Currently Browsing: Science
Mar 7, 2009
Irrationality – Stuart Sutherland
All humans are inherently irrational. ‘Except me!’ I hear you cry ‘I am completely rational. It’s everyone else who is irrational’. According to Stuart Sutherland, as much as you might like this assumption, that is all it is. As humans, we are all irrational and science has now proved it. This is an interesting examination of the irrationality of the human psyche. Sutherland... read more
Feb 26, 2009
The Code Book – Simon Singh
Did you know that there are still encrypted letters around from the 1800’s which no-one has been able to decipher yet? And did you know that the Enigma code was well on the way to being cracked even before the Second World War broke out? And were you aware that the encryption currently being used to send email is so strong that it appears to be unbreakable? If you know nothing at all about cyphers,... read more
Aug 5, 2008
Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley – Pope Brock
If someone casually mentioned to you that they had discovered the secret to eternal youth and vitality, would you sit up and listen? If they then told you that in order to achieve this, and the rampant sex drive which would naturally accompany it, you may have to undergo surgery, would you ask for more information? What, then, would you say if you were told that this secret required you to go under the... read more
Jul 22, 2008
The Demon-Haunted World – Carl Sagan
I am a podcast addict as any of you who know can attest. I listen to an awful lot of podcasts about an awful lot of things, but my particular favourites are podcasts dealing with science, scepticism (or skepticism depending on which side of the pond you are from), astronomy, rationalism, evolutionary biology and critical thinking. In all of them, I kept hearing mention one book – The Demon Haunted... read more
May 15, 2008
Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives – Richard Wiseman
Have you ever wondered whether a black cat crossing your path really brings you bad luck? How about what the funniest joke in the world is? Are you really connected to Sir Richard Branson by just six degrees? And how can you tell whether someone is actually lying? Richard Wiseman seems to spend his life cogitating over these kinds of questions, but unlike all the rest of us, he then decides he is going to... read more
Apr 19, 2008
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
Quite often, the books I read will make me wish I could live more than one lifetime in order to pursue all of the different careers which spark my interest. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson was one of those book. The difference with this book is that rather than an alternative career path, this one found me wishing I could pursue 10 or 15 other career paths because they all sounded so... read more
Apr 1, 2008
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition and Other Confusions Of Our Time – Michael Shermer
During the Second World War, the Nazi’s orchestrated the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the gas chambers of concentration camps around Europe. This horror known as the Holocaust is remembered and studied by students and academics alike. But there are a few people out there who, for some reason, deny that it ever happened and try and suggest that the whole thing is a big conspiracy. In the... read more
