A Woolly Good Book RESOURCE RENDEZVOUS - My NSTA

RESOURCE RENDEZVOUS

A Woolly Good Book
HOLLY AMERMAN

 One of History’s Most Iconic Extinct non-fiction, but, by far, my favorite type
 Creatures is a page-turning tale of scien- of non-fiction is the type that reads just
 tists, financiers, Siberian cowboys, and like a novel, weaving you through the
 incredible characters. It was purchased tale in real-time and driven by charac-
 by a movie studio but has been “on ice” ters and intrigue, and that is just what
 (pun intended) since the pandemic be- Ben Mezrich is a genius at. He spent
 gan, but I, for one, certainly hope this hundreds of hours interviewing the sci-
 gets made into a movie soon. entists, funders, students, and others in-
 The premise behind Woolly is the troduced in this book, and managed to
 story of Dr. George Church, a Harvard weave those interviews into a coherent
 geneticist, and his lab’s quest to de-ex- novel that puts you in the center of the
 tinct the Woolly Mammoth. The twists action. I should point out that while this
 and turns of this journey take you from is a non-fiction book, there are parts of
 the Arctic Tundra with a young man the story that Mezrich “imagines” into
 in a decommissioned Soviet Tank, the future, and, as with any noveliza-
 to a private jet trip in Canada, to the tion of current history, there may be
 home of a reclusive billionaire willing other liberties taken with the storytell-
 to spend it all to save the planet. One ing. However, this in no way impedes
 of the most surprising things about this genuine science.
 quest is its intersection with the climate Now, I hope that intro encouraged
 crisis and the unique personality that you, if nothing less, to grab yourself a

H
 Mezrich brings to life while weaving copy, curl up in a chair somewhere over a
 ello, science teaching friends! the story. Like many of you, I enjoy long weekend, or just every night for 20
 This month’s review/recom-
 mend pick has a little something
for everyone and many, many ways in
which to use it with your students. I
am taking a look at the 2017 Ben Mez-
rich book Woolly. While you may not
be familiar with the author’s name or
the book, no doubt you have heard of
the movies based on his other novels,
including Bringing Down the House:
The Inside Story of Six MIT Students
Who Took Vegas for Millions which was
adapted into the movie, 21, or Acciden-
tal Billionaires: The Founding of Face-
book, which was made into the movie
The Social Network. Now don’t worry,
Woolly has nothing to do with Black-
jack, gambling, or eating very inap-
propriate mammals (you’ll have to read
Accidental Billionaires to figure that one
out). But, as with his other books, Wool- George Church at TEDx in 2015: “TEDxDeEx_Mwu4” by TEDxDeExtinction is li-
ly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive censed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 www.nsta.org/highschool 11

RESOURCE RENDEZVOUS

minutes before bed (my new anti-stress
habit attempt for the new year), and en-
joy this great book. From a teaching per-
spective, this book offers a step into both
the content we all love and an essential
look into the sometimes very messy
world of research science. While the
easiest way to use this book is the most
obvious—assign the students to read it
and write or present about it, there are
undoubtedly other ways to use it as well.
Let me first say, I do not recommend
reading this book in pieces! Honestly, it
is too good of a sweeping tale to do that.
There are, however, many stories within
the book that could be used for multiple
purposes in science classrooms, so we
will take a look at a few specific ones to

 HTTPS://PLEISTOCENEPARK.RU/NEWS/
use as you and your students read the en-
tire book (hopefully) or if you are short
on time, look at just a part.
 For a good Nature of Science lesson
(how real science is done, what a lab is
like, the story of a famous researcher),
Chapter 3 is an excellent introduction
to Dr. Church and his lab at Harvard.
For a very different, non-traditional
look at science, zoology, etc., Chapter 5 Expedition to bring Yukitan horses to the park, 2019.
tells the story of Nikita Zimov, a young
scientist bringing a girl home to meet
his dad. But, unlike most “meet the ability, and fairness of the world and goals can become barriers to moving
parents” stories, this one happens on the the events around them, Chapter 11 forward. Mezrich gives us a peek into
edge of Siberia, above the Arctic Circle, could easily be used to help begin a con- a lab in South Korea with similar but
at a place his dad calls Pleistocene Park versation about how science is financed alternate plans for the de-extinction of
(see the resources below for a link to his in the U.S. and worldwide. This chap- a mammoth. The twisting nature of sci-
website—bonus points to students who ter also tells the story of the American ence is on full display as scientists race
email him thoughtful questions). For a passenger pigeon and its journey from to find rare samples and be the first to
quick overview of the Woolly project, five billion to none as America became succeed in their groundbreaking and,
Chapter 9 gives the background of how populated with European settlers with undoubtedly, financially rewarding
it began and why Church got involved; modern hunting weapons. The ideas mission.
it also offers a unique look at the inter- about conservation, preservation, and Another advantage of this particular
section between the press and science, man’s effect on the world around us book is that the resources for looking at
and how and why things often go so could all be explored here. For a fan- this story beyond its pages are vast. If
poorly on both ends when revolution- tastic look at the discovery of CRISPR you have future veterinarians in your
ary science breakthroughs are involved. (and an excellent, understandable ex- classroom, researching Pleistocene Park
 Venture capital (aka billionaires planation of how it works), Chapter and why the chosen animals can live in
with money to spend) plays a promi- 17 talks about the technology and why that environment, and the difficulty in
nent role in scientific research and often it is critical to the Woolly project. Fi- repopulating what is essentially an open-
in what gets studied and what does not. nally, Chapter 25 can help students un- air zoo, could be a great project. For kids
In a growing culture of students who derstand the competitive nature of sci- interested in old Soviet tanks and mas-
question the equity, equality, sustain- ence and how sometimes intersecting sive cars, the Pleistocene Park webpage

12 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

is like an instruction manual on how to on a 9th-10th grade reading level and help show students that there are many
drive through the tundra with many an- is available in many languages. Audio- paths into the field (and a little some-
imals and get everyone there safely. For books are also available; if you check thing about grit as well).
your future scientists, the Woolly project with your media specialist, they may I hope you and your students enjoy
website takes off from where the book have a way to connect students to these Woolly as much as I did and that you
left off and can bring your students up to for free. While diversity, equity, and in- find this helpful in your classroom!
date on where the project is today. They clusion topics are not directly addressed Questions/comments/something you
also have several other de-extinction in the book, the story of how Church’s love with your students you would like
projects, including the passenger pigeon wife, Ting, is treated differently as a to see reviewed? Contact me at holly.
(see Chapter 11), coral, black-footed fer- woman in academia is a good open- amerman@gmail.com. ■
rets, and others. ing into this (Chapter 8). The broad
 Future marine biologists will also international cast of characters helps RESOURCES
find good information about their show science as something other than a https://reviverestore.org/
Ocean Genomics Project, which looks white male-dominated profession. One https://pleistocenepark.ru/
at the 10 most significant threats to our of my favorite stories (Chapter 17) is
oceans and how genomics or biotech that of Justin Quinn, a community col- REFERENCE
might solve them. There are also many lege graduate who sold used cars to pay van der Valk, T., P. Pečnerová, D. Díez-del-Molino,
news reports on the projects, including for his bachelor’s degree that took him A. Bergström, J. Oppenheimer, S. Hartmann,
many from 2021, when the project re- more than ten years to achieve. Despite and L. Dalén. 2021. Million-year-old DNA
ceived a major donation to continue its the lack of a Ph.D., he is as much of the sheds light on the genomic history of
work. And, of course, connecting stu- Woolly team as anyone else and can mammoths. Nature 591 (7849): 265–269.
dents to primary source articles from
Church, Zimov, Yang, and others from
the book is a great way to introduce stu- Test Tubes
dents to the “real world” of scientific lit-
 • DCIs: 5 of 5 (Too many to list) 
erature. A quick Google Scholar search
for any of these scientists will find you • CCs: 5 of 5 (patterns, cause and effect, structure and function) 
many good papers. Additionally, short-
 • SEPs: 5 of 5 (asking questions and defining problems, engaging in argument
ly before this article went to press, a
 from evidence, constructing explanations and designing solutions, obtaining,
Nature article was released about the
 evaluating, and communicating information) 
sequencing on the oldest piece of DNA
ever, more than 1 million years. Natu- • Ease of Use for Teachers: 5 of 5 
rally, it was from a Woolly Mammoth
 • Interest to Students: 4.5 of 5 
(van der Valk et al., 2021).
 For accessibility, the book is written

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