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16 March 2006

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind

Those of you who know me are probably aware that I don’t “do” books. They’re boring. There’s always something better to do than read. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read a proper book all the way through since leaving school. Even then, I only read books because we had to and, where possible, I’d always opt for non-fiction rather than fiction.

Well, all that’s about to change! Suzy bought me A Teaspoon and an Open Mind: The Science of Doctor Who by Michael White for Christmas. She’s bought me a few books now and I always feel a bit bad because I don’t read them. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I ditched reading the free Metro paper whilst tramming it to work in favour of my book – and, no, I’m not just sulking because they didn’t print my letter!

Despite all the highly scientific references, which I struggle to understand at 8:30 in the morning, this book is remarkably easy to read for anyone with an interest in the future, time travel, aliens, telepathy, teleportation or just science fiction in general. And it’s not just a book about Doctor Who; this is used purely a reference point for the author.

The book obviously covers far too much for me to comment on here, so I’ll just summarise what’s realistically going to be possible or not at sometime in the future:

I know some of that might seem a bit far-fetched, but you have to read the book to understand why something isn’t necessarily impossible just because it’s not possible yet. There’s one thing of which I’m sure though. Michael White’s arguments for why time travel and aliens might be possible are infinitely more convincing than Mark Haville’s arguments for why evolution is impossible.

Since this thing they call ‘reading’ was so enjoyable, I’ve already chosen my next book: Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. No doubt I’ll post something about that too once I’ve finished reading it. Just don’t hold your breath; it’s a big thick book...

(And don’t forget, you can always see whether it’s fair to judge this book by its cover over on Judge A Book By Its Cover.co.uk – where you really can judge a book by its cover!)

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A Teaspoon and an Open Mind posted by at 14:01 4 comments Add your comments

4 Comments

I've listened to the audio version of A Short History of Nearly Everything. It is very good. I am dissapointed that your next book isn't The Science of Superman.
by Blogger Chris  
Sounds quite good.I read a piece on teleportation once. Basically it is theoretically possible but it would not be you when you arrived as your molecular makup is analysed sent to the destinantion and then rebuilt from a "store" of molecules. A bit more similiar to the star trek replicator than actaul teleportation. Unless of course you are talking Quantum theory but the reason we dont understand that more is the fact that the whole concept is to much for even the most obscenely clever people to understand properly.

Bill Bryson's book is cool but I am only half way through and have misplaced my copy. I think a book I got for christmas is more your level "Grumpy Old Men"!

P.S My new years resolution for next year will be to stop posting comments on bloggs like a sad twat.
by Anonymous Anonymous  
It's not strictly true that you don't do books Mr Ruscoe. What about the two Trinny and Susannah What Not To Wear books that you own and read religiously every night?
by Anonymous Anonymous  
I think that those books are for his own intimate use.

"Tony Porn".
by Anonymous Anonymous