Sarah Rowland-Jones
Human immunology specialist Sarah Rowland-Jones, says her current reading
could disappoint those expecting scientists to devote their spare time to works
of great literature and philosophy. She relaxes with books that entertain.
Much of her work is in Africa, so she enjoyed The Mind Game by Hector
MacDonald (Michael Joseph, 2001) and John Le Carr茅鈥檚 The Constant
Gardener (Hodder, 2000), both of which deal with medical research in Kenya.
MacDonald鈥檚 book links Oxford to the Kenyan coast in a story of a student
embroiled in a project to test a device for reading human emotions. The Constant
Gardener is, she feels, a more sinister tale鈥攐f exploitation by a drugs
company testing unlicensed drugs on a desperate population.
She says both books are excellent company and stimulate scientists to think
deeply about the ethical issues researchers face today.
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Mark Ridley
Oxford鈥檚 Mark Ridley admits to skiving off from his day job as an
evolutionary biologist to read Thomas De Quincey鈥檚 Confessions of an English
Opium Eater (Penguin, 1997). And the verdict? 鈥淒elightful鈥�. But he鈥檚 back to
biology with Michel Houellebecq鈥檚 Les Particules Elementaires (Editions
Flammarion, 1998). The novel鈥檚 subplot鈥攁 biologist develops mutation-free
DNA to do away with sex鈥斺�漞xactly matches my current thinking鈥�, he
says.
He has enjoyed the proofs of W. D. Hamilton鈥檚 Narrow Roads of Gene Land
(Volume 2, Oxford) and 鈥渟urprise, surprise鈥� Darwin鈥檚 On the Origin of Species
(Penguin, 1982).
And he hopes that Philip Steadman鈥檚 Vermeer鈥檚 Camera (Oxford, 2001), will
give him a scientific perspective on a current exhibition at London鈥檚 National
Gallery, 鈥淰ermeer and the Delft School鈥�.