With a PhD in ecology and a jaunty writing style, Carl Safina isn’t so much a science writer as he is a writer who is a scientist.

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, released last year to wide acclaim, is Mr. Hobbs’s memorial to his Yale roommate Robert Peace's life, telling the story from birth to death in obsessive detail and a clear, heartfelt narrative.

Erik Larson’s advice to those who want to write? “Work as a cop on the side,” he told the Gazette in a recent interview. “Immersing yourself in life is the best thing for writing.” The author did not take his own advice, though.

Stephen Kurkjian’s new book has the characters, intrigue and pace of a mystery novel. All it lacks is the culprit. That’s because his subject matter, the burglary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, remains unsolved.

Mary Norris is concerned about the future of the apostrophe.

“The apostrophe is most vulnerable to the march of progress,” said Ms. Norris, a query proofreader for the New Yorker since 1993.

New York Times Op-Ed columnist Charles Blow was a 20-year-old college student when he had an epiphany that freed him to let go of his past and fully accept himself.