Bad decisions cast a long shadow. But the benefits of good decisions can last a surprisingly long time.
Author: simongardner344
Book Review – How to Draw a Map (sort of…)
This is an attractively produced book which desperately needed an editor.
Book Review – Neurodivergence, a view from within
Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships By Dr Camilla Pang Viking/Penguin Books, 2020 (239 pages) [This review was originally written for the BAE Systems (Maritime Services) Mental Health First Aiders newsletter] Camilla Pang has a PhD in biochemistry and works as a postdoctoral researcher in bioinformatics. She is very… Continue reading Book Review – Neurodivergence, a view from within
Book Review – First Class: A History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps
“What a country chooses to display on its postage stamps can be revealing in itself, and often what is not shown is most telling.”
Book review – Reductionism: A Beginner’s Guide
by Alistair I M Rae, 2013, Oneworld Beginners Guides This is a well-organised and clear book, but I was disappointed that it seems imbalanced. The majority of the book develops the bottom-up picture of science from fundamental physics through chemistry, the properties of matter in bulk, the extraordinary engines of biochemistry and into the structure… Continue reading Book review – Reductionism: A Beginner’s Guide
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
What links this Ethiopian postage stamp, the Trojan War, Thomas the Tank Engine and Pink Floyd?
Star of wonder, star of light
This is a short book – you could read it in an evening – and doesn’t need any hard science to understand. There are no equations or even pictures, but he explains some tremendous concepts in astrophysics, cosmology, plate tectonics and particle physics with infectious enthusiasm.
Book Review – Index, A History of the
“The humble back-of-book index is one of those inventions that are so successful, so integrated into our daily practices, that they can often become invisible.”
New Horizons – Old Harmonies
[Originally written for New Zenith, newsletter of the Vectis Astronomical Society, 3 January 2019] Early on New Year’s Day [2019], the New Horizons spacecraft successfully achieved its long anticipated flyby of Ultima Thule. At about 43 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun, this was the furthest encounter yet with an object in… Continue reading New Horizons – Old Harmonies
Book Review – The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
“… the roots of the problems are not so much in the individuals’ bodies or brains, but in the society in which they live.”