First published 2018. Picador paperback, 2019, pp 374, c.110,000 words (main text). If anyone knows how to argue their case it should be a barrister, and this book is certainly well argued. It is one of those books that makes me mad with every page (just like The Search for the Panchen Lama by Isobel […]
Secret Barrister, The — Secret Barrister Read More »
First published 2020. Picador paperback, 2021, pp 376, c.80,000 words (main text). It had never struck me before that the word ‘alphabet’ is simply a contraction of the names of the first two letters of the ancient Greek alphabet. This is about the only point that Flanders doesn’t make in this book on the subject
Place for Everything, A — Judith Flanders Read More »
First published 2000. Phaidon paperback, 2000, pp 512, 500 illustrations with a paragraph about each. The introduction states: ‘The Garden Book is a comprehensive illustrated survey of 500 of the world’s most influential garden makers – designers, patrons and owners – and their gardens.’ [p3] The editors have carefully chosen their words but perhaps are
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First published 1999. Penguin paperback, 2000, pp 336, c. 120,000 words + maps, index, notes and photographs. This is a real-world tragedy, the story of a unique culture, centuries in the making, slowly fractured by great-power rivalry and then utterly dismantled by fanaticism and political greed. Hilton studied Chinese at university up to post-graduate level
Search for the Panchen Lama, The — Isobel Hilton Read More »
First published 2021. Penguin, paperback, 2022, pp 310 (including 80 pages of notes and index), c.83,000 words (main text). Kate Darling studied economics and law before teaching and researching the legal and ethical implications of technology. This book distills her thoughts on how robots should be considered in these terms. Her big idea is that
New Breed, The — Kate Darling Read More »
First published 1946. Unwin, paperback, 1981, pp 842 (including index of pp 51), c.390,000 words (main text). This is a heavyweight book, and not just its length but also in terms of scope and the concentration required to follow what is being said – at least for the non-philosopher. Russell is attempting to place the
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First published 2016. 4th Estate, paperback, 2017, pp 440, c.150,000 words. du Sautoy is a professor of Mathematics at Oxford University as well as Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science and has presented several television programmes, so he is well qualified as a communicator of science, and this book explores some of the
What We Cannot Know — Marcus du Sautoy Read More »
First published 2018. Sceptre, paperback, 2019, pp 182, c. 45,000 words. What is this book about? Don’t expect to learn any physics from it. It’s a philosophical meditation on how the study of physical phenomena have revealed incredible wonders about the origins, workings and fate of the universe, and also what the current limits to
Consolations of Physics, The — Tim Radford Read More »
First published 2020. Icon Books, paperback, 2021, pp 228, c.65,000 words (main text). Kate Greene was a member of a team who lived for four months in a Mars simulation on Hawai’i. The book describes how she came to be there, what it was like and what she felt about the experience afterwards. Her life
Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars — Kate Greene Read More »
First published 2020. Century, hardback, 2020, pp 478, c.160,000 words. Tim Peake was the second British person to go into space, and he spent six months on the International Space Station [ISS] in 2015. This book is his autobiography, written with the help of a ghost writer. Peake’s career follows that of the ‘typical’ astronaut:
Limitless — Tim Peake Read More »