There are many flavours of science communication. The question is, what do you want to do? I’ve met people who describe science through dance, whether a traditional ceilidh or more interpretive. I’ve worked with artists using textiles, or sound and vision. Filmmakers are all over the shop, and everybody has a particular style; it’s hard to pick a favourite, but some people you should look at include Steve Mould, Epic Spaceman, Huw James, and the amazing Michelle Dickenson. Even I’ve had to develop skills in filmmaking; they are pretty essential in this age.
Illustrators, likewise are essential to telling a good story. You may not be familiar with the name, but you’ll recognise the work of Tony de Saulles, of Horrible Science fame. Also check out Hana Ayoob. I’ve worked with puppeteers, and am seriously delighted to be on speed-dial to work with long-time collaborator, Sarah Bearchell, on her next show involving ‘Oso’- an orange, long-haired character with a crazed look and wilder eyebrows.
Let’s not ignore magicians! Yes, that’s a thing; people like Matt Pritchard focusing on illusions, or the mentalism of Neil Monteiro. Fancy a little crafting? No problem, what ever it is you do, there can be a science twist to it, just like Andreia de Almeida. Honestly, there are literally no boundaries to what you do. Some perform, most write, all create.
My personal choice is to perform, partly because I love the feeling I get when an audience are right with me, and my brain can run at full speed. My over-abundance of stage energy finally has an outlet. Writing is probably my least favourite, as you’d gather from the infrequency of my posting over the last few years. I’m getting better at it though.
But I do need to talk about those who write science for a living. Then again, we could be including those scicomm people who produce articles for specific magazines and other outlets, like Curiosity Box. So maybe, reporters as well? If you read my last news post, you’ll know I’ve been working with a journalist, Geoffrey Bunting, and I’m pleased to say that the first of his articles hit The Guardian this week. My contribution to this one is down at the bottom of his article, and is predictably, the bit about ghost hunting tech.
However, it’s World Book Day, so let’s focus on those that write popular science books. I’m not suggesting that people dress up as your favourite science writer, or even your favourite scientist (possible if you want to go as Charles Darwin or Leonardo da Vinci, who both left big written outputs). This is a huge field, thus impossible for me to recommend something for you individually. I’ll be honest in saying that I love fiction , but I’ve certainly enjoyed some pop-sci books, so can provide some highlights of ones I’ve found inspirational.
James Gleick’s Chaos. This explores the patterns in chaos itself, despite the outward appearance of being random. Various concepts such as the butterfly effect, universal constants, and strange attractors are discussed at a length in the book. There is some great historical background and a plethora of interesting characters. The book explains the Mandelbrot Set and Julia Set without resorting to complex mathematics. (I’d be a full nerd if I admitted my copy has bits underlined, with notes made in the margin. Bizarrely, it’s a book that made me want to revisit mathematical coding.)
Chris French’s The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal. “Using academic, comprehensive, logical, and, at times, mathematical approaches, this book debunks ESP, communicating with the dead, and alien abduction claims, among other phenomena. All the while, however, French maintains that our belief in such phenomena is neither ridiculous nor trivial; if anything, such claims can tell us a great deal about the human mind if we pay them the attention they are due. Filled with light-bulb moments and a healthy dose of levity, The Science of Weird Shit is a clever, memorable, and gratifying read you won’t soon forget.”
Gina Rippon’s The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience that Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain. “On a daily basis we face deeply ingrained beliefs that our sex determines our skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choice and salaries. But what does this mean for our thoughts, decisions and behaviour? Rigorous, timely and liberating, this book has huge repercussions for women and men, for parents and children, and for how we identify ourselves. (I worked with Gina for years; I proudly got a mention in the acknowledgments. Quite an emotional moment for me when she showed me.)
Paul McCrory’s Hook Your Audience (volume 1): How educational presenters can captivate their learners using performance techniques. It would be remiss of me to not include a book on what I do for a living. This is a science performers bible. “…a toolkit of performance techniques to emotionally engage child and family audiences in interactive, educational presentations. Its main purpose is to encourage you to reflect more deeply on exactly how you hook your learners using engagement techniques. Many of these hooks are borrowed from other professional performers, such as magicians, stand-ups, street performers and actors.”
Alice Roberts’ The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us. Written while expecting, “Alice… takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing your path from a single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing, thinking person. It’s a story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an extraordinary, unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and left a mark on all of us.” Stuffed full of anatomical drawings, this tells a great tale that highlights the genius behind human design, and the commonality shared with the creatures we share this planet with.
Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People: Why do we all eat stuff that isn’t food… and why we can’t stop. “We have entered a new ‘age of eating’ where most of our calories come from an entirely novel set of substances called Ultra-Processed Food, industrially processed and designed and marketed to be addictive. Chris explores the world of food science and a UPF diet to discover what it’s doing to our bodies. So this is a book about our rights. The right to know what we eat and what it does to our bodies and the right to good, affordable food.” (I read this book and use some aspects of it in a workshop I run for University of Birmingham.)
It doesn’t matter what science you are interested in, just remember that all topics are connected in some way, so follow the threads from where you start and see where you end up. If you need a starting point, try the Popular Science section of Amazon, or your preferred book seller. Just promise one thing: this year, you will read a popular science book.