Over at Science After Sunclipse, Blake has a very long post about the limitations of science blogs. Brian at Laelaps responds, and Tom at Swans On Tea agrees. You might be wondering whether I have an opinion on this. Since I’m going to be talking about it at a workshop in September (first talk, no… Continue reading Science Blogs: What Are They Good For?
Category: Books
Biographers (and Physicists) Are Pigs
I’m deep in book revisions at the moment, which largely accounts for the relative blog silence. This is expected to continue for a while yet, broken by the occasional post when something comes up that is irritating enough to push me to write about it. Such as, well, now. In the chapter on the Copenhagen… Continue reading Biographers (and Physicists) Are Pigs
Technothrillers vs. Science Fiction
Reading Final Theory last night reminded me of something Patrick Nielsen Hayden said on a con panel once. The question was raised of why thriller-ish science fiction books don’t do as well as thrillers with a thin SF gloss– basically, “Why doesn’t Greg Bear sell as many books as Michael Crichton?” Patrick noted that there’s… Continue reading Technothrillers vs. Science Fiction
Mark Alpert, Final Theory [Library of Babel]
I’ve gotten a fair number of free science books in the last few years, from publishers looking for bloggy publicity, but Mark Alpert’s Final Theory is the first time that I’ve been asked to review a novel on ScienceBlogs (I’ve gotten advance copies of some other novels, but I’ve specifically requested those). Mark Alpert is… Continue reading Mark Alpert, Final Theory [Library of Babel]
Science Festivals, Science Books, and Science Funding
The World Science Festival happened while I was at DAMOP (I missed getting to talk to Bill Phillips, because he left shortly after his talk to go to NYC), and by all reports it was a success– they claim 120,000 attendees on their web site, and sold more tickets than expected for several events, and… Continue reading Science Festivals, Science Books, and Science Funding
Heads in the Sand by Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias‘s first book arrives burdened with one of the longest subtitles in memory (“How the Republicans Screw Up Foreign Policy and Foreign Policy Screws Up the Democrats”), which is a little off-putting. Of course, it also features a back-cover blurb from Ezra Klein calling it “A very serious, thoughtful argument that has never been… Continue reading Heads in the Sand by Matthew Yglesias
Novels of Science
Writing in Scientific American, Mark Alpert argues that we need more novels about science: A good work of fiction can convey the smells of a laboratory, the colors of a dissected heart, the anxieties of a chemist and the joys of an astronomer–all the illuminating particulars that you won’t find in a peer-reviewed article in… Continue reading Novels of Science
Little Brother for Free
Speaking of YA literature (as I was, briefly, in the previous post), I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Cory Doctorow has put up a Little Brother section on his web site, promoting his new book. As with all of his books, it’s available for free download, so if you’d like to read… Continue reading Little Brother for Free
Iain M. Banks, Matter [Library of Babel]
The latest book by Iain M. Banks proudly proclaims itself to be a Culture novel– part of a loosely connected series of novels and stories about humans living in a vast and utopian galactic civilization– which makes its opening in a castles-and-kings milieu somewhat surprising. Well, all right, technically it opens with a prologue in… Continue reading Iain M. Banks, Matter [Library of Babel]
John Scalzi Should Be Ashamed of Himself
I’m not sure whether he’s making some kind of obscure point, or just trolling, but John Scalzi gave a recent installment of his “Big Idea” series over to the witterings of “Vox Day,” talking about his book The Irrational Atheist. Curse you, Scalzi, for getting me to even look at that. And it’s not just… Continue reading John Scalzi Should Be Ashamed of Himself