Publishing lore has it that collections of short stories don't sell - yet shorter writing often works wonderfully in science fiction and has been a major contributor to SF history. I (like, I suspect, other SF enthusiasts) would like to see many more such books. This one is diving into the past (2006), but if you have read any books set in Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space universe (which includes the Prefect Dreyfus novels) it does a brilliant job of filling in some gaps (past and future) of that massive world building exercise. As a collection it's unusual both in that all eight of its contents fit in that same setting, and that it mostly comprises novellas and long stories, ranging in length from 17 to 67 pages. I personally prefer more shorts and greater variety, but the way that it gives context for the novels is impressive. Three of the stories are arguably SF horror - picking up on a recurring theme of the impact of the future ability of science to modify humans th

Many of us from the UK of a certain age will remember a series of little hardback books called The Observer's book of... whatever - this new series from Princeton University Press harks back to this format, in this case taking on the weather. As yet, every other book in the series is on a type of organism, ranging from beetles and dinosaurs to trees - so it's interesting to see if the format works for a rather different topic. The structure is a familiar one in illustrated book series of two-page spreads, covering a handful of topics under each of a range of categories - in this case 12 sections. Unfortunately, for me this felt like a book that should have had far bigger pages condensed down to a point where it might have been beneficial to provide it with a free magnifying glass. The text was very small indeed. This is a shame, as much of the content is interesting,  cramming in more information than is common in the illustrated spreads style. I found the order of the section

Thanks to its subtitle of 'a satirical look at cutting-edge science', I totally misunderstood what this book was about at first glance. The most speculative aspects of science, notably cosmology and astrophysics, are replete with theories unsubstantiated by experiment or observation, highly reminiscent of the concept of 'the invisible dragon in my garage' which is a theory that can't be disproved, but certainly isn't science. The title, however, is far more literal. This is a book on what would be faced if we were to attempt to construct a dragon given our best current biological science plus a touch of speculation. It's a fun idea, but the book is something of a curate's (or possibly dragon's) egg.  Some of the chapters are excellent. I particularly enjoyed one on what would be necessary to have a fire-breathing dragon, which ranges from generating and safely storing the flammable substance to managing to ignite it, drawing on a whole range of exist

Brian Clegg's Brainjacking is a captivating exploration of the subtle and pervasive ways our minds are manipulated in today’s world, offering readers a blend of scientific insight, cultural commentary, and even speculative fiction. Clegg deftly tackles a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence and deepfakes to psychological nudges and subliminal messaging, weaving them into an engaging narrative that prompts us to rethink how much of our thinking is truly our own. One of the book’s standout strengths is Clegg’s ability to make complex and often unsettling topics accessible and engaging. Whether he's discussing the dangers of AI-generated deepfakes or the psychology behind targeted advertising, Clegg brings a clear, conversational tone to subjects that might otherwise feel daunting. His approach to brainjacking  -  the subtle art of influencing thoughts and behaviours  -  bridges scientific facts with everyday examples, showing how we’re often nudged or manipulated w

Robyn Arianrhod is a science writer and a mathematician affiliated with Monash University’s School of Mathematics, where she researches general relativity and history of science. She is the author of the critically acclaimed books Einstein’s Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics; Seduced by Logic: Émilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution; and Thomas Harriot: A Life in Science. Her latest title is Vector . Why history of maths? Maths underpins our understanding of the universe and the development of much of our technology, but it has a reputation for being difficult. And advanced modern maths is, indeed, formidable to anyone but specialists! Yet even these difficult concepts were developed from simpler beginnings, so by looking at mathematical history, I can show readers how these simpler, underlying concepts arose. I think that understanding the basics helps us cope with the complexity of modern science and tech, for then we can have so

What an opportunity missed. This little book (very little) provided a wonderful opportunity for one of the great physicists of the last 50 years to bring to life his work on quantum entanglement - a topic in which he excels - but instead all we get is a very high level description of the history of the subject. The book is clearly modelled on Carlo Rovelli's massive-selling Seven Brief Lessons (down to the cover design) - but here we get significantly less than even that provided. Alain Aspect identifies two quantum revolutions (although Einstein, of course features, the book isn't about Einstein, only seeming to appear in the title for visibility). The first was the introduction of quantum physics itself - the second starts in the 1960s with Bell's Theorem, opening up the possibility of first testing the weird reality of quantum entanglement, then into the applications of entanglement in quantum computing and quantum encryption. Aspect's work was fundamental to showin