{"id":693,"date":"2009-01-18T23:08:19","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T23:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2009\/01\/18\/in_which_i_prepare_for_a_bout_of_lepidoptery\/"},"modified":"2009-01-18T23:08:19","modified_gmt":"2009-01-18T23:08:19","slug":"in_which_i_prepare_for_a_bout_of_lepidoptery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2009\/01\/18\/in_which_i_prepare_for_a_bout_of_lepidoptery\/","title":{"rendered":"In which I prepare for a bout of lepidoptery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Live in or near London and interested in reading lab lit<\/a> — novels about science or scientists? It’s never too late to join Fiction Lab, our monthly geeky book club at the Royal Institution. <\/p>\n

\nLast Monday we dispatched our first book of 2009 — This Thing of Darkness<\/em> by Harry Thompson, a Patrick O’Brien-esque tale of the voyage of the Beagle told primarily from the point of view of its troubled, intelligent gentleman captain, Robert FitzRoy. The book got fairly good marks from our snarling den of hard-to-please hyenas (you know who you are), though weighing in at about 900 pages was not seen as an asset. Nevertheless, our most negative member was as usual not impressed: he thought the book was ‘naval porn’ and should have been retitled This Thing of Dreariness<\/em>. Also, the prevailing view was that Darwin was made out to be a two-dimensional caricature, as if the author was so interested in showing us the mortal behind the godlike reputation that he over-compensated just a wee bit and made him into a crashing bore. <\/p>\n

\nNevertheless, most of us agreed that the portrayal of the voyage was vivid and engaging. One lass, bless her, hadn’t read the book and knew nothing about Fiction Lab but showed up on the night solely because she’d been round to see the current exhibition at the Natural History Museum, was baffled at how all those specimens could possibly have fit on such a small ship and wanted to learn more. (The answer? Crates were shipped off at every port of call.)<\/p>\n

\nFor the record, though it certainly ended tragically, I liked the book and felt I learned a lot. And I appreciated the occasional touches of humor. My favorite phrase from the book? “The poop deck was cleared of tortoises”.<\/p>\n

\nBecause of our late start this year, time is getting short, but you still have time to buy and read next month’s book, The Behaviour of Moths<\/em> by Poppy Adams \u2013 especially as it is only 305 pages in a lovely large font. <\/p>\n

\nThe novel, it is said, invites us into the world of two elderly sisters who have not seen each other for decades, reunited in the sinister old family home. Ginny, a recluse who never leaves the house and survives by gradually selling off the family furniture, also happens to be the world’s foremost expert on moths. When her sister Vivi comes to visit, a dark family secret gradually emerges from a network of flashbacks and childhood memories. Why has Vivi chosen to return after 47 years? Can everything that Ginny remembers about their childhood actually be trusted? And what is she trying to hide in the attic?<\/p>\n

\nI’ve only just started, but already have a feeling that this might be one more for the ladies — which is not necessarily a bad thing after 900 page of hoisting the mainsail and hosing down the barnacles. I’m fairly certain it’s going to be what I call ‘lab lit lite’, with the science pretty peripheral to the overall story, but after a few pages, I want to keep reading. The author, a science documentary maker for the BBC and Channel 4, lives in London, but so far her agency has resisted the charms of my various email attempts to invite her along on the night \u2013 I’ll keep you posted! In the meantime, buy yourself a copy and join us at 7 PM on 2 February.<\/p>\n

\nNote added in proof<\/em>: I see that Nature Network still hasn’t fixed the bug that prevents us from posting urls that have ampersands in them, but if you google the RI and then type the name of the novel into the search box, the relevant Fiction Lab page will come up. How deliciously old-fashioned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Live in or near London and interested in reading lab lit — novels about science or scientists? It’s never too late to join Fiction Lab, our monthly geeky book club at the Royal Institution. Last Monday we dispatched our first … 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-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693","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=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}