Ruth’s Reviews: Alex’s Adventures in Numberland

Ruth’s Reviews: Alex's Adventures in Numberland

Did you know that pi has inspired a literary subgenre; the piem, in which the number of letters per word is determined by pi? Or that crochet helped glean insights into a counterintuitive type of geometry? Did you ever believe the rumour that mathematics could be playful, or even beautiful?

Ruth’s Reviews: ‘Life Ascending’ scoops Royal Society prize

Ruth’s Reviews: 'Life Ascending' scoops Royal Society prize

Nick Lane’s Life Ascending has won the annual Royal Society Book Prize, beating the other shortlisted titles to a £10,000 reward. His book is eloquent and elegant, guiding the reader through the authors’ chosen top ten great inventions of evolution.

Lane joins a list of accomplished authors, including Steve Jones, Steven Rose and Bill Bryson in winning the prize.

Ruth’s Reviews: God’s Philosophers – James Hannam

Ruth’s Reviews: God’s Philosophers – James Hannam

Far from their reputation as ‘dark’, the Middle Ages were a period of huge technological and cultural advance. So argues James Hannam in his vivid depiction of the 11th to 17th centuries.

God’s Philosophers condenses six hundred years of history and brings to life the key players who pushed forward philosophy and reason.

Ruth’s Reviews: A World Without Ice – Henry Pollack

Ruth’s Reviews: A World Without Ice – Henry Pollack

Ruth Francis, Nature’s Head of Press, is reviewing all the entries shortlisted for the Royal Society’s science book prize. She’ll be reading one per week and posting her thoughts on The Great Beyond every Friday between now and the prize ceremony on 21 October.  Read more

Ruth’s Reviews: Why does E=mc2? (and why should we care) – Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Ruth’s Reviews: Why does E=mc2? (and why should we care) – Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Ruth Francis, Nature’s Head of Press, is reviewing all the entries shortlisted for the Royal Society’s science book prize. She’ll be reading one per week and posting her thoughts on The Great Beyond every Friday between now and the prize ceremony on 21 October.  Read more

Ruth’s Reviews: Everyday Practice of Science – Frederick Grinnell

Ruth’s Reviews: Everyday Practice of Science – Frederick Grinnell

Ruth Francis, Nature’s Head of Press, is reviewing all the entries shortlisted for the Royal Society’s science book prize. She’ll be reading one per week and posting her thoughts on The Great Beyond every Friday between now and the prize ceremony on 21 October.

Ruth’s Reviews: Life Ascending – Nick Lane

Ruth’s Reviews: Life Ascending – Nick Lane

Ruth Francis, Nature’s Head of Press, is reviewing all the entries shortlisted for the Royal Society’s science book prize. She’ll be reading one per week and is posting her thoughts on The Great Beyond every Friday between now and the prize ceremony on 21 October.

Ruth’s Reviews: Life Ascending – Nick Lane

Ruth’s Reviews: We need to talk about Kelvin

Ruth’s Reviews: We need to talk about Kelvin

Ruth Francis, Nature’s Head of Press, is reviewing all the entries shortlisted for the Royal Society’s science book prize. She’ll be reading one per week and we are posting her thoughts on The Great Beyond every Friday between now and the prize ceremony on 21 October.

Ruth’s Reviews: We need to talk about Kelvin – Marcus Chown

Achieving global coverage for science – a workshop

A room full of sweaty press officers, at the World Conference of Science Journalists, eager to learn more about the international media climate and how achieve ‘Global Coverage for Science’ weren’t expecting to hear about powerful and rich PRs in Nigeria. But these sessions often contain surprises, and after being lulled into the international media scene with case studies on outreach to international media by British Antarctic Survey’s Linda Capper we met journalists Mohammad Kaswar Uddin from Bangladesh and Diran Onifade who took us further from our comfort zones.  Read more

Achieving global coverage for science – a workshop

A room full of sweaty press officers, at the World Conference of Science Journalists, eager to learn more about the international media climate and how achieve ‘Global Coverage for Science’ weren’t expecting to hear about powerful and rich PRs in Nigeria. But these sessions often contain surprises, and after being lulled into the international media scene with case studies on outreach to international media by British Antarctic Survey’s Linda Capper we met journalists Mohammad Kaswar Uddin from Bangladesh and Diran Onifade who took us further from our comfort zones.  Read more