Category Archives: Book Review

All That Is, by James Salter

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Stephen

In 2013 I was captured, captivated by the spare prose of James Salter’s The Hunters, a story of the tense competition between US fighter pilots in the Korean War. All That Is is similarly spare, and like The Hunters quite a masculine … Continue reading →

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Open access and the humanities

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Stephen

At the end of 2013 and 2014 I wrote blog posts on Occam’s Corner (over at the Guardian) to list and briefly review the books I read in each of those years. I want to develop this practice into a good habit … Continue reading →

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Popular neuroscience book suggestions

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Stephen

Neuroscience isn’t really my thing, so when my teenage daughter came asking for suggestions of a good popular book on the subject I took to Twitter. Several people kindly made suggestions, while others asked to be notified of the outcome … Continue reading →

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Losing my virginity and the Café Scientifique Reading List

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Stephen

Last night I lost my virginity. To be precise, I lost my Café Scientifique virginity because I gave a talk about science in a café in Portsmouth at the kind invitation of local organiser Maricar Jagger. It was a really … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Communication, Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Hunters

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Stephen

I had never heard of James Salter till I read a profile of him in the Observer a couple of weeks ago, on the occasion of the publication of his latest book, his first in a long time. Salter is … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Booked

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Stephen

Everyone of a certain pretension likes to think they have a book inside them. I know I do. But I’ve looked and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s in there somewhere but at too early a stage of germination to … Continue reading →

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“You can’t read this book” but you should

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Stephen

Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games spread a warm glow through liberal hearts. His imaginative sweep over British history and culture, which managed to be both reverent and irreverent, was filled with a human chaos that constituted a nicely … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Libel Reform, Science & Politics | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

The Young Atheist’s Handbook by Alom Shaha

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Stephen

Don’t be misled by the title: this is a book about love. Love for life, love for family and love for curiosity, which leads — circularly — to a love affair with books. Don’t be misled by the title: this … Continue reading →

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Open Access by Peter Suber

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Stephen

There has been a fairly torrid debate over open access over the last six months (even longer for aficionados). For people who look in only occasionally it must seem like a storm that swirls around the same arguments time and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Open Access | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Ask

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Stephen

Despite having a physics degree and some notion of the stretchiness of space and time in Einstein’s theory of special relativity, I’ve never felt comfortable with these ideas. In particular, I have never really had a good feel for why … Continue reading →

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The Lady in the Room

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Stephen

She’s here. She’s in the room. I’ve not noticed her before — not in previous years — but every now and then her presence is unmistakable. I am sitting in a lecture theatre in St Andrews University in Scotland, attending … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Scientific Life | 18 Comments

Light work of a heavy matter

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Stephen

Ian Sample’s _Massive – The Hunt for the God Particle_ is a fast-paced account of the quest for the Higgs boson, an elusive particle that is purported to solve the mystery of mass. If you were unaware that the question … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged | 7 Comments