Just Another Day: The Science and Technology of our Everyday Lives
by Adam Hart-Davis
Orion Books, ISBN 0752873342

Given the relentless tide of mind-shrinking nonsense that drenches popular culture thanks to credulous and/or cynical tabloid newspapers, television channels and other media, any attempt to lure people into taking some interest in the science behind our daily experiences is, on the face of it, very welcome.

Unfortunately, the face in question here is the grinning beard of Adam Hart- Davis, who seems to imagine that he is a fascinating eccentric, and that the minutiae of his daily life will be of huge interest. Every other page features yet another photograph of His Worship in eyestinging “look at Adam Hart-Davis!” outfits. Photography is illustrated by a picture of Adam Hart-Davis taking a photograph. Bicycles are explained via several pictures of Adam Hart-Davis riding bicycles, in case we have never encountered any.

The conceit of the book is that, by following the activities of an average day, we can be led to consider sleep, food, hygiene (the cover is graced with an image of Adam Hart-Davis on the toilet), travel, work, and so on. Why we have to know about what time Adam Hart-Davis makes morning tea for Sue Blackmore, or the fact that Adam Hart-Davis’ work apparently involves speaking to “large audiences”, is far from clear.

There have been other far more appealing books about the science of everyday life, by such authors as David Bodanis (The Secret House), John Emsley (Molecules at an Exhibition) and Len Fisher (How to Dunk a Doughnut). Books like Lawrence M. Krauss’s The Physics of Star Trek can be another handy detergent for non-starter paranormalist fantasies. They are books that are actually about science.

Adam Hart-Davis is also the author of Taking the Piss.

Paul Taylor

Opus Dei: The Truth About Its Rituals, Secrets and Power
by John L Allen
Penguin Books, £8.99 (pb), ISBN 0141024658

Thanks to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code (and also the news that Ruth Kelly is a member) popular interest in Opus Dei has never been higher. Journalist John L Allen has sought to present an objective account that dispels some of the myths and conspiracy theories that have accrued around the organisation founded by the recently canonised Spanish cleric Josemaría Escriva. Allen does indeed attempt to present a balanced account of Opus Dei. As part of this he has spent more than a year in the company of members and officials of the group. He gives voice to the many individuals that he has spent time with, letting them speak about their experiences, views and ideas. Allen tackles many of the controversial questions head on: the practices of ‘mortification’, secretiveness, political policies and influence, the life and times of Escriva, sexism and so on. In all instances Allen appears to give Opus Dei the benefit of the doubt. For example, on the vexed question of political influence, Allen repeatedly quotes the party line that Opus Dei allows its members freedom of conscience. With respect to the practices of the ‘mortification of the flesh’, a practice that excites feverish interest because of its sado-erotic nature, Allen is content to point out that other Catholic sects also engage in the practice. He does not entertain any questions as to the sexuality of such activities.
It should be noted that Allen is a Catholic himself, and therefore the kind of criticisms that an atheist or secularist would make of Opus Dei are not natural to him. The fact that other Catholic orders engage in similar activities to Opus Dei would not normally be considered a good defence.
Those looking for a counter-point to the salacious and conspiratorial view of Opus Dei will find that this book takes great pains to set the record straight. However, those looking for a more critical response will be disappointed. Allen has produced the sort of recruitment manual that the organisation itself could not have delivered.

Pan Pantziarka

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind: What Would an Alien Look Like? Is Time Travel Possible? and Other Intergalactic Conumdrums from the World of “Doctor Who”
by Michael White
Penguin Books, £8.99 (pb), ISBN 0-141-02481-X

Although the book claims to look at “intergalactic conundrums from the world of Doctor Who”, there are only brief references to the show; the author is really just cashing in on the revival. There is a glance at Tardis technology in the Epilogue but most of the sci-fi technology could equally be taken from Star Trek, which he often mentions.
This is mostly a review of the current state of technology and recent discoveries, with some speculation about the future. White does use solid science, keeping an open mind where this is the scientific thing to do. He debunks Atlantis but is open to alien life and cautiously open to telepathy, for example. The chapters are loosely themed around Dr Who ideas – time travel, aliens, teleportation, robots and so on, concluding that we do not currently have the technology to make these possible but in some cases may do in the future.
Teleportation, time travel and galaxy-hopping would take vast amounts of energy, quite apart from minor considerations like the known laws of the universe. There are the usual fears about sentient robots and extending human life indefinitely, although White does embrace the idea that imagination can lead from fiction to fact. As he says, it is the ability to develop that separates science from “mere belief systems”. He speculates about what aliens might look like, based on sound evolutionary and environmental principles. But if they do exist, would they want to visit us, given what they may have picked up from TV and radio emissions?
For any sci-fi nerd (sorry, expert), the book covers very familiar ground adding little new, and Dr Who fans will be disappointed. That said, this is an intelligent, readable introduction to ideas like wormholes, cyborgs, antimatter, temporal paradoxes and the laws of physics, that make science fiction staples possible, impossible or just very unlikely to become science fact.

Tessa Kendall

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
by Mary Roach
Norton Paperback, £12.69, ISBN 978-0-393-32912-4

Is there life after death and, if so, how can we find out? One way is to sort the wheat from the chaff, discarding any ‘mystery’ that can be scientifically explained to see what, if anything, is left. Roach looks at attempts past and present to explore the Big Sleep in a chatty, often jokey style underpinned by solid research and historical detail. She interviews scientists and believers as she looks at (among other things) reincarnation, the search for the soul, spiritualism, EVP, EMF, infrasound and neardeath experiences. She also tries some things out for herself – a mediumship course, recording spirit voices and meeting reincarnated people in India. She is not convinced.
She says that, ”for millions of people, religion will turn out to have been a bum steer as regards the hereafter. Science seemed a better bet”. As a good sceptic, she keeps an open mind and readily admits what science has yet to prove or disprove.
The book is full of fascinating stories and findings, from attempts to weigh the souls of mice and early theories about sperm to solid recent work on how EMF and infrasound can cause hallucinations, a racing heart, sensations of a presence and other ‘spooky’ reactions in certain people. While this can explain some experiences, she also considers the possibility that EMF, for example, simply opens receptive people up to something that is really there. She points out that many good scientists in the past were fooled or came to the wrong conclusions with the best of intentions. After meeting would-be mediums, she also decides that many are fooling themselves about their abilities rather than deliberately trying to con the punters. Roach’s conclusion is that, while science has so far cleared a lot of mud from the waters, there is still a big “Who knows?” to be resolved in many areas. The book is a good introduction to the subject of the afterlife and a useful source of research findings that debunk many claims. Don’t be put off by the title.

Tessa Kendall

After Atheism: Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life
By Mark Vernon
Palgrave Macmillan £18.99 ISBN 0230013414

It is a shame that Mark Vernon and his version of agnosticism is not as well-known or as controversial as Richard Dawkins and his version of atheism. But then, if Vernon was well-known or controversial, he would not have written the book he has written. The book starts from a place of not knowing, and ends in a place of not knowing, but brings the message along the way that uncertainty is just fine. There is truth and beauty in silence, according to Vernon – silence is what brings us to wisdom, and wisdom, in true Socratic fashion, is dependent upon how much you understand what you don’t know.
This is a truly delightful book, written with wit, humility and poetry, but more importantly than that, it is a book full of enquiry. He pays homage to wise men across the ages, whatever their discipline, and claims that as an agnostic he is in pretty good company: Socrates, Einstein, Thomas Aquinas, Anthony Kenny to name but a few. However, and here is where you may be lost or converted, Vernon describes himself as a “Christian agnostic”, not, as I originally thought, an agnostic who appreciates Christian worship as an art form, but someone who starts from a place of “learned ignorance” (Vernon was a vicar, then an atheist, before coming to rest somewhere in the middle). Christian agnosticism is a difficult concept to get your head round – surely if you are agnostic you don’t know whether any gods exist, not just the Christian one? Vernon likens it to the belief system he claims underpinned Socrates’ arguments – Socrates started his quest at the oracle of Delphi, and ended by sending sacrifice to the gods after drinking hemlock. Rather than this being a version of Pascal’s Wager, it is an acknowledgement that Socrates (and therefore Vernon) did not know and would never know why and how we are here. This in itself demands enormous respect for something, respect that Vernon clearly also feels. Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life is a title that takes some living up to, even if it is meant ironically.
Vernon does live up to it, in a gentle, probing way that leaves the reader wanting more.

Sally Marlow

Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears About Encountering Extraterrestrials
By Michael A G Michaud
Copernicus Books (Springer Science + Business Media),
£17.50 (hb), ISBN 0-387-28598-9

Probably. Or possibly. We don’t know. But it is worth thinking about it. That in essence is the message of this 460-page book. The author is a scientific administrator and investigator in various American government agencies. In the absence of any direct evidence, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) rests ultimately on two observations, which have so far been consistent. The first is that, as Lucretius pointed out two thousand years ago, nature does not produce singularities. The second is that there has always turned out to be far more in existence than appeared at any point. We have not reached the limits of our unimaginably vast universe, and cosmologists are thinking seriously about multiple universes. Beyond that, all is speculation. The author reviews comprehensively and dispassionately the attempts to calculate probabilities. All involve numerous variables, to most of which we cannot attribute firm values. For example, how many Earth-like planets may exist, how necessary or sufficient Earth conditions are for life or intelligence, what forms such might take, how possible or likely communication might be, etc. And there is what one might call the Jim problem: if life exists “but not as we know it”, how shall we know it? Nevertheless, systematic speculation is a step towards preparedness, which could turn out to be vital. And it gives us valuable new perspectives on ourselves. Michaud discusses the relationships of SETI with politics, law, mythology, religion, science fiction (a prime source of much serious and original thinking) and much else.
The text is stimulating and very readable. A serious criticism, however, is that there is no bibliography, and the 71 pages of references are organized in the most unhelpful way I have ever met. This mars an otherwise excellent book.

John Radford

Newton: A Very Short Introduction
by Rob Lliffe
Oxford University Press, £6.99, ISBN 978 0 19 929803 7

Rob Lliffe is well placed to analyse the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton (or SIN as Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed dubbed him in view of his overbearing manner) as editorial director of the Newton Project, which aims to make the great scientist’s complete works available online.
Lliffe has made a brave stab in catering to the non-specialist. Unfortunately he had two obstacles: the first is the small space available, a problem when dealing with someone active in as many fields as Newton, and the second is that the magnitude of Newton’s achievements are difficult for the layperson to grasp, even without the mathematics, which are mercifully absent.
So Lliffe tries to sketch the context — Kepler, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes — in just a few pages. We skip through Newton’s career, from his childhood which showed early promise, through the Fellowship at Trinity Cambridge, occupation of the Lucasian Chair, his time at the Royal Mint, and Presidency of the Royal Society. Against this career progression we are given gobbets about his researches on optics, celestial mechanics and mathematics, as well as his work in theology, astrology and chronology. Then there are the feuds in which he engaged and an overview of how he has been treated by previous biographers to squeeze in. Unfortunately, if the reader does not have some grounding already, the descriptions are often too brief to be of much use. Terminology is left unexplained, and while Lliffe conveys Newton’s range of interests, topics are skimmed over with little detail.
This is not Lliffe’s fault. The problem is that Newton just cannot be squeezed into such a small compass. Despite its tag as an introduction, some prior knowledge helps enormously.
Fortunately for those who come away puzzled, the literature on Newton is a huge one, and the interested reader has plenty of choice when delving further into the accomplishments of this fascinating polymath.

Tom Ruffles

Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism
by Paul Boghossian
Oxford University Press, £14.99 (hb), ISBN 0-19-928718-X

The glorious Sokal booby-trap of 1996 seems to have done sadly little to lessen the attraction and durability of that intellectual plague known variously as relativism, constructivism or constructionism. The view that there is no such thing as objective reality, that truth is only relative to a society, conceptual framework or even personal perspective, is entrenched in a range of “disciplines” (if they still merit the term) taught at colleges worldwide, from sociology, psychology and history to music and media studies.
The laborious, intricate, principled, collective effort to find out how the world is, known as science, enjoys no support from fellow academics in thrall to a fashionable ideology that sees the theories and findings of science as merely socially-constructed texts devoid of literal reference to causal processes in a material world. How many thousands of graduates per year promote and apply this approach in their work and social interactions?
Mainstream Anglophone philosophy departments have not, reports Boghossian, Professor of Philosphy at New York University, succumbed to the exotic charms of postmodernism, and this concise book neatly explores the deep flaws in the view that facts are only social constructs, or that theory choice in science is caused by social factors rather than by empirical evidence. Boghossian analyses the work of historian Thomas Kuhn, philosopher Richard Rorty and sociologist David Bloor, among others, concluding that, “on the negative side, there look to be severe objections to each and every version of a constructivism about knowledge that we have examined. A constructivism about truth is incoherent. A constructivism about justification is scarcely any better. And there seem to be decisive objections to the idea that we cannot explain belief through epistemic reasons alone. On the positive side, we failed to find any good arguments for constructivist views.”
The taste for supernatural fancies often draws support from theories undermining appeals to factual evidence. This book is another contribution to the defence of the view, underpinning science, that there is a way the world is, independent of human opinion.

Paul Taylor