* No Spoilers Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Scottish Forensic Anthropologist and Professor Sue Black’s memoir about her life confronting death won the Saltire Book of the Year in 2018. Forensic anthropology (in case you are wondering) is the study of human remains in order to solve criminal cases. I was very excited to read this book. YetContinue reading “Book Review: All that Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black”
Tag Archives: science
The Anatomy of Fantastical Creatures
Do you know what the juicy interior of a Kraken looks like? Have you ever seen the inside of a unicorn’s magical horn? What about the biochemical transformation of a man into a a werewolf? Here are some marvellous anatomical figures from French Chimerologist Camille Renversade who in 2014 combined zoology charts, anatomy boards andContinue reading “The Anatomy of Fantastical Creatures”
Map Porn Part 2: The Most Beautiful Geological Maps on Earth
Where Art Meets Science Scientific visualisations often can look just like objects of visual art. The previous installation of this series, there were topographical surveys visualised on both our moon and Jupiter’s moon. This time, we are focusing on our own Pale Blue Dot. These maps are not only utilitarian and functional, they are worksContinue reading “Map Porn Part 2: The Most Beautiful Geological Maps on Earth”
Book Review: The Signature of All Things
Genre: Historic fiction Publisher: Penguin Random House Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 *No spoilers Elizabeth Gilbert is best known for her world-wide best-selling autobiography Eat Pray Love which was about her own journey of self-discovery, spirituality and travel. This girl’s own adventure was music to the ears of many young women who were already embarkingContinue reading “Book Review: The Signature of All Things”
Ancient word of the day: Algorithm
The ancient Muslim empire in the city of Baghdad was the birthplace of the word (and the concept of the) algorithm. In the year 820 AD, a Persian genius named Muhammed ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi created the concept of the algorithm and algebra in an ancient book called Kitab al-Jebr. The book Kitab al-Jebr (later latinisedContinue reading “Ancient word of the day: Algorithm”
Ancient Word of the Day: Nadir
Nadir ˈnā-ˌdir (from Arabic) The lowest or worst point. The sunken place of great depression or degradation. Astronomically, it is the point to opposite to the zenith. Merlin by Ralph Waldo Emerson He shall not seek to weave,In weak unhappy times,Efficacious rhymes;Wait his returning strength,Bird, that from the nadir’s floor,To the zenith’s top could soar,TheContinue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Nadir”
Fritz Khan’s painting Der Menschen als Industriepalast in dreamy animation
Fritz Kahn’s Der Menschen als Industriepalast by Henning Lederer. Fritz Kahn combined industrial and mechanical functionality with the working wonders of the human body. He was a creative genius whose work remained undiscovered for many years. Until a curious curator Uta Von Debschnitz unearthed them. Kahn was a Berliner who did well for himselfContinue reading “Fritz Khan’s painting Der Menschen als Industriepalast in dreamy animation”
Book Review: Medieval Bodies Life and Death in the Middle Ages by Jake Hartnell
Art Historian Jake Hartnell takes us on a macabre and enthralling journey from head to toe in the medieval human body. This is fascinating because, even though we share the same bodies as our medieval ancestors, we had wildly diverging beliefs about the inherent symbolic power of parts of our bodies and what could heal,Continue reading “Book Review: Medieval Bodies Life and Death in the Middle Ages by Jake Hartnell”
Book Review: The Abundance by Annie Dillard
Creative non-fiction genius and nature writer extraordinaire Annie Dillard has won a Pulitzer Prize for her essay writing. She has a unique, warm and intensely spiritual, even transcendental way of writing that elevates her above most other writers. That’s big praise I know, but this is really great writing. She has the ability to probeContinue reading “Book Review: The Abundance by Annie Dillard”
Book Review: The Map of Knowledge by Violet Moller
Have you ever wondered where the original ideas in mathematics, astronomy, science, medicine, philosophy ever came from? The answers to these questions are in this remarkable history book that takes us on a tiki-tour through the highways and back alleys of some of the most vibrant and buzzing cities of the ancient world, where knowledgeContinue reading “Book Review: The Map of Knowledge by Violet Moller”
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