Blog Archives

Explaining the explainers, Robert Nola

Secular Sermons: Essays on Science and Philosophy  Alan Musgrave Otago University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877372704 Publishers in New Zealand produce books in many areas such as literature, history, politics, biography, art; they produce almost nothing in philosophy. Philosophers in this

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Religion, Review, Science

Otherwise fine, Simon Upton

Poles Apart: Beyond the Shouting, Who’s Right About Climate Change Gareth Morgan and John McCrystal Random House, $39.99, ISBN 9781869790455 When I learnt that Gareth Morgan was writing a book on climate change I groaned. Out of politeness, it was

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

The importance of being Ernest Karen Hartshorn

The Awa Book of New Zealand Science  Rebecca Priestley (ed) Awa Press, $48.00, ISBN 9780958262996 I grew up in a household with a chemistry professor for a mother, a kitchen full of mysterious jars labelled “Experiment: Do Not Eat”, and

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

Likely stories, James C Raymond

Falling for Science: Asking the Big Questions Bernard Beckett Longacre Press, $39.99, ISBN 9781877361722   Imagine yourself in Egypt in the third century BC. You believe the earth is round – what else would cause ships’ masts to appear before

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Science

Spot on the sun, David Hill

The Transit of Venus Marilyn Head (ed) Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 978095826972 A few years back, I had to review a self-published New Zealand novel. It was seriously rotten, and I wrote that it “tried to be bad, bold and

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

Nuclear free-ish, Nicky Hager

Standing Upright Here: New Zealand in the Nuclear Age 1945-1990 Malcolm Templeton Victoria University Press, $49.95, ISBN 0864735405 First impressions suggest this is the kind of worthy and dense book few people will get around to reading. That would be

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Science

Alice-in-Wonderland worlds, David Clark

The Elegant Universe of Albert Einstein: The Collected Lectures of the Royal Society of New Zealand E=mc2 Series Broadcast on National Radio Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 0958262926 Are Angels OK? The Parallel Universes of New Zealand Writers and Scientists Paul

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

“Girl interested in wave technology”, David Hill

Bright Star: Beatrice Hill Tinsley Astronomer Christine Cole Catley Cape Catley, $49.99, ISBN 1877340014 I can offer the usual apologia for astronomy. There’s its significance as a global employer (NASA alone pays 20,000 salaries). Its contributions to other sciences, such

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review, Science

Twinkle, twinkle, David Hill

How to Gaze at the Southern Stars Richard Hall Awa Press, $24.95, ISBN 0958250995   Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies! O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air! The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels

See more ›

Tagged with: , , ,
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Science

Dealing with the fallout, Nick Matwiyoff

Nuclear New Zealand: Sorting Fact from Fiction Andrew McEwan Hazard, $39.99, ISBN 187727058X In July 2002, on the 36th anniversary of the first French nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll, John Doom of Papeete’s Association Mururoa e Tatou announced that an

See more ›

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in Health, Non-fiction, Science
Search the archive
Search by category