Recent replies to "Collective Blogging on 6 March 2008 for World Book Day UK"

Reply from Graham Steel

Graham Steel — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:16:17 -0000

World Book Day and The Commons

There are some great links in this very recent blog post from iCommons about World Book Day, on April 23 2008.

Reply from Martin Fenner

Martin Fenner — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:11:35 -0000

Helene, what a pleasant surprise. He should talk some more via email. Nature Network is a place to meet people from your scientific past.

Reply from Helene Andrews-Polymenis

Helene Andrews-Polymenis — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:00:31 -0000

Hey Martin- Wow, Nice blog- I can’t believe I found you here- its been a long time since Boston!!

Reply from Martin Fenner

Martin Fenner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:40:20 -0000

Henry,

another recent popular science book that is extremely popular in Germany is The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. Does he have readers in English-speaking countries?

Reply from Henry Gee

Henry Gee — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:00:46 -0000

You raise a very interesting point, Martin – the bias towards anglophonie in pop-science publication. Perhaps there are some other gems in foreign languages that really ought to be translated into English?

Reply from Martin Fenner

Martin Fenner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:52:00 -0000

I just realized (a few days too late) that I would have liked to promote a wonderful recent book about science. Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann was a bestseller in Germany in 2006 and 2007, but is probably not as popular in English-speaking countries. It is a novel about two great German scientists (Friedrich Gauß and Alexander von Humboldt). The language is just wonderful (at least in the original German text) and the book tells the reader a lot about how science was carried out in the early 19th century.

Reply from Nick Wigginton

Nick Wigginton — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:20:02 -0000

Guess I should have pasted a link to my post yesterday. Ah well, here it is. It was nice to see all the other posts! Great idea!

Reply from Scott Keir

Scott Keir — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:12:35 -0000

They are all great! I love how we can take an idea and spin off in different directions.

Feel free to enter the competition – you may just win. =cough=

Reply from Martin Fenner

Martin Fenner — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:39:57 -0000

My contribution is about books and experiments, but not your usual science book.

Reply from Barbara Axt

Barbara Axt — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:32:34 -0000

Have just posted!

Reply from Scott Keir

Scott Keir — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:07:00 -0000

And I guess the next place I’d like science books to appear is in Quick Reads – which are short and snappy books specifically written and published as an aid and encouragement for adults who struggle with reading.

Even if you’re a voracious reader, there’s some great books there to devour.

Reply from Scott Keir

Scott Keir — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:03:36 -0000

Henry, I love your idea! If only I could read Italian or Spanish. I would comment on your blog to compliment you on this, but don’t want to take one of the five places.

Amd thanks to you all for not thinking it is a mad idea!

Have you seen the £1 books¹ this year? Not a science book among them.

A couple of years ago I spotted that there hadn’t been a science book in the list – and had a conversation with Nick Arnold about that and whether I could do anything to encourage that. He pointed out, in typical enthusiastic fashion, that there hadn’t been a non-fiction book on the list, to his knowledge. The next year, one of the £1 books was “Horrible Science: The Seriously Squishy Science Book”. May be coincidence, but I was really pleased to see it there.

I am planning to have a browse of them – and though I’m not exactly in the target audience of the reluctant child reader, I am sorely tempted by “Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets”...

¹ The £1 books are specially produced to encourage kids to try a book – every school child in the UK gets a £1 book token, which they can spend as they like.

Reply from Maxine Clarke

Maxine Clarke — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:44:50 -0000

I’ve posted about this on Nautilus, Scott, in the hope of spreading the word a bit. Great idea. Have you seen the £1 books this year? Not a science book among them. Quite a sad collection really, compared with previous years, though one of my daughters likes the Robert Muchamore CHERUB books. However, you would think that the publishing industry could have come up with some better selections than those on offer.

Reply from Brian Clegg

Brian Clegg — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:44:05 -0000

Great idea, Scott. My contribution isn’t directly about science books, but I hope is in the right spirit!

Reply from Henry Gee

Henry Gee — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:50:19 -0000

I’m also celebrating on my blog with a books giveaway exclusive to Nature Network readers. These are books of mine in foreign languages. Well it is World book day, after all.

Reply from Scott Keir

Scott Keir — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:26:51 -0000

I’ve just written about the science books that (may) have changed my life to kick things off.

And as it seemed like an idea to run with, I’ve wangled a few books to give away to 5 bloggers who write about science books today. Not including me, obviously… :)