British Author Challenge September 2021: She Blinded Me with Science

September's theme is science non-fiction. Choices can include natural sciences (physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, etc.), social sciences (anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, etymology, sociology, etc.), technology, natural history, history of science, biographies of scientists, or any other science-related non-fiction.

Suggestions

Charles Darwin
Stephen Hawking
Richard Dawkins
Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Oliver Sacks
Camilla Pang
Emily Winterburn
The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons
The Science of Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, & Jack Cohen
Thomas Huxley
Joseph Banks
David Attenborough
Ben Goldacre
Simon Singh

And for your viewing pleasure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V83JR2IoI8k&ab_channel=ThomasDolby

I hope to get to Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything in September.

Many of Simon Winchester's books are on scientific themes: earthquakes, volcanoes., engineering, map-making, scientists and explorers. I've loved listening to him read his own books on audobook.

>3 amanda4242: I've had that song running through my head since I read the thread title.

Now I'll watch the video, which I've loved since it first came out!

>4 cbl_tn: I have that one on the shelves. Perhaps I'll join you.

>5 kac522: I just picked up Krakatoa from the library and hope to get to it soon.

>6 fuzzi: Glad you enjoyed the video!

I won't be joining in on this one (this time) - too many fiction books on the urgent tbr list. But I'm making notes of some of your reads - Krakatoa looks really good, Amanda.

>7 amanda4242:, >8 PawsforThought: I listened to Krakatoa on audiobook and it was fascinating. I know very little about geology or any science, really, but I was never bored listening to the audiobook. I would say the only drawback is that you don't have any diagrams or pictures, which could have been useful. But his narration is superb.

Not sure what I'll be reading; I have an Oliver Sacks book on the shelves, as well as Patrick O'Brian's biography of Joseph Banks.

>8 PawsforThought: I have several stacks of fiction that are glaring at me while I desert them for a dip into non-fiction.

>9 kac522: I'm not particularly knowledgeable on science, either, so I'm glad to hear that Krakatoa is interesting to a lay audience.

>10 kac522: Looking forward to seeing your selection!

I may suffer through Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle next month.

>12 PaulCranswick: Suffer? If you expect an unpleasant experience, why not read something else?

Hmm, the science books nearest the top of the pile are not written by Brits, I'll have to rummage.

>14 Caroline_McElwee: I've had the some trouble.

Oliver Sacks: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

A collection of interviews with noted neurologist Oliver Sacks, mostly in promotion of his books. The interviews are mostly pretty dry reading, but his fascination with the human mind and how people adapt to different disorders really came across well, as did his interest in his patients as people; I've made a note to check out some of his books to see if his writings reflect this.

I suppose this is more of a science adjacent read, but I enjoyed it and I'm counting it.

>16 amanda4242: I do love Oliver Sacks.

There is a film out about him here in a couple of weeks.

>17 Caroline_McElwee: He struck me as a really interesting person, although not the most articulate interviewee. I've added The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat to my ever expanding tbr list.

What's the name of the film?

Amanda, it's Oliver Sacks: His Own Life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6debfd1SUA8

>19 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks! I'll be able to watch it on Prime with a free trial of CuriosityStream.

The October thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/335499

I finished Joseph Banks: A Life by Patrick O'Brian (1987). Banks (1743-1820) was a landowner/farmer, botanist, explorer, founder of the gardens at Kew, president of the Royal Society for 40+ years, and was friends with such diverse people as Capt James Cook, Linnaeus, Samuel Johnson and even King George III. He is best remembered for his voyage on the Endeavor with Cook to Tahiti, New Zealand and eastern Australia, where he gathered literally thousands of plant specimens (and some animals) not known in the northern hemisphere. He is responsible for the enlargement and collection of specimens at Kew Gardens, making it into a world-class home for plants from all over the world. He patronized many young explorers and botanists over his lifetime. Many of his collections are at the British Museum and other repositories throughout the world.

O'Brian, better known for his Master and Commander series, has a dense writing style, rather like the 18th century where he spends his time. O'Brian uses many excerpts from the thousands of letters to and from Banks, and these are the most entertaining bits of the book. The first half of this book, about Banks's youth and voyage on the Endeavor were fascinating. The second half of the book, perhaps rather like Banks's own life, slowed down, and O'Brian goes off on tangents which seem only slightly about Banks, particularly during the Napoleonic wars. One useful notation in the book is that each page is headed with the year and Banks's age for the material on that page.

Overall, Banks is a fascinating historical figure, and I found the first half, especially his voyages, very interesting, but the last half of the book drags quite a bit because it is mired in too much irrelevant detail that O'Brian seemed compelled to include.

>22 kac522: I read a couple of O'Brian's novels years ago and bounced off his style hard. Master and Commander is one of the few movies that I think is superior to the book.

>23 amanda4242: I guess it really struck me because half-way (about 150 pages) through the book, I had to stop and read a book for my RL book club. The book was The Pioneers by David McCullough, which was SO readable and interesting (about the first settlers in the Ohio territory), and I flew through the 300 pages. Then when I came back to O'Brian I felt like I was sitting in a carriage dragging through mud. Yet both books were roughly 300 pages, about explorers and used primary letters and journals liberally. But oh my, what a difference. I flew through McCullough in 3 days. Took me 2 weeks to get through O'Brian.

I read On the Move by Oliver Sacks. I enjoyed it. It is a memoir and really explores the life of Sacks from his early years to his seventies. I learned that Sacks really was not a scientist in the research sense of being a scientist. He was a field worker. He enjoyed observing and working with people but most of all, he was an author. The book explores his writings of the various books he wrote and his life experiences. I would say that Sacks was a man who was a bit all over the place. He was not focused and he often rubbed up against the "academia/medical political system" the wrong way so he lost a lot of jobs. He must have been absolutely brilliant but very much all over the place.

>25 Kristelh: That one looks interesting. Requesting from the library.

The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine of Astronomy by Emily Winterburn

An interesting look at the scientific work of Caroline Herschel, an 18th century female astronomer. Winterburn makes a good argument that despite Herschel not having the same advantages and opportunities as her male counterparts, she nonetheless became an accepted and respected member of the scientific community.

I do have two complaints about Winterburn's writing:
1. She repeats herself. A lot.
2. She jumps back and forth in time so it can be a little hard to know what happened when.

To sum up, a flawed but rewarding read.