Review

[Review] The Sun Kings, by Stuart Clark

Sat, 06/12/2010 - 15:05

This is the first in an occasional series of posts based on the premise that people send me things for free, and I then review them. If you'd also like to send me anything for free, please get in touch.

Today's subject is a book called The Sun Kings, by Stuart Clark. It also has a subtitle, "The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began." The subtitle is, I think you will agree with me, pretty crap, and the front cover is a dire mixture of red and greenish yellow that would look nice on the dinner plate at my local Indian Restaurant, but doesn't make the cover particularly attractive or easy to read.

Sadly, I expect most people's reaction in a bookstore these days would be "Who the **** is Richard Carrington?"

The iPad: A Review

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 22:14

This blog entry has nothing to do with science whatsoever, so if you don't want to read somebody ranting incoherently about something that has nothing to do with science for seven hundred words or so, then please feel free to leave. Only, this is my blog, and sometimes I feel the need to vent.

So the great brain of Apple, Steve Jobs, has unveiled his greatest innovation yet - the iPad. It's a portable device somewhere between a phone and a laptop, a netbook with its keyboard removed, named after a 21st century feminine hygiene product.

Freakonomics Climate Fail

Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:37

Review: Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

Recently, I saw a rather perplexing poll that showed a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising (57% now vs 71% a year ago), and that this is because of human activity (36% now vs 47% a year ago). This is in sharp contrast to the 97% of active climatologists who agree that human activity is causing global warming and the gradually increasing confidence of the IPCC reports summarising the state of climate science.

An Evening With Edzard Ernst

Fri, 10/09/2009 - 18:33

Yesterday, I went to a talk given by Edzard Ernst at Bradford University. The talk was based on the book he co-wrote with Simon Singh: Trick or Treatment. This is my (unsystematic) review.

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 15:22

I bloody love Christmas.

I once, as a plucky undergraduate, took part in a pantomime based on the Nativity story, up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne - the slogan on the t-shirts was the one above. And I think we all agreed on the sentiment. Although I preferred my one: "An eye for a why-aye leaves everyone blind drunk."

[As guitarist in the band, I was less enamoured with the mandatory wearing of antlers in the band pit; a sartorial albatross that continues to haunt me.]

So, that's why I followed the career path of the musician, rather than joke writer.

Last chance to get shagged by a rare parrot!

Sun, 10/04/2009 - 02:52

And it looks like this parrot, also of remarkable plumage, definitely was not "tired and shagged out after a long squawk" then, eh?! Television viewers in the UK (and perhaps most readers of this blog?) have been fortunate these past few weeks, since the BBC began airing the new documentary series "Last Chance to See" where Stephen Fry joined zoologist Mark Carwardine in retracing a journey the latter shared with the late Douglas Adams when they went around the world looking for species literally on the brink of extinction!

Review of Creation: The US Distributors Were Right

Wed, 09/30/2009 - 16:07

After extensive research, and contact with numerous insiders on both sides of The Atlantic, I can reveal exclusively on layscience.net the real reason that the film Creation failed to secure U.S. distribution. Jeremy Thomas, the film's producer whined that:

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up."

More Feeds: Author Feeds | Category Feeds
E-mail: layscience@googlemail.com

Last Year's Blog

September 1, 2009

The 96th Carnival of the Liberals