July caught me reading ‘The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science’, by Richard Holmes. I know it’s been available for a while and many have reviewed it, but I took my usual route of avoiding reviews in order to let my read develop organically. In this case, I need not have worried. It seems that many have found beauty in the words and stories. I don’t want to review it, as you can find those anywhere. Just trust me, buy the book and throw yourself into an age when people didn’t think of themselves as scientists, they just asked questions.
I followed it up by reading Stephen Hawking’s ‘The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe’. It was strange, because I felt that this book was more out of date than ‘The Age of Wonder’. A good and enjoyable run through six lectures that felt informative and interesting. They just didn’t inspire me.
For me, a story is a great way to package learning resources. Which brings me to my ideal grant application, which I just have to do something with. The Wellcome trust are offering funding for experimental arts projects investigating biomedical science (the link is here). However, just take a look at what they have funded by clicking on the tab. I really want to hear the neuroscience poetry, and listen to the inflammation songs created by the KS4 kids in Nancy Evan’s project.
I know, it all seems mad. So much so, I’m intrigued but also a just a little bit inspired, maybe to learn about a bit of science, but not to actually do any. Is that right?