Baker, Beth

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Baker, Beth

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Takoma Park, MD. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist. Worked previously as dialysis technician, hospital ward clerk, secretary, assembly line worker, and peace activist. Producer and interviewer for documentary, Coming of Age: The Path to Adulthood.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Award for best feature writing, Cooperative Communicators Association, 1992; two Gold Awards, National Mature Media, 1998 and 2006, for reporting on aging; media fellowship, Case Western Reserve University, 2004; Honor Book Award, Society of School Librarians International, and Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the Year designation, both 2002, both for Sylvia Earle: Guardian of the Sea.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

Sylvia Earle: Guardian of the Sea, Lerner Publications (Minneapolis, MN), 2001.

Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes, Vanderbilt University Press (Nashville, TN), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including BioScience, Washington Post, Washingtonian, Ms., Ebony, and AARP Bulletin.

SIDELIGHTS:

Beth Baker is a freelance journalist whose first published book was a biography of Sylvia Earle, a woman who was a pioneer in the field of marine biology. Sylvia Earle: Guardian of the Sea is written for a middle-school reading audience. It tells the life story of Earle, who became a distinguished marine biologist at a time when few women entered the field at all. As a small child, Earle was enthralled by the life in a pond in her backyard. Her natural curiosity led her into science, and in the late 1950s she began her work in marine biology. One of the highlights of her career was being part of a women's team in a NASA project called Tektite II. The Tektite teams lived in an underwater laboratory, inspired by the Skylab space station. They worked on undersea research projects, but as with Skylab, the Tektite project was also an experiment to see how well scientific teams could work in extremely isolated environments. Earle was a pioneer in parts of the ocean that had never before been explored. She walked the ocean floor, worked with a National Geographic filmmaker on a documentary about whales, and was one of the first people ever to swim with whales. She later went on to become an activist in the campaign against whaling. According to reviewer Patricia Manning in the School Library Journal, Baker's biography gives a sense of Earle's "enthusiasm for diving and her daring in undertaking dangerous projects."

Baker wrote for a very different readership in her next book, Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes. Baker had worked in health care and written on health-care issues extensively prior to writing this book. When she began work on Old Age in a New Age, her intent was to answer key questions about elder care. She researched the subject and traveled for four years, visiting various residential facilities for older people and interviewing leaders in the field of elder care. She hoped to find solutions to longstanding problems, such as how the dignity and personhood of patients with chronic conditions can be preserved, how staff members at care facilities can be inspired to better levels of care, and what different models could be applied to the situation in order to improve it. The many issues involved are "are addressed with an evenhanded thoroughness as well as an engaging style by Beth Baker," according to Barbara L. Blaylock in a review for Families, Systems & Health. She concluded: "As a member of the aging baby boomer generation, I hope healthcare providers of all stripes, as well as community leaders and agents of change, read this book."

Baker told CA: "My books Sylvia Earle and Old Age in a New Age were both on subjects about which I felt passionate. With Sylvia Earle, I found her heroism and commitment inspiring and thought she would be a wonderful role model for girls. Her life as a deep-sea explorer makes for an exciting tale for young people. It was a joy and honor to be able to spend time with Sylvia and her family as I worked on the book.

"Similarly, I decided to write Old Age in a New Age after reporting on a new movement to transform eldercare in our country. Again, I found the leaders of this movement to be inspiring and committed—the kind of people I could spend hours interviewing. I also learned a lot about how our society marginalizes those who are old and disabled.

"Writing a book is more work than I ever imagined. It is truly a labor of love, one that is deeply satisfying, even when it is not lucrative. Perhaps even more than the writing itself, I enjoy the chance to interview people from all walks of life. That is the privilege of a nonfiction writer: to always meet new people who are willing to share their stories with you.

"Like all serious writers, I hope that my work changes how readers view my subject. My wish is that my books will open their minds to new ways of thinking, just as my own mind has been opened. Getting reader feedback is something that continually surprises and delights me."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 2000, Helen Rosenberg, review of Sylvia Earle: Guardian of the Sea, p. 432.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October, 2007, J. Clawson, review of Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes, p. 316.

Families, Systems & Health, December, 2007, Barbara L. Blaylock, review of Old Age in a New Age, p. 455.

Health Progress, January-February, 2008, Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, review of Old Age in a New Age, p. 67.

School Library Journal, November, 2000, Patricia Manning, review of Sylvia Earle, p. 168.

Science Books & Films, January, 2001, review of Sylvia Earle, p. 25.