{"id":655,"date":"2008-06-19T08:34:57","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T08:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2008\/06\/19\/in_which_chimps_and_maths_come_under_literary_scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2008-06-19T08:34:57","modified_gmt":"2008-06-19T08:34:57","slug":"in_which_chimps_and_maths_come_under_literary_scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2008\/06\/19\/in_which_chimps_and_maths_come_under_literary_scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"In which chimps and maths come under literary scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first Fiction Lab \u2013 a monthly book club at the Royal Institution dedicated to great science novels \u2013 was a rousing success. A diverse collection of scientists and non-scientists gathered to pick apart Philip Balls’ The Sun and Moon Corrupted<\/a> in the atmospheric old Library, along with a couple of TV producers who are considering whether the event might be a good thing to broadcast in future. The author was a good sport about stopping by at the end to answer questions, and we all decanted down to the pub afterwards to continue the lively discussion.<\/p>\n

\nOne of the things we discussed over pints was how best to carry on choosing books, and what sorts of books we want to read. Unfortunately, there are not enough new lab lit novels<\/a> published to sustain a monthly book club devoted to this genre, so we all agreed that we wouldn’t mind reading older novels, or novels in which the science was a bit more peripheral. We will use a democratic process to choose our reading material from August and beyond, but for the 14 July<\/a> session, I’ve chosen Brazzaville Beach<\/em><\/a> by William Boyd.<\/p>\n

\nFirst published in 1991, Brazzaville Beach<\/em> is one of the novels on LabLit’s<\/a> growing list of titles that I have not yet had the pleasure of reading. But I love Boyd’s<\/a> writing \u2013 his most recent title, Restless<\/em>, was a marvelous spy thriller. Brazzaville Beach<\/em> explores the life of ecologist Hope Clearwater during three stages of her complicated life: her marriage to a troubled mathematician, her time studying chimpanzees in Africa, and a subsequent period of reflection in which she looks back and tries to make sense of everything that has gone before. Reviews suggest that the book has a lot of science in it, but that the various complex details are handled (as A New York Times<\/em> reviewer<\/a> put it) like “a considerate host showing a guest around his house, [telling us] exactly what is going on and where to find the light switches”.<\/p>\n

\nOne of the things about the first meeting that everyone particularly liked was the chance to speak about the novel with the author. Although I obviously won’t be able to entice authors along to every gathering, I thought that perhaps it might be an idea to invite along a local scientist who is an expert in the science featured in that month’s novel. So if any of you knows a mathematician or an animal ecologist who enjoys reading and discussing books, let me know and I’ll add their name to my wish list. <\/p>\n

\nIn the meantime, it’s not too late to buy the book from Amazon and come along on the 14th! We’ll be in the newly refurbished RI bar from 7 PM. Drinks are available, admission is free and there is no need to book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first Fiction Lab \u2013 a monthly book club at the Royal Institution dedicated to great science novels \u2013 was a rousing success. A diverse collection of scientists and non-scientists gathered to pick apart Philip Balls’ The Sun and Moon … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}