Nancy Pick

Nancy Pick writes books about science and history. Her award-winning book, 'Do Plants Know Math?' -- coauthored with three scientists -- was published in 2024 by Princeton University Press. This beautifully illustrated volume opens your eyes to patterns in nature, while addressing a profound mystery: Why do Fibonacci spirals appear in so many plants, from sunflowers to artichokes? She worked on the book for 13 years, together with Stéphane Douady, a physicist in Paris; Jacques Dumais, a biologist in Chile; and Christophe Golé, a mathematician at Smith College.

'Do Plants Know Math?' won a prestigious 2025 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers, in the division of Popular Science and Math.

Nancy's first book, 'The Rarest of the Rare,' (HarperCollins), about the natural history collections at Harvard University, was named one of the best science books of the year by Discover magazine.

A graduate of Amherst College, she holds a master's degree from Yale Law School as a journalism fellow. Together with her husband, she raised two sons who are very much loved. She lives in Sunderland, Massachusetts, in a 200-year-old farmhouse under the shadow of Mt. Sugarloaf.