Blog posts
This was going to be the third of a series of short video “Lessons from The Young Atheist’s Handbook” but since it’s Valentine’s Day, I’m putting out now. The animation is by the incredibly talented Jack Kenny and the music is by my wonderful friend Jack Challoner.
This is the first in a series of short video “Lessons from The Young Atheist’s Handbook” I’ll be putting online over the next few weeks as the book goes on sale. The animation is by the incredibly talented Jack Kenny and the music is by my wonderful friend Jack Challoner.
People keep asking me “how come your book’s being published in Australia first?” The answer is simple: the lovely Australian Henry Rosenbloom, was the first person to not only say he liked the idea of my book, but also to put his money where his mouth is and agree to publish it. I owe a huge debt to Henry and am delighted to be travelling to Australia to help launch the book – I hope other Australians will respond to it as positively and generously as Henry did. I’ll be… Read more Australia, here I come! →
The lovely organisers of the Perth Writers Festival have invited me to speak at three events next month: 25th Feb – Has Multiculturalism Failed? 25th Feb – Living a Good… Read more Perth Writers Festival →
It feels like my life has been revolving around “The Young Atheist’s Handbook” since I first conceived of it, back in the spring of 2009. It hasn’t taken this long to write, but it has taken this length of time for it to go from an idea to a real, physical book (although I have yet to hold an actual printed copy in my hands). I know I’ve been lucky and that it can take much longer for a writer to have his or her first book published, but it… Read more The Year of the Book →
A few years ago, I helped make a bunch of films intended for use in GCSE Science lessons. I was reminded of their existence when a friend of mine stumbled across them on the internet. Below is one about Nuclear Fission which I particularly like (although I’d probably have made it, and the others, differently if I had had editorial control). You can see the whole collection here.
Thanks to the generosity and support of The National STEM Centre and the Institute of Physics, Jonathan Sanderson and I, working with the legendary textbook writer David Sang, have recently completed a batch of videos aimed at sharing classic Physics demonstrations with teachers around the world. You can watch and download the films from here. We hope to be making more of these films later this year, so watch this space for updates.
It’s a few days since I came back from the Cheltenham Science Festival and I’m still buzzing. My live science show, “Science vs Magic”, went down a storm, and months and months of work seem to have paid off. I received an email from Dr Andrea Sella, a live science show veteran, telling me he thought it was a “fantastic talk – brilliant premise, brilliant execution, very solid story line, excellent comic timing, great examples, and your energy level was up there at the deranged level… loved every minute”. Tom Whyntie, who was one… Read more Science vs Magic – a work in progress →
This is a piece I wrote for The Times Science Blog back in March 2010. The Times no longer allow free access to their website so I’m reproducing it here: I want to be an astronaut. And now that we have a UK Space Agency, I might get to be one: I’m a teacher AND I’m from an ethnic minority community, which should mean that I’m way ahead of most people when the Minister for Outer Space draws up a shortlist for the first crew sent into space by UKSA… Read more King of the Universe →