon after – ended up in the world of finance. So now do conservation weeks when I can (which mostly have involved killing the wrong plants in the wrong place) and 2 ‘expeditions’ (Earthwatch in Argentina, Biosphere Expeditions in Slovakia)assisting scientists in mammal studies (pampas foxes/wild cats and wolves/lynx respectively.

Can’t think how the blog can be improved. Perhaps, by a parallel translation into Biblical Hebrew (another hobby, along with popular science reading).

I’m going to army next Monday and in 2011 I’m going to start my studies in biology in University of Turku.

And then I had the misfortune of having a radical conversion to a fundamentalist brand of Christianity that pushed creationism and was deeply suspicious of science. I felt “called into the ministry” and attended an evangelical school in St. Paul and got degrees in journalism, sociology, and biblical studies. I wandered around in the wilderness of evangelicalism for about two decades and then gradual came to a place of skepticism and suspicion, started reading more widely and talking to more people of diverse views and regained my love of science and reason, which had gone into hybernation but had not died.

Carl, one of the reasons you have a loyal fan in me is that among the first biology-themed books I read during that period of burgeoning questioning was “At the Water’s Edge,” and it was extremely useful to me in helping to understand evolution. To be clear, accepting evolution was not responsible in any way for my “losing my faith.” Evolution just provided a satisfying–much, much MORE satisfying–explanation for many things ones I had already decided that much about my faith had been untenable.

And that experience with that book has kept me interested in your output, even when you’ve covered topics of less immediacy to me (“Sould Made Flesh” seemed like a fine book…just wasn’t my thing, really). I am most impressed at the amount of new material you are constantly creating for a variety of media, and the way you stay on the cutting edge of discoveries and provide laypersons like me access to some of the brightest and most interesting minds around.

I hope to do some more science writing someday (some of my health writing has come close, but it’s not exactly what I have in mind for myself ultimately) and knowing that you, technically a non-scientist, can produce clear communications that scientists themselves respect is an inspiration to me.

So that’s me in a nutshell, and a summary of why you can find me poppinging in here every other day or so to peek around.

It’s sometimes hard to find popular science writing that isn’t so over-generalized or full of mistakes that I can stand reading it, so it’s a great pleasure to read things that get it right (or at least right enough that I can’t tell the difference). I most enjoy the articles/stories, clicking-through to read them when necessary.

I grew up surrounded by chemists and engineers, so perversely pursued literature and languages yet kept a broad reading interest. I like writers who engage in new ideas or new ways of looking at things and write well while they are doing it.

I found this blog through Twitter and appreciate it because of the above and because I enjoy the quirks you pass on (opera; tattoos; and isn’t ‘The Loved One’ an understated gem?).

I also follow The Language Log, CERN, Darwin Evolution, Jack of Kent, Thomas Palley and others. I find yours is one of the sites that provides an antidote to the tediously smug orthodoxy of most journalism. Thank you.

‘But well to say and so to mean,/ That sweet accord is seldom seen.’ (Wyatt)

As far as my involvement with science, it’s strictly amateur. I go hiking, fishing, or fossil hunting at least once a week. I’ve identified most species of organisms (especially ants) that I come across . I’ve got a large collection of fossils, including a legally owned gar fish I found on private property. My telescope sees more starlight than my body can stay awake for. My thoughts are consistently focused on the natural world.

I’m an elementary school librarian who blogs about reading and critical thinking. I have always been interested in science and science popularizers from Carl Sagan on and have many scientist and skeptical friends. (However, one of them is a parasitologist who will not let me read Parasite Rex. She’s an expert on t. cruzi and seemed miffed about that book for some reason. But I loved the other ones I’ve read and have the ones I have yet to read in my To Be Read stack!)

I don’t know how long I’ve been reading your blog exactly but well before you moved to Discover. I love it and can’t think of any way to improve it. Thanks!

[CZ: Thanks. Send your parasitologist to me and read Parasite Rex for yourself!]

I was scared of science because of the math, but then read a book on chaos theory which helped me overcome my calculophobia, and read as many sci-non-fi books as I could get my hands on. Dating a molecular biologist gave me the confidence to go back to college and start all over, and now I am a scientist through and through. Medicine is less scientific than I thought, though I still love it.

I don’t remember how I found your blog, perhaps through google reader recommendations. Parasite Rex has been on my wishlist for too long, and I also recently subscribed to your podcast. My podcast listening is in remission until my exams are over, so I can’t say more about it. I enjoy your photos of tattoos, and keep wanting to send in my sleeve of diatoms. Not sure how it could be improved, as I appreciate the balance of short posts and longer essays.

For my full deconversion story, click my link.