New Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney

 

Seamus Heaney was a great poet from Ireland who died this year. What I like about this book of his early poems is that he wrote several poems about the Bog People. These are bodies from thousands of years ago that have been preserved in the peat. When I was 7 years old we never went abroad on holiday but rather randomly we went to Denmark. I was taken to see Tollund Man in the town of Aarhus. They think that his throat was slit in a ritual sacrifice and that he was thrown into a bog. The same year that I went to Denmark, Seamus Heaney was writing a poem about Tollund Man. It's on page 31 of the book. As a scientist, I'd be radio-carbon dating the man. I'd study him objectively. What I love about poetry is that it offers an emotional response. I look for objective facts. He tells me what Tollund Man means to him subjectively. It's just a different way of studying life. Seamus Heaney was from a part of Ireland that cut peat for fuel. He uses the poem to draw parallel with the peat areas of Jutland in Denmark. He then seems to me to reflect on the violence in Ireland at that time. Borrow the book. Read that poem and other ones about the bogs eg Grauballe Man on page 69.

 

GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond

 

This book asks the question: How come Europeans conquered the Americas 600 years ago rather than Native Americans conquering Europe? Jared Diamond is a Professor of Geography who happens to be a highly skilled biologist. So he is uniquely qualified to comment on factors to do with the genes in plants and animals that mean that they can be domesticated as well as the fact that Europe stretches from East to West whereas America stretches from North to South. It's quite a fat book but don't let that put you off. The chapters are self contained so you don't need to read a lot to understand what he is saying. In each chapter he clearly outlines what he is about to say and then summarises at the end of the chapter. There is also a lot of comment about historical events. It's such a brilliant hypothesis that it left me wondering where the catch is.

THE UNIVERSE FOR BEGINNERS by Felix Pirani and Christine Roche

 

This book takes you through the history of human thought on the origins of the Universe. It focuses on scientific explanations and gives a good account of what is known as cosmology (cosmos is the Greek word for universe) "For Beginners" is my favourite series on books because they use graphic art to spread out the ideas. They don't "dumb down" but they do make it easier to follow. So if you want an introduction to a modern understanding of the Universe in which we live, this is the book for you.

THE QUANTUM UNIVERSE: EVERYTHING THAT CAN HAPPEN DOES HAPPEN by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

 

Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist who invented rather a lot of Quantum Theory, said something along these lines: if you think you understand Quantum Physics then you don't. This book isn't easy, even if you are in the Sixth Form, but you wouldn't expect it to be, given what I've said about the topic. It is as clear an introduction to the topic as you'll find. Quantum Physics is wonderfully weird. It allows parallel universes and a lot of odd things. You won't understand it all whilst you're still at school but it will give you a great head start for future studies.

 

PS We've got more than one copy of this book - it's that important!

THE CHARACTER OF PHYSICAL LAW by Richard Feynman

 

The cool thing about Richard Feynman is that he never wrote a single book, but there are a lot out there claiming to be by Richard Feynman. What happened is that people taped him and then wrote it up. This book is the write-up of a series of lectures that he gave about how physicists use Mathematics in their study of the world and what it means to talk about the Laws of the Universe. Feynman is brilliant at explaining things. I like the explanation of the dissipation of energy in terms of drying yourself with a wet towel. He's my favourite physicist: he worked hard and was clever but never let the authorities push him around.

 

Someone has put all of Chapter 5 on the Internet

http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/scientists/feynman/past_and_future.html

If you'd rather watch him give the lectures instead of reading the book, Bill Gates has paid to put them online: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/#data=3%7C%7C%7C

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot

 

Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951, but her cells are still alive today - which is why she is said to be immortal. Her cells have been used in all sorts of medical research experiments, for example in developing a vaccine for polio. But the important thing about this book is that the woman who should have been the hero had been completely forgotten. No one asked permission to take her cells. No one consulted her family. A journalist called Rebecca Skloot researched the story and the book is in part her own story she traced Henrietta Lacks's family. You should read this if you are interested in Medicine or medical research. Not only does it contain useful scientific details but the searing investigation of medical ethics and racial justice is essential reading.



SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: Without the Hot Air by David MacKay

 

This is an amazing book, written to be accessible. It goes over the UK's energy problems and possible solutions. David MacKay is a professor at Cambridge University. He backs up his ideas with simple calculations, which are mainly put in a section at the end. It is possible to read what he thinks without looking at the maths. This is probably the best book in our library for Engineering. This book stirred up passionate debate. I even wrote a letter to The Cumberland News in defence of it, because I don't think he wants to cover the whole country in wind farms. David MacKay was so keen that you should read his book that he has made it available for free download on the Internet, if you don't fancy a paper copy: http://www.withouthotair.com/

THE MUSIC OF LIFE by Denis Noble

 

The thesis of this book is that biological systems are not strictly bottom up, with your genes dictating how your cells and bodies work. Denis Noble is a systems biologist. He gives examples in which external conditions can feed down to the genes, changing the way in which a particular gene is expressed (ie how that gene acts in the cell). This is called epigenetics. This is very different to the popular interpretation of Neo-Darwinism put forward by Richard Dawkins in his book "The Selfish Gene" (see previous post). Denis Noble is careful not to rubbish Dawkins but he has his own stance. This book is short and easy to read, and it finishes with a quotation from Wittgenstein. What's not to like?

ERAGON by Christopher Paolini

 

One of my friends lent me this book, telling me how wonderful it was. She was right. Christopher Paolini was 15 when he wrote Eragon but you wouldn't be able to tell. The story concerns a boy called Eragon who lives in an empire run by the evil King Galbatorix. One hundred years ago, Galbatorix killed the Dragon Riders, good people and their dragons who looked after the land of Algaesia. No one was left to stop him. One day, Eragon finds what turns out to be a dragon egg. A dragon called Saphira hatches and together they set off on a series of adventures which might well end up saving the world. What I like best about the series of books is that although there are clearly goodies and baddies, the characters are a bit more complex than that. Some people mean well but do stupid things. Some people seem evil but do decent things. So this might be fantasy fiction but I don't think it's just escapism. You can reflect on the morality of your own actions if you like, Argetlam. In the end, you can change your true name so redemption is possible.

 

I'm half way through the third book Brisingr at the moment.

 

Not my usual part of the library, but they are in this stack of books.

THE CLOUDSPOTTER'S GUIDE by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

This amazing picture was taken by my friend in the hills above Bassenthwaite in January. It shows a cloud inversion and her Brocken Spectre with a glory around it. I'm jealous because I've never seen one. If you want to know how it forms, read the display in the library, and even better, read the book. The book started out as a spoof, I think. He was trying to laugh at spotters, but discovered that clouds are amazing. The book explains all the types of cloud and how to identify them. The bit I like best is about the pilot who fell through the middle of a lightning storm. The book is easy to read - go on, you know you want to!

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? by Thomas Nagel

This is a brilliant introduction to studying Philosophy. It is very short - only 100 pages and in big print so it is very easy to read. I read it in only two evenings. He covers issues that go well with the Physics I teach - how can we know things for certain? He also deals with issues that are more to do with how society is organised - how can we say that some things are right and some things are wrong? This book is required reading if you want to apply for Philosophy at Oxford University - such a simple book but such big ideas!

THE WORLD TREASURY OF PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICS Edited by Timothy Ferris

 

This is an amazing compendium of short sections from other books. It contains pieces by some of the most famous physicists. You are not expected to read it from cover to cover. It is a great book for dipping into and reading a bit here and a bit there. I also like the fact that it contains sections about a more artistic understanding of Science - perhaps a more emotional response. The section of poems contains a couple by Annie Dillard, whose work I love. She is a modern American writer in the Transcedentalist tradition who sees Nature as awe-inspiring.

THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan

Biology again! This book has a brilliant thesis: that you could argue that some plants have evolved to make us spread them round the world and make them successful. It is our desire for particular plants that makes us grow them and make sure that they survive. You could argue that they are "using us" in an evolutionary sense. An example is the potato. It was a weed in South America but has taken over the world. Did you know that tulip bulbs once fetched such large sums of money in Amsterdam in the 1600s that the financial markets that we use today had to be invented to fund it, and that there was a recession when the price was pushed too high and collapsed? One of the plants featured is illegal now because the desire has had big social consequences. This is the controversial bit of the book and by recommending the book, I am not saying that I agree with his views. There is excellent and fair coverage of Genetic Modification.