‘It looks full of hard words and signs and numbers, not very entertaining or understandable looking, and I wonder whether it will make people wiser or better.’ So wrote a cousin of Josiah Willard Gibbs when she happened onto a copy of his most famous paper on thermodynamics lying […]
Chanukkah, Christmas and the Theology of Light: Reflections of a Jewish Convert and Physicist
Christmas, “The Feast of Lights”—Is there a theological significance to this or is it just a hangover from older customs? Let me share my thoughts–informed by my faith as a Catholic, my Jewish heritage, and my vocation as a physicist. Some 80 years ago when I was a child, I […]
CWG Book Blast: “Discovery,” by Karina Fabian
This month, the Catholic Writers’ Guild is touring Guildie Karina Fabian’s book, Discovery. It is a SOA winner. Teaser: “The truth is out there. The Truth is in you.” Summary: Karina Fabian’s Discovery is a suspenseful space adventure with deep roots that extend to questions about life, death, faith, and […]
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d, by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce fans stand to applaud her return from her interminable trials in the tundra of Toronto. Unfortunately, her family barely recognizes her existence. “Like a pair of sick suns rising, (her sister) Daffy’s eyes came slowly up above the binding of her book. I could tell she hadn’t […]
The Joy of Pickling (Second Edition), by Linda Ziedrich
The Joy of Pickling (Second Edition), by Linda Ziedrich The vegetable gardener’s planning must include not only the what, when and where to plant, but must account for the storage of surplus produce when neighbors run from armfuls of over production. Cookbooks and the instructions on the packages of pickling […]
The Accidental Alchemist, by Gigi Pandian
Gigi Pandian’s murder-mystery offers comfort on rainy days with teahouses, a warm kitchen and a fun read. She sets her scene in Portland, Oregon, a.k.a. Portlandia, the epicenter of the alternative fringe—a perfect place to hide in plain sight. So thought Zoe Faust, a 300 year old who doesn’t look […]
Your Inner Fish, By Neil Shubin
Over centuries, comparative anatomists marveled at the complexity of form and function in animals. For example, nineteenth century anatomist Charles Bell believed that the “designed perfection of the human hand could only have a divine origin.” His contemporary, Richard Owens, proposed that the remarkably similar patterns in the hands and […]