What a wonderful book. I picked up a copy after I saw Hannah Fry's talk at EMF discussing algorithms and how they used pigeons to detect breast cancer, so I couldn't wait to read the book once it came out. I read it over two days and it did not disappoint. I loved that the final chapters covered...
Thursday, 20 December 2018
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Book Review: The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
This was a fantastic book. Very well written and covered a broad history of codes and cryptography, and also well suited to a lay-audience, as it included worked examples. I found the beginning few chapters a little slow and drier than the rest of the book, and thoroughly enjoyed the chapters on...
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan
I have been meaning to read this book for ages, but initially I was disappointed. The beginning of the book is dry and very focused on corn, in fact the first 60% of the book is focused in the intensive farming industry focused around corn. I found it hard to relate to this part of the book as it...
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Book Review: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
I loved Caitlin's YouTube channel and was curious to check out her book. It is a fascinating and honest journey of finding yourself and also confronting your own mortality. I cried a lot reading this book, as so many parts touched me.I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in taboo...
Friday, 21 September 2018
Book Review: The Geek Manifesto: Why Science Matters by Mark Henderson
A wonderful book looking at the importance of the geek vote and the difference good science could make to politics if it was organis...
Wednesday, 8 August 2018
Book Review: I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
This is a fantastic book, I felt like a learned something new on every page. It is well written and very relatable, focusing on human impacts and stories. By the end you feel like you have taken a long journal into a new world of microbes and completely change the way you think of these interactions...
Thursday, 28 June 2018
Book Review: Inferior
This was a fascinating book exploring the scientific misconceptions and flawed research around gender and women. The book tracks the different research around women from birth, fertility to old age. I was shocked to learn that Darwin thought that all women had evolved to have inferior intelligence,...
Monday, 25 June 2018
Book Review: Catching Breath: The Making and Unmaking of Tuberculosis by Kathryn Lougheed
This was a fascinating book, and I had no idea the history and current state of TB was so complex. I, like many people, think of TB as a disease of the past, something in a Dickens novel. I was also amazed to learn about the interplay between diabetes and TB, and HIV and TB. I found this book an...
Friday, 8 June 2018
Book Review: Butterfly Isles a Summer in Search of Our Emperors and Admirals by Patrick Barkham
This was a beautiful and well-written book, capturing the highs and lows of searching for elusive butterflies throughout the UK. It was fascinating to understand how each butterfly prefers a specific time of year and specific weather conditions and plants, and all these factors make it a huge challenge...
Wednesday, 23 May 2018
Book Review: The Man Who Ate the Zoo: Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of natural history by Richard Girling
What an amazing book and a fascinating life. Frank Buckland led a fascinating life and his contributions to science are sadly mostly forgotten. From naming coprolites to revolutionising the commercial fishing industry, along with numerous scientific discoveries in multiple fields, his passion for...
Friday, 4 May 2018
Book Reviews: Alex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
This book was fascinating, but I would say it’s not designed for a very general reader, as it does rely on some understanding of mathematic principles. Some concepts left me confused, and I didn’t really understand the finger multiplication section, but it was fascinating.
This is a wonderful...
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
Book Reviews: Humble by Nature by Kate Humble
This is a lovely book focusing on Kate Humble's passion for the countryside and country life. It is a wonderful journey through the trials and tribulations of preserving farming life and what it involved to be a modern smallholder. This is a lovely quick-read for anyone interested in farming,...
Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Book Review: A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War by Patricia Fara
This is a beautiful book, exploring the stories of the many forgotten women fighting for recognition in both science and in the voting booth in the period around the First World War. This book highlights their contribution to science, and their victories and the set-backs. At times I found...
Friday, 2 March 2018
Book Review: Adventures of a Young Naturalist: The Zoo Quest Expeditions by David Attenborough
I was highly anticipating the release of this book, as it covers the early career of Attenborough and the programs which changes the world of nature documentaries. However, I was disappointed, I think this is due to the book being based on Attenborough's original accounts of what occurred on his...
Book Review: The Orchid Hunter: A young botanist's search for happiness by Leif Bersweden
This is a beautiful book written with great passion, and follows a wonderful journey across the UK to find all 52 species of native orchids. However, it just didn't grab me. This book is definitely written for botanists, because of the amount of plant and Latin names. It would be nice to get to...
Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Book Review: Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
This book is very reminiscent of Freakonomics, but I preferred the structure of Freakonomics and the chapters felt more gripping and succinct. This was still a very good book, full of fascinating information elucidated from our 'Big Data' era. Many times during reading this book I found myself exclaiming...