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A treasure trove of science themed seasonal gifts
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A treasure trove of science themed seasonal gifts Stuck for ideas on what to give the science-lover in your life? These are the cultural gems that staff at New Scientist recommend EMILY WILSON, editor I AM biased because they are our columnist, but Annalee Newitz’s new novel The Future of Another Timeline (Orbit), in which feminists zip through history via time machines that look like rocks, is fantastically fresh, and would make a great stocking filler. Ditto Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments (Chatto & Windus), which was more of a delicious page-turner than I had expected. Children of Time and its new sequel Children of Ruin, both by Adrian Tchaikovsky and published by Tor, would also make a great gift as a pair. They are quite old-fashioned sci-fi, but what’s not to like about that? And they are livened up by the delightful imagining of a world run by bright but totally unherdable octopuses. For me, I would like tickets to the new Star Wars, please. JOSHUA HOWGEGO, features editor I would give Bill Bryson’s The Body: A guide for occupants (Doubleday).
I loved his A Short History of Nearly Everything, and he brings his inimitable style to Body. He revels in the wonder of the machine that is us, and since we all have
“Weather asks why we aren’t doing more to stop climate change. So why do I still fly? Don’t ask” one of these incredible machines, why wouldn’t you enjoy this? I would like a subscription to HBO so I can watch The Inventor, a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, who developed “the Apple of healthcare”, and attracted billions in investment even though none of her blood tests seem to work properly. How did she pull this off? JASON MURUGESU, intern Yesterday, a sci-fi film written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle is a fun gift. In it,
a global blackout leads everyone to forget who The Beatles are. Except for one singer-songwriter, who steals their songs and rockets to fame. The film shows how he deals with the guilt, but it is warm, funny and perfect for Christmas, even if the sci-fi element isn’t the most thought-through. I would like a copy of We Are the Weather: Saving the planet begins at breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer (Hamish Hamilton). The book asks why we aren’t doing more to stop climate change. So why do I still fly everywhere? Don’t ask. ROWAN HOOPER, head of features Fans of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons classic graphic novel Watchmen should like the HBO drama series of the same name. It is true to the original’s edgy spirit. The setting is an alternate timeline where renewable energy has long replaced fossil fuel – and Robert Redford is US president. I want to build a pond in my
Other stocking fillers Waters of the World Sarah Dry describes how understanding weather taught us about climate. Thinking 3D Daryl Green and Laura Moretti’s visually arresting book shows how we see and depict depth. Frankissstein Jeanette Winterson’s twist on Mary
Shelley’s classic visits a future full of AIs and bots.
Haynes, the purveyors of car manuals since 1965.
Future Cities Paul Dobraszczyk explores the politics and psychology of castles in the air, and suburbs under the sea.
Why Trust Science? Naomi Oreskes challenges easy answers.
The Human DNA Manual Melita Irving contributes to this offbeat series from
30 | New Scientist | 7 December 2019
Murmur Will Eaves’s fictionalised account of Alan Turing’s last years won this year’s Wellcome book prize.
Moving to Mars Plans for settlement of the Red Planet, also on show at London’s Design Museum. On Fire Naomi Klein’s set of essays makes the case for the Green New Deal. The Moon Oliver Morton fashions a visionary, compelling armchair visit.
garden, so I would like The Wildlife Pond Book: Create your own pond paradise for wildlife by Jules Howard (Bloomsbury). Santa willing, I will add the documentary Apollo 11 (Prime Video) and the album PROTO by musician Holly Herndon in collaboration with an AI named Spawn (4AD). ELEANOR PARSONS, chief subeditor Ever since I read Caroline Criado Perez’s book Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men (Chatto & Windus), I have been giving it to everyone I know. It is an eyeopener, exposing the hidden sex bias, from medicines that work differently in women to voice assistants that don’t recognise women’s voices. Funny, exasperating and anger-inducing, there is something for everyone. Tickets for Tutankhamun: Treasures of the golden pharaoh at London’s Saatchi gallery would give me a perfect holiday outing. I could admire the bling the young
Don’t miss
and persuade others to dig into its forensic analysis of capitalism’s latest turn – putting us all under surveillance to exploit the marketplace of human behaviour.
pharaoh was buried with to help him in the afterlife. RICHARD WEBB, executive editor I would give New Scientist’s Why Do Boys Have Nipples? And 73 other weird questions that only science can answer. It is the first kids’ version of our Last Word books, and pure fun, from why roller coasters make us dizzy to whether wearing glasses makes us smarter. I would like Paul Steinhardt’s The Second Kind of Impossible: The extraordinary quest for a new form of matter (Simon & Schuster). It is about his quest to find the source of the “quasicrystal” (a type of matter deemed impossible in nature) that turned up in an Italian museum collection. I first heard about it almost a decade ago at a talk Steinhardt gave, and was captivated by the impossibility of the tale’s twists and derring-do. LIZ ELSE, associate editor, Culture I enjoy nature writing, so would give two books with wildly
contrasting approaches. Turning the Boat for Home: A life writing about nature (Chatto & Windus) by Richard Mabey is a vintage collection that shows the evolution of his thinking, perfect for chilling out. And a real chiller, Ness by Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood (Hamish Hamilton), inspired by a bleak
“Angela Saini’s book is a must-read for all who challenge the rise of racism today and want the facts” shingle spit off the Suffolk coast. It is a modern myth, peering through the folkloric hagstone at our troubled present and the old time. I would love a copy of Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power (Profile). Paperback please, because I would like to carry this hefty book with me to reread it
SIMON INGS, Culture editor Figuring, a collection of essays by Maria Popova (Canongate), makes for a powerful gift. Women dominate this history of efforts to better the world, from astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved a way for women in science, to Rachel Carson, whose Silent Spring launched the environmental movement. A Place That Exists Only In Moonlight (Kerber Verlag), a book of provocations by cosmologically minded British artist Katie Paterson would delight me. Its hundred-odd descriptions of imaginary artworks (some doable, others wildly poetic) are printed with ink containing ground-up asteroids. JULIA BROWN, Back Pages editor Abigail Beall’s The Art of Urban Astronomy: A guide to stargazing wherever you are (Trapeze) would be an enchanting gift. New Scientist’s Stargazing at home series is based on the book, which is packed with interesting info about everything you can see in the night sky. There is help with spotting things, crucially without special kit. I would like a copy of Angela Saini’s book Superior: The return of race science. I saw her speak about race at New Scientist Live and she was inspiring. This book is a mustread for all who challenge the rise of racism and need the facts. ❚
Read
Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger by Julie Sze (University of California Press) is an essential primer revealing the hope to be found in the legal progress made by environmental campaigns.
Visit
Kang Jungsuck is Artist of the Year at the Korean Cultural Centre UK in London. His work, on view from 10 December, uses film, video-game design, writing and sculpture to explore tech, gaming culture, K-pop, and wider society.
Watch
Aquarela crosses oceans and continents to explore the spirit, power and beauty of the watery element. Russian film-maker Victor Kossakovsky’s ravishing documentary opens at selected UK cinemas from 13 December.
7 December 2019 | New Scientist | 31
MIDDLE: © THE ARTIST, PHOTO: COLIN DAVISON © 2019 BALTIC; BOTTOM: SONY PICTURES
EVGENYATAMANENKO/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
ALISON GEORGE, features editor Anyone over 7 would love Make Your Own Optical Illusions: 50 hands-on models and experiments to make and do by Clive Gifford and Rob Ives (Frances Lincoln). To remind me of what I am missing, I would like Chasing the Sun: The new science of sunlight and how it shapes our bodies and minds by Linda Geddes (Wellcome).
A treasure trove of science themed seasonal gifts Stuck for ideas on what to give the science-lover in your life? These are the cultural gems that staff at New Scientist recommend EMILY WILSON, editor I AM biased because they are our columnist, but Annalee Newitz’s new novel The Future of Another Timeline (Orbit), in which feminists zip through history via time machines that look like rocks, is fantastically fresh, and would make a great stocking filler. Ditto Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments (Chatto & Windus), which was more of a delicious page-turner than I had expected. Children of Time and its new sequel Children of Ruin, both by Adrian Tchaikovsky and published by Tor, would also make a great gift as a pair. They are quite old-fashioned sci-fi, but what’s not to like about that? And they are livened up by the delightful imagining of a world run by bright but totally unherdable octopuses. For me, I would like tickets to the new Star Wars, please. JOSHUA HOWGEGO, features editor I would give Bill Bryson’s The Body: A guide for occupants (Doubleday).
I loved his A Short History of Nearly Everything, and he brings his inimitable style to Body. He revels in the wonder of the machine that is us, and since we all have
“Weather asks why we aren’t doing more to stop climate change. So why do I still fly? Don’t ask” one of these incredible machines, why wouldn’t you enjoy this? I would like a subscription to HBO so I can watch The Inventor, a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, who developed “the Apple of healthcare”, and attracted billions in investment even though none of her blood tests seem to work properly. How did she pull this off? JASON MURUGESU, intern Yesterday, a sci-fi film written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle is a fun gift. In it,
a global blackout leads everyone to forget who The Beatles are. Except for one singer-songwriter, who steals their songs and rockets to fame. The film shows how he deals with the guilt, but it is warm, funny and perfect for Christmas, even if the sci-fi element isn’t the most thought-through. I would like a copy of We Are the Weather: Saving the planet begins at breakfast by Jonathan Safran Foer (Hamish Hamilton). The book asks why we aren’t doing more to stop climate change. So why do I still fly everywhere? Don’t ask. ROWAN HOOPER, head of features Fans of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons classic graphic novel Watchmen should like the HBO drama series of the same name. It is true to the original’s edgy spirit. The setting is an alternate timeline where renewable energy has long replaced fossil fuel – and Robert Redford is US president. I want to build a pond in my
Other stocking fillers Waters of the World Sarah Dry describes how understanding weather taught us about climate. Thinking 3D Daryl Green and Laura Moretti’s visually arresting book shows how we see and depict depth. Frankissstein Jeanette Winterson’s twist on Mary
Shelley’s classic visits a future full of AIs and bots.
Haynes, the purveyors of car manuals since 1965.
Future Cities Paul Dobraszczyk explores the politics and psychology of castles in the air, and suburbs under the sea.
Why Trust Science? Naomi Oreskes challenges easy answers.
The Human DNA Manual Melita Irving contributes to this offbeat series from
30 | New Scientist | 7 December 2019
Murmur Will Eaves’s fictionalised account of Alan Turing’s last years won this year’s Wellcome book prize.
Moving to Mars Plans for settlement of the Red Planet, also on show at London’s Design Museum. On Fire Naomi Klein’s set of essays makes the case for the Green New Deal. The Moon Oliver Morton fashions a visionary, compelling armchair visit.
garden, so I would like The Wildlife Pond Book: Create your own pond paradise for wildlife by Jules Howard (Bloomsbury). Santa willing, I will add the documentary Apollo 11 (Prime Video) and the album PROTO by musician Holly Herndon in collaboration with an AI named Spawn (4AD). ELEANOR PARSONS, chief subeditor Ever since I read Caroline Criado Perez’s book Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men (Chatto & Windus), I have been giving it to everyone I know. It is an eyeopener, exposing the hidden sex bias, from medicines that work differently in women to voice assistants that don’t recognise women’s voices. Funny, exasperating and anger-inducing, there is something for everyone. Tickets for Tutankhamun: Treasures of the golden pharaoh at London’s Saatchi gallery would give me a perfect holiday outing. I could admire the bling the young
Don’t miss
and persuade others to dig into its forensic analysis of capitalism’s latest turn – putting us all under surveillance to exploit the marketplace of human behaviour.
pharaoh was buried with to help him in the afterlife. RICHARD WEBB, executive editor I would give New Scientist’s Why Do Boys Have Nipples? And 73 other weird questions that only science can answer. It is the first kids’ version of our Last Word books, and pure fun, from why roller coasters make us dizzy to whether wearing glasses makes us smarter. I would like Paul Steinhardt’s The Second Kind of Impossible: The extraordinary quest for a new form of matter (Simon & Schuster). It is about his quest to find the source of the “quasicrystal” (a type of matter deemed impossible in nature) that turned up in an Italian museum collection. I first heard about it almost a decade ago at a talk Steinhardt gave, and was captivated by the impossibility of the tale’s twists and derring-do. LIZ ELSE, associate editor, Culture I enjoy nature writing, so would give two books with wildly
contrasting approaches. Turning the Boat for Home: A life writing about nature (Chatto & Windus) by Richard Mabey is a vintage collection that shows the evolution of his thinking, perfect for chilling out. And a real chiller, Ness by Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood (Hamish Hamilton), inspired by a bleak
“Angela Saini’s book is a must-read for all who challenge the rise of racism today and want the facts” shingle spit off the Suffolk coast. It is a modern myth, peering through the folkloric hagstone at our troubled present and the old time. I would love a copy of Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power (Profile). Paperback please, because I would like to carry this hefty book with me to reread it
SIMON INGS, Culture editor Figuring, a collection of essays by Maria Popova (Canongate), makes for a powerful gift. Women dominate this history of efforts to better the world, from astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved a way for women in science, to Rachel Carson, whose Silent Spring launched the environmental movement. A Place That Exists Only In Moonlight (Kerber Verlag), a book of provocations by cosmologically minded British artist Katie Paterson would delight me. Its hundred-odd descriptions of imaginary artworks (some doable, others wildly poetic) are printed with ink containing ground-up asteroids. JULIA BROWN, Back Pages editor Abigail Beall’s The Art of Urban Astronomy: A guide to stargazing wherever you are (Trapeze) would be an enchanting gift. New Scientist’s Stargazing at home series is based on the book, which is packed with interesting info about everything you can see in the night sky. There is help with spotting things, crucially without special kit. I would like a copy of Angela Saini’s book Superior: The return of race science. I saw her speak about race at New Scientist Live and she was inspiring. This book is a mustread for all who challenge the rise of racism and need the facts. ❚
Read
Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger by Julie Sze (University of California Press) is an essential primer revealing the hope to be found in the legal progress made by environmental campaigns.
Visit
Kang Jungsuck is Artist of the Year at the Korean Cultural Centre UK in London. His work, on view from 10 December, uses film, video-game design, writing and sculpture to explore tech, gaming culture, K-pop, and wider society.
Watch
Aquarela crosses oceans and continents to explore the spirit, power and beauty of the watery element. Russian film-maker Victor Kossakovsky’s ravishing documentary opens at selected UK cinemas from 13 December.
7 December 2019 | New Scientist | 31
MIDDLE: © THE ARTIST, PHOTO: COLIN DAVISON © 2019 BALTIC; BOTTOM: SONY PICTURES
EVGENYATAMANENKO/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
ALISON GEORGE, features editor Anyone over 7 would love Make Your Own Optical Illusions: 50 hands-on models and experiments to make and do by Clive Gifford and Rob Ives (Frances Lincoln). To remind me of what I am missing, I would like Chasing the Sun: The new science of sunlight and how it shapes our bodies and minds by Linda Geddes (Wellcome).