Skip to main content

Authors - A

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Marc Abrahams

Nancy Ellen Abrams (with Joel Primack)

David Acheson

Amir Aczel

Jeremy Adam (with Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner)

John Adams (with Douglas Dixon)

Peter Adds et al

Charles Adler

John Agar

Nicholas Agar

Joseph d'Agnese (with Gordon Rugg)

Brad Aiken

Mary Aiken

Felix Alba-Juez

Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Amir Alexander

Ken Alibek (with Stephen Handelman)

Jim Al-Khalili

Jim Al-Khalili (with Johnjoe McFadden)

Wade Allison

Ali Almossawi

Ernesto Altshuler

Ben Ambridge

Kingsley Amis

Chris Anderson

Natalie Angier

Anil Ananthaswamy

Emily Anthes

Rob Appleby (with Ra Page) Editors

Dan Ariely

Robyn Arianrhod

Kyle Arnold

Kat Arney

Isaac Asimov

Frances Ashcroft

Peter Atkins

'Dr Austin'

Anthony Aveni

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UFO Drawings from the National Archives - David Clarke ***

This is a lovely little book that, sadly, not every reader will see the point of. If somebody’s anecdotal account of a presumed alien encounter is obviously a misperception of a mundane occurrence, or else too vague – or too far-fetched – to be taken seriously, then it’s all too easy to dismiss it as worthless. But that’s missing the point. The fact that so many incidents are reported in these terms makes the witnesses’ testimony worthy of serious study – to teach us, not about extraterrestrial civilisations, but about our own culture.

That was the core message of David Clarke’s excellent How UFOs Conquered the World published a couple of years ago. Now Clarke is back with another take on the same basic theme.  His day job is Reader and Principal Lecturer in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, but for the last ten years he’s also acted as consultant for the National Archives project to release all of Britain’s official Ministry of Defence (MoD) files on UFOs. Throughout the Cold…
Post a Comment
Read more

Crashing Heaven (SF) - Al Robertson ****

There's an engaging mix of powerful thriller and science fiction in this impressive novel. After the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable, human life is limited to vast space station. Our central character, Jack, has a symbiotic artificial intelligence, Hugo Fist, designed to destroy other AIs in a mysterious collective that is said to have committed an atrocity - but with a kick in the tail that because of an unbreakable contract, Fist will take over Jack's body in a few weeks' time.

Al Robertson packs remarkable technology concepts into the cyber side of this story, from AI corporations that act as a pantheon of gods to the 'puppet' that is Fist (he usually come across as a virtual cross between Mr Punch and an evil ventriloquist's dummy). Robertson does all the cyber stuff so well that it's easy to miss that this is, in effect, a myth in electronic clothing - you could substitute the myths of 'real' Greek gods and magic for what happens here. Alt…
Post a Comment
Read more

The Science of Food - Marty Jopson ****

This is a tasty little volume, packed with kitchen-based science. I must admit, when I saw that the author was the One Show's science expert and Marty Jopson's author photo has that 'Hey, I'm a mad scientist, kids!' look, my heart fell - I was sure the book would be the written equivalent of a 'Wow, look, aren't I clever, I can make this go bang!' science show - but, in fact, it's packed full of (appropriately) meaty scientific content.

I was really pleased that Jopson didn't stick purely to the chemistry of cooking, but launched with the working of some familiar kitchen gadgets - there was genuinely fascinating reading to be had about apparently humdrum equipment in the form of the physics and materials science of a knife and chopping board. And Jopson took us into industrial kitchens too, to reveal, for example, the remarkable process required to make puffed wheat.

Inevitably, the chemistry of cooking - how, for example, proteins denature and em…
Post a Comment
Read more