Interview with Luke O'Neill, author of The Great Irish Science Book
Professor Luke O'Neill, author of The Great Irish Science Book answers my questions and give us his great book recommendations! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Luke's book The Great Irish Science Book:
Review from Book Depository:
Join Trinity's Professor Luke O'Neill on the greatest journey of them all. From the very big to the very small - vast galaxies to microscopic atoms - travel through the wonders of the universe, the mysteries of the human body, and the tiny world of molecules. Discover the Irish scientists that have helped to shape our world and find out how to become one yourself.
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The Great Irish Science Book
How do we measure the universe? Why do we need plants? How do our bodies repair themselves when we are ill? What species will exist on earth in a million years' time? Discover the answers to these questions and a lot more in this thrilling and engrossing book packed with fascinating phenomena, vibrant illustrations, experiments you can do yourself, and heaps of fun facts.
Buy On:
Book Depository €21.07
Waterstones £22.99
Amazon UK £18.52
Amazon US $25.60
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond - really opened my mind to human evolution.
Third Chimpanzee, The: On the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
Review from Book Depository: The Third Chimpanzee was first published in 1991 and has been in print ever since. This new, illustrated edition is aimed at a young readership. In it, Jared Diamond explores what makes us human and poses fascinating questions.
If we share more than 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, how is it that we can write, read, talk, build telescopes and bombs, while we put our speechless and bomb-less close relatives in cages and zoos?
What can woodpeckers teach us about spacecraft?
Is genocide a human invention?
Why does extinction matter?
Why are we destroying the natural resources on which we depend for survival?
What hope is there for future generations?
Not only is The Third Chimpanzee a mind-boggling survey of how we came to be, but it is also a plea to the next generation to "make better decisions than their parents and get us out of the mess we're in."
Buy On:
Book Depository €11.18 Waterstones £11.99 Amazon UK £9.83 Amazon US $11.53(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I just read a book by Clive James called Somewhere Becoming Rain about the poetry of Philip Larkin that was really good. I’d rate it very highly as it’s succinct and so well written.
Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin
Review From Book Depository:
A love letter from one of the world's most critically acclaimed writers to one of its most cherished poets.
Clive James is a life-long admirer of the work of Philip Larkin. Somewhere Becoming Rain gathers all of James's writing on this towering literary figure of the twentieth century, together with extra material now published for the first time.
The greatness of Larkin's poetry continues to be obscured by the opprobrium attaching to his personal life and his private opinions. James writes about Larkin's poems, his novels, his jazz and literary criticism; he also considers the two major biographies, Larkin's letters and even his portrayal on stage in order to chart the extreme and, he argues, largely misguided equivocations about Larkin's reputation in the years since his death.
Through this joyous and perceptive book, Larkin's genius is delineated and celebrated. James argues that Larkin's poems, adored by discriminating readers for over half a century, could only have been the product of his reticent, diffident, flawed, and all-too-human personality.
Buy On:
Book Depository €10.73 Waterstones £12.99 Amazon UK £9.43 Amazon US $16.01(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
Seems like a long time ago! I loved the Paddington books as a child and Lord of the Flies as a teenager.
Lord of the Flies
Review From Book Depository:
First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is now recognised as a classic, one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern novels. This edition, which includes an introduction and notes by Ian Gregor and Mark Kinkead-Weekes, meets the demand for its use in schools and its prescription by numerous examining boards. In compiling the notes they have borne in mind the needs of younger readers not only in this country but overseas.
Buy On:
Book Depository €9.09 Waterstones £8.99 Amazon UK £6.15 Amazon US $5.99(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
Paper.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
Hodges Figgis on Dawson St- lots of choice!
Huge thanks to Luke for the interview at a very busy time, and for some great recommendations!
Please don't forget to check out his book The Great Irish Science Book.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Gill (The Great Science Book), Oneworld Publications (The Third Chimpanzee), Pan Macmillan (Somewhere Becoming Rain), Faber & Faber (Lord Of The Flies)
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