December 2021, ScientificAmerican.com 71STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCU-
LATION 1. Publication title: Scientific American. 2. Publication
number: 509-530. 3. Filing date: 10/1/2021. 4. Issue frequency:
monthly. 5. Number of issues published annually: 12. 6. Annual
subscription price: U.S. and its possessions, 1 year, $49.99; Cana-
da, 1 year, $59.99; all other countries, 1 year, $69.99. 7. Complete
mailing address of known office of publication: Scientific Ameri-
can, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004-1562,
USA. 7a. Contact person: Karen Dawson; telephone: (917) 460-
- Complete mailing address of the headquarters or general
business office of the publisher: Scientific American, One New
York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004-1562, USA. 9. Full
names and complete mailing ad dress of publisher, editor and
managing editor: Publisher, Jeremy A. Abbate, Scientific Ameri-
can, One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004-1562,
USA. Editor, Laura Helmuth, Scientific American, One New York
Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004-1562, USA. Managing
Editor, Curtis Brainard, Scientific American, One New York Plaza,
Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004-1562, USA. 10. Owner: Springer
Nature America, Inc., One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York,
NY 10004-1562, USA. 11. Known bondholders, mortgagees and
other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of
total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: none.
- Complete mailing address of the headquarters or general
- Tax status: has not changed during preceding 12 months.
- Publication title: Scientific American. 14. Issue date for circula-
tion data: September 2021. 15. Extent and nature of circulation:
a. Total number of copies (net press run): average number of cop-
ies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 292,729; number of
copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 285,442.
b. Paid circulation (by mail and outside the mail): ( 1 ) mailed out-
side-county paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541 (includes
paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies
and exchange copies): average number of copies of each issue
during preceding 12 months: 175,171; number of copies of single
issue published nearest to filing date: 170,829. ( 2 ) mailed in-coun-
ty paid subscriptions stated on PS Form 3541 (includes paid dis-
tribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies and ex -
change copies): average number of copies of each issue during
preceding 12 months: 0; number of copies of single issue pub-
lished nearest to filing date: 0. ( 3 ) paid distribution outside the
mails, including sales through dealers and carriers, street ven-
dors, counter sales and other paid distribution outside USPS®:
average number of copies of each issue during preceding 12
months: 48,009; number of copies of single issue published
nearest to filing date: 44,638. ( 4 ) distribution by other classes of
mail through the USPS (e.g., First-Class Mail®): average number
of copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 0; number of
copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. c. Total
paid distribution (sum of 15b ( 1 ), ( 2 ), ( 3 ) and ( 4 )): average num-
ber of copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 223,180;
number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date:
215,467. d. Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside
the mail): ( 1 ) free or nominal rate outside-county included on PS
Form 3541: average number of copies of each issue during pre-
ceding 12 months: 157; number of copies of single issue pub-
lished nearest to filing date: 154. ( 2 ) free or nominal rate in-
county copies included on PS Form 3541: average number of
copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 0; number of
copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 0. ( 3 ) free
or nominal rate copies mailed at other classes through the USPS
(e.g., First-Class Mail): average number of copies of each issue
during preceding 12 months: 0; number of copies of single issue
published nearest to filing date: 0. ( 4 ) free or nominal rate distri-
bution outside the mail (carriers or other means): average num-
ber of copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 13; num-
ber of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 11. e.
Total free or nominal rate distribution (sum of 15d ( 1 ), ( 2 ), ( 3 ) and
( 4 )): average number of copies of each issue during preceding 12
months: 170; number of copies of single issue published nearest
to filing date: 165. f. Total distribution (sum of 15c and 15e ): aver-
age number of copies of each issue during preceding 12 months:
223,350; number of copies of single issue published nearest to
filing date: 215,632. g. Copies not distributed: average number of
copies of each issue during preceding 12 months: 69,379; number
of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 69,810.
h. Total (sum of 15f and 15g ): average number of copies of each
issue during preceding 12 months: 292,729; number of copies of
single issue published nearest to filing date: 285,442. i. Percent
paid ( 15c divided by 15f times 100): average number of copies of
each issue during preceding 12 months: 99.9%; number of copies
of single issue published nearest to filing date: 99.9%. 16. Total cir-
culation does not include electronic copies. 17. Publication of
statement of ownership: If the publication is a general publica-
tion, publication of this statement is required. Will be printed in
the December 2021 issue of this publication. 18. I certify that all
information furnished on this form is true and complete. I under-
stand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information
on this form or who omits material or information requested on
the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and
imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).
Signature and title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager or
Owner: (signed) Karen Dawson, Head of Logistics, Americas.
Date: 10/1/2021.
IN BRIEFbottom” of “wholly unknown nature,” which ap -
pear ed to hang suspended between the surface
of the ocean and the sea bed, at a depth of around
1,50 0 feet. First mistaken for a chain of sunken
islands, it was later detected to stretch across
much of the ocean and was observed to move—
rising to near the surface at night and sinking into
the depths during the day, “apparently strongly
repelled by sunlight.” This phenomenon we now
call the deep scattering layer is made up of millions
of small fish, but when viewed from 1951 its first
detection retains enough proximity and mystery
to send a shiver up one’s spine. What Carson’s
descriptions most bring to mind is the sentient
ocean of Stanisław Lem’s 1961 sci-fi classic
Solaris —and that same sense of being in the pres-
ence of an unknown, unnerving being with its
own, incomprehensible agenda.
Of the trilogy, The Sea Around Us is by far the
most vivid and intoxicating. Partly this is a function
of the strangeness of its subject matter, the
expanse of the great black deep. The relatively pro-
saic setting of the third book, The Edge of the Sea —
the seashore, where so many of us have trundled
with our little nets—perhaps inevitably pales in
comparison. Still, Carson is our constant, erudite
companion, who chatters companionably of the
most interesting crabs and seaweeds, crustaceans
and barnacles she knows, all prettily accompanied
in this edition by the original illustrations by Car-
son’s friend and colleague Robert W. Hines.
Truly, this third book is more of a field guide
and was always intended as such, but it nonethe-
less was produced with C arson’s trademark flair:
snail shells are “coiled like a French horn”; comb jel-
lies move with “elusive moonbeam flashes.” She
recalls one rock pool “only a few inches deep, yet it
holds all the depth of the sky within it, capturing
and confining the reflected blue of far distances.”
Carson once declared that if there was poetry
in her books about the sea, it was not because she
put it there “but because no one could truthfully
write about the sea and leave out the poetry.”
Perhaps. But one cannot help but think of Carson
working late into the night, crafting her perfect
sentences with the precision of a jeweler. She was
a scientist, yes, but also a disciple of the sea. These
books are devotional works.
The sea, through Rachel Carson’s eyes, is a wild
and majestic place. At its edges, contemplating
the waves, she writes, “ We have an uneasy sense
of the communication of some universal truth that
lies just beyond our grasp.” Though I live on an
island, this had not previously occurred to me. Now,
having read Carson’s Sea Trilogy, I look out my win-
dow and see the water as if for the first time.
The Making of Incarnation:
A Novel
by Tom McCarthy. Knopf, 2021 ($28)Tom McCarthy’s inventive latest
novel follows Mark Phocan, an
employee of a motion-capture firm
assisting with the special effects of sci-
fi thriller Incarnation. As Phocan deploys the com-
pany’s technology across contexts from war to sex,
he becomes entangled in a mystery involving a fic-
tionalized version of industrial psychologist and
engineer Lillian Gilbreth, whose time-and-motion
studies may have uncovered something far more
valuable than saved labor. Though intensely tech-
nical, these nested narratives are steeped in mysti-
cism, linking time, light and energy to the nature
of being. — Dana DunhamElephant Trails:
A History of Animals and Cultures
by Nigel Rothfels.
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021 ($40)Historian Nigel Rothfels traces the
human relationship with elephants
from prehistoric days to the present,
writing with compassion for the
mighty mammals and condemnation for our
abhorrent treatment of them. He captures the
ache and cruelty of colonization and enslave-
ment; it is, at times, a gruesome read but a sober-
ing one. This book will appeal to those fascinated
by the mythology and legacy of elephants, as
well as animal lovers who fight for the liberation
of all living creatures. — Jen CoxThe Forgotten Botanist:
Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life
of Science and Art
by Wynne Brown. University of Nebraska
Press, 2021 ($27.95)Sarah Plummer Lemmon was a 19th-
century frontierswoman. She nursed
wounded Civil War soldiers, estab-
lished the first librar y in Santa Barbara,
lobbied for the golden poppy as California’s state
flower and became a prolific botanical illustrator.
She also collected and described numerous plant
specimens across the American West, but for ye ar s
her scientific discoveries were credited only to
“J. G. Lemmon & wife.” In this attentive and richly
researched portrait, writer Wynne Brown honors
not just Plummer Lemmon’s many accomplish-
ments but her verve and courage. — Tess Joosse