Mason Cross (a.k.a. Gavin Bell) (http://masoncross.net/) was born in Cambuslang and has established himself as a first rate crime writer in a short time. Bell studied English at the University of Stirling and has worked in the voluntary sector, as tax officer, an events coordinator, and a project manager. He has written a number of short […]
Robert Trivers (http://roberttrivers.com/Welcome.html, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trivers) is one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists. In an extraordinary burst of creativity in the 1970s, Trivers established the basis for our current understanding of how evolution shapes an array of behaviours; his work from this decade alone comprises much of the backbone of today’s evolutionary psychology. Thus, even
Wild Life by Robert Trivers Read More »
Samuel Bjørk is the pen name of Norwegian novelist, playwright and singer/songwriter Frode Sander Øien. Øien wrote his first stageplay at the age of twenty-one and has since then written two well received novels, Pepsi Love (2001) and Speed for Breakfast (2009). I’m Travelling Alone is Øien’s first crime thriller.It made #1 on German newspaper
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It is a proud and correct claim that we can make in these islands that much of the foundational science which underpins the modern world took place in the C17 here. The Royal Society (founded in 1660, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society ) was full of brilliant men whose invention, genius and tenacity guided us out of ignorance and superstition. One
London’s Leonardo by Jim Bennett et al Read More »
Andrew Grant (http://www.andrewgrantbooks.com/) , the younger brother of bestselling thriller writer Lee Child, has scorched onto the crime fiction scene with 4 novels since 2009. In False Positive, Alabama detective Cooper Devereaux makes no apologies for his luxury lifestyle or the way he does his job. Most cops haven’t lived the kind of life he has
Atheism didn’t start with Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell or Richard Dawkins in the modern era. Neither can any of Baruch Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, Voltaire, Arthur Schopenhauer, or Friedrich Nietzsche take full credit for exposing the delusion of theism. Atheism began way back in antiquity, and has a long and distinguished pedigree. This superb book by Cambridge Professor of Greek Culture Tim Whitmarsh (http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/directory/professor-tim-whitmarsh) traces these
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Helen Dunmore (http://www.helendunmore.com/) is a prolific and well loved writer across a range of categories – novels, young adult fiction, children’s fiction, poetry, short stories and essays. Her latest novel, Exposure (2016), is ideal as a winter read. With the world closed down outside, let Dunmore and your imagination transport you fully to a different world. That
Robert Crais (http://www.robertcrais.com/) is an American author of detective fiction who has been influenced by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. For those of a certain age who remember and loved Hill Street Blues (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_Street_Blues), Crais was the scriptwriter for that TV series. Now a highly successful writer of crime and thriller fiction, his latest publication is The Promise
It is in line with the perversity of my nature that one of my favourite places in Scotland is Dundee. Aside from its many qualities, one aspect of understanding the city is to know about its history of whaling. (http://www.fdca.org.uk/Whaling_Industry.html) The McManus Galleries (http://www.mcmanus.co.uk/) has excellent displays on the subject, and it was here first in
