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The body of science, as it’s collected in the ever-growing volume of dry, formulaic journal articles, has little space for context. It certainly has no room for sentiment. Yet, as science writers know well, it’s the human backdrop to scientific progress that brings science to life and gives it its inspirational power. Astronomer Mike Brown‘s book on his search for large solar system bodies that ultimately led to the now infamous demotion of Pluto, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming
SPIE, the somewhat bizarrely acronymed International Society for Optical Engineering, is a household name for astronomy instrumentalists. Organiser of the biggest global conference on telescopes and instruments, SPIE publish a number of decent journals and some very useful books. I’m a particular fan of their Field Guide series, which are small spiral-bound quick-reference booklets on topics like adaptive optics, spectroscopy or optical testing. I recently saw that SPIE have now released a free iPhone app for their Field Guide to Geometrical Optics
Route of the Sea of Cortez expedition
John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, and though his popularity had waned in the latter stages of his career, he’s been a much-read and well-loved author for many decades. The Nobel committee cited his “sympathetic humour and keen social perception” as the hallmarks of his writing. Steinbeck’s books and stories often deal with war, class, adversity and destitution, and in his lifetime he wrote both fiction and non-fiction; the former frequently based on his real-life experiences as a journalist. But did you know Steinbeck also wrote about science?
A few days ago, I posted this poll about the show The Big Bang Theory, asking the question if it was bad for science (and women). I closed the poll last night, the votes are in, you people have spoken. Here’s the final results from 58 votes – and thanks for voting, polls are fun!
Most of you don’t seem to take sitcoms all that seriously, and that’s probably a sensible attitude. Also, quite a few of you think I should get a life. That’s probably also a fair statement. Beyond that, there’s about twice the number of BBT-lovers as there are BBT-haters, with a smattering of on-the-fencers. Well, you already know where I stand, but before I return back to the life that I do in fact have, let me elaborate.
Over the Easter weekend I finally got round to reading Ben Goldacre‘s Bad Science
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