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Cover the book Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sachs

Uncle Tungsten – Oliver Sachs

The story of the chemical fascination of a young boy growing up in London in the 1930s in a large Jewish family flickers in and out between biography and a history of chemistry itself. As a precocious child, Oliver Sachs, under the guidance of the title’s Uncle Tungsten, a lightbulb […]


Nobel citations

How many citations does it take to win a Nobel Prize? It’s a stupid question, I know, because Nobel prizes in the sciences, unlike the literature prize, are not given as a lifetime achievement award. Theoretically, it’s enough to have one really bright idea, and then not do much else. […]


Terror and Dream – Moscow, 1937

Moscow, 1937 by Karl SchlögelMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The original title, Terror und Traum (Terror and Dream), really summarises the book perfectly. Schlögel paints a wide tapestry over Moscow and the Soviet Union at a time when it had emerged from the civil war and the future looked […]


You Look Like a Thing and I Love You

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place by Janelle Shane My rating: 4 of 5 stars A very entertaining introduction to what artificial intelligence does and what it doesn’t. Full of hilarious examples of AI […]