Book Review covid19 NetGalley · 250 words
It's hard reviewing a comic book like this. A weekly or daily feed of little vignettes of lockdown life regularly raises a chuckle. But it long-form, it doesn't quite work. We already know how the story ends - after a year, you're still in lockdown. You've grown around the belly, but have you grown as a person? No, probably not. The sketches are cheerful, relatable, and a little heartbreaking …
Continue reading →Book Review climate NetGalley science · 1 comment · 450 words
Maybe it's the weirdness of the weather. Maybe it's another way to pour scorn on politicians. Maybe the steady stream of headlines about fires, floods and droughts is finally starting to get to us. Whatever it is, for more and more of us, climate change is shifting from a shadowy fear in the backs of our minds to something we feel we need to get a handle on. Our exploration of the Earth's…
Continue reading →Book Review NetGalley science · 2 comments · 450 words
From atomic structures to theories about magnetic forces, scientific progress has given us a good grasp on the properties of many different materials. However, most scientists cannot measure the temperature of steel just by looking at it, or sculpt stone into all kinds of shapes, or know how it feels to blow up a balloon of glass. Handmade is the story of materials through making and doing.…
Continue reading →Book Review NetGalley race racism · 1 comment · 600 words
When it comes to racial justice, how do we transform demonstrations of support into real and meaningful change? With intellectual rigour and razor-sharp wit, Emma Dabiri cuts through the haze of online discourse to offer clear advice. This was a refreshing and necessary book to read. Refreshing because so much of the discourse on race is driven by the USA's cultural hegemony - whereas this…
Continue reading →Book Review NetGalley technology · 1 comment · 500 words
We live at a time when billions have access to unbelievably powerful technology. The most extraordinary tool that has been invented in the last century, the smartphone, is forcing radical changes in the way we live and work - and unlike previous technologies it is in the hands of just about everyone. Coupled with the rise of social media, this has ushered in a new era of deeply personal…
Continue reading →advertising Book Review gooddata NetGalley · 3 comments · 700 words · Viewed ~433 times
This is a Bad Book. It is probably the most profoundly disturbing book I've read about the misuse of personal data. Not because it exposes the horrors of algorithmic harassment and discrimination, but because it joyfully revels in them. The book's central thesis is that slurping up personal data, without explicit permission, and using that information to target people is a good thing. While…
Continue reading →Book Review MonstrousDesign NetGalley · 300 words
1794, London: Camille and Al are desperately hunting Olympe's kidnapper. From the glamorous excesses of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to the city's seedy underbelly, they are caught in a dangerous game of lies and deceit. And a terrible new enemy lies in wait with designs more monstrous than they could ever imagine... Can Camille play on to the end or will she be forced to show her hand? This…
Continue reading →Bletchley Park BletchleyParksSecretSource Book Review NetGalley WWII · 500 words
This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y-Service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y-Service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. Hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some…
Continue reading →BlackSciFiShortStories Book Review NetGalley Sci Fi · 2 comments · 600 words
This is a delightful collection of short stories. It starts with a scholarly introduction to the history of Black Sci-Fi. And, for once, Black isn't just limited to mean "African American". We get a panoply of authors - both modern and historic. Some of the historic stories - especially W. E. B. Du Bois' The Comet - are wonderful. A hundred year old sci-fi that is still as relevant today as it…
Continue reading →Book Review EdnasDeathCafe gds HumansFml NetGalley WeekNotes work · 1 comment · 500 words
Short week! Monday was a bank holiday (mostly recovering from my mate Pete's wedding) and Friday was off to EMF Camp. But, I managed to get some work done! LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE! And the accompanying blog post NHS Majority of my time spend on helping run a design sprint for improving some NHS processes with Data Science. At my dark moments, I wonder if we can ever break free of the…
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