Dr Hilary Hamnett is a forensic toxicologist and Associate Professor of Forensic Science at the University of Lincoln, UK. In this book she reviews a number of fictional stories involving poisoning, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Casino Royale, The Count … Continue reading →
This is a nice little* book. I felt the blurb on the back says everything I wanted to say about it. Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile anyone who is curious about weather. Expertly … Continue reading →
Another trip on the ‘Serious Scientific Answers to Daft Questions’ merry-go-round from the author of the xkcd online comic. Covers such weighty matters as “How many pigeons would it take to lift an average person?”, “Can all the world’s bananas … Continue reading →
This is an excellent book! Almost everyone learns Pythagoras’ Theorem at school, which says that when the squares of each of the two shorter sides of a right-angle triangle are added together, the answers equals the square of the longest … Continue reading →
If you already know the web comic xkcd you’ll know what to expect from its creator and author Randall Munroe. You’ll probably have read his earlier book ‘What If?’, or online extracts from it. In this latest publication Munroe applies … Continue reading →
In this book Rutherford explains what the latest research in DNA tells us about humans – how we evolved, where we came from and how each of us is both unique and closely related to everyone else. He sets out … Continue reading →
Randall Munroe is the creator of the web comic xkcd.com, home of all geeks sufficiently socialised to have a sense of humour. In this book he applies rigorous* logic to analyse the often weird questions people ask him. Questions like … Continue reading →
Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden explore the role quantum weirdness might play in many processes in living organisms – avian navigation, the sense of smell, photosynthesis and more. The scientific evidence is growing, although as they themselves acknowledge their conclusions … Continue reading →
This is classic David Deutsch. He is a radical realist: there is a real world out there, we can know about it, and there is no limit to our ever-increasing knowledge. He has no time for doubters and in his … Continue reading →
This isn’t really a review of “Cycles of Time”: I’m not going to discuss the structure of the book or the quality of the writing. Instead I’ve tried for my own benefit to summarise what I learned from reading it. … Continue reading →