Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink? Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight? Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want? Why do […]
Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert Read More »
There aren’t many out-and-out good eggs in British journalism but Ben Goldacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Goldacre and http://www.badscience.net/) is one of them. He mounts a ferocious attack on bad science. Currently (2013) he is Wellcome research fellow in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and has, since 2003, doubled as The Guardian’s scourge of sloppy science reporting,
In February 2021 concerns across the globe are rightly focussed on the COVID-19 pandemic. Humans will survive this disease and so far the global death toll is nowhere near the estimated 50 million dead of the 1918 flu pandemic.(1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) | Pandemic Influenza (Flu) | CDC) Once the virus has been tamed the
Collapse by Jared Diamond Read More »
In 1900 a group of sponge divers blown of course in the Mediterranean discovered an Ancient Greek shipwreck dating from around 70 BC. Lying unnoticed for months amongst their hard-won haul was what appeared to be a formless lump of corroded rock, which turned out to be the most stunning scientific artefact we have from
Decoding the Heavens Read More »
Beginning with Mt. Vesuvius, whose eruption in Roman times helped spark the science of geology, and ending in a lab in the West of England where mathematical models and lab experiments replace direct observation, Richard Fortey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fortey) reveals the latest science about ancient geologic processes. He shows how plate tectonics came to rule the geophysical landscape and
The Earth: An Intimate History Read More »
Britain is a meritocracy in which the brightest and most hard working rise to occupy top positions irrespective of background, right? Wrong. Jeremy Paxman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Paxman) has no trouble in relieving you of that fantasy. Friends in High Places (originally published 1991) is a handy chapter-by-chapter guide to the main groupings – politicians, civil servants, academics, the great and the
Friends in High Places by Jeremy Paxman Read More »
Rosalind K. Marshall’s (http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/m/20165/Rosalind%20Kay+MARSHALL.aspx) Queen of Scots, first published in 1986, quickly established itself as a popular account of Mary, the most romantic and tragic of all Scotland’s monarchs. Her dramatic tale owes its immediacy and power to the fact that it is closely based throughout on the original sixteenth-century sources, and tells the story using, wherever
Arno Karlen (May 7, 1937 – May 13, 2010, http://antiochcollege.org/news/obituaries/2453.html) was an American poet, psychoanalyst, and in particular, popular science writer. He won the 1996 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for science books with Plague’s Progress which deals with the relationship between Man and disease. Terrible diseases have wreaked havoc on human life since the dawn of history.
The successor to Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Enlai), made a famous remark when asked what he considered to be the consequences of The French Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Enlai). He replied – ‘It’s too early to say’. I think we can safely say that the consequences have been deep and widespread. There is a huge industry of historical
The Oxford History of The French Revolution Read More »
