Monthly Archives: September 2022

Shortlisted

Posted on 27 September 2022 by Henry Gee

I am ecstatic to announce that my latest tome, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, has been shortlisted for the 2022 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize. A popular-science equivalent of the Booker Prize, the Royal Society … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in age proof, anjana ahuja, Apparitions, different, frans de waal, hot air, Isaac Asimov, Jeremy farrar, nick davidson, Peter Stott, rose Anne Kenny, Royal Society, royal society insight investment science book prize, Science Is Vital, spike, the early Asimov, the greywacke, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Shortlisted

In which I cherish useless facts

Posted on 19 September 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

I’ve just had my first letter to the editor published in the Times (of London, that is, not of New York). It wasn’t an urgent missive about science policy or politics or the state of the world or the Queen’s … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Nostalgia | Comments Off on In which I cherish useless facts

Passing the Baton

Posted on 18 September 2022 by Stephen

“The Queen is dead; long live the King!” is such a cliché of stories and films that it was surprising to hear it for real. Not that we did hear it for real. The secrecy surrounding the Queen’s final hours … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Comments Off on Passing the Baton

Queuowulf

Posted on 18 September 2022 by Henry Gee

As I expect you both have, I’ve been wondering why I have felt so moved at the passing of the Queen, someone I never knew or even met. It is a feeling that many people seem to share, so much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, Beowulf, J R R Tolkien, Jorgmungandr, Maria Dahvana Headley, Politicrox, Queen Elizabeth II, queues, Seamus Heaney, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Queuowulf

Impostors at a Conference

Posted on 15 September 2022 by Athene Donald

September has always been a busy time for conferences, and I have attended a fair few in my time. However, the one I attended this week was the first scientific one I recall having impostor syndrome publicly mentioned several times, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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What It Must Have Been Like To Be The Queen

Posted on 9 September 2022 by Henry Gee

Many years ago when the world was young I was one of the four Vice Presidents of the Linnean Society of London. Each year the society would have a ‘conversazione’ — basically a drinks party — in some nice location, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Domesticrox, Linnean Society of London, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen | Comments Off on What It Must Have Been Like To Be The Queen

Of the Rings of Power

Posted on 3 September 2022 by Henry Gee

By now you’ll both have gathered that I have a passing interest in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, so I hope you won’t mind that I attempt a review of the first two episodes of The Rings of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in bear mccreary, celebrimbor, Cinema, feanor, finrod, galadriel, gericault, gil-galad, goblins, harry potter, howard shore, j k rowling, lenny henry, leonard cohen, middle earth, morgoth, numenoreans, orcs, outlander, peter jackson, Sauron, Science-fiction, the hobbit, the lord of the rings, the raft of the medusa, the rings of power, the silimarillion, tolkien, valinor, Writing & Reading, xena warrior princess | Comments Off on Of the Rings of Power

The Cromer Chainsaw Massacre

Posted on 2 September 2022 by Henry Gee

Cast your mind back more than a decade, to 2011, when the Gees were thinking of doing some serious remodelling to the Maison des Girrafes. Around that time, a local DIY store was having a closing-down sale, so we went … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Buddleia, chainsaw, Domesticrox, Gardening, triffid | Comments Off on The Cromer Chainsaw Massacre