Paul Davies
Right now, physicist and science writer Paul Davies is reading Waging
Modern War by Wesley Clark, who was Supreme Allied Commander during the
Kosovo conflict (PublicAffairs, 2001). He thinks it鈥檚 an apt topic in the
present crisis, and 鈥淐lark confirms my suspicion that the Allies made up their
campaign as they went along.鈥�
鈥淕ood for long air journeys鈥� is how he describes another book he鈥檚
reading鈥擪en Follett鈥檚 Code to Zero (Macmillan, 2000), a tale of
spies woven round the launch of America鈥檚 first satellite.
On the science front, he鈥檚 just finished Nine Crazy Ideas in Science
by Robert Ehrlich (Princeton University Press, 2001). 鈥淏ecause many of the
topics I write about are deemed by most people to be pretty crazy, it鈥檚 good to
have a perspective on battiness.鈥�
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Lewis Wolpert
鈥淚鈥檇 forgotten the pleasure of a very good novel,鈥� says Lewis Wolpert,
professor of anatomy and developmental biology at University College London.
He鈥檚 just read Graham Greene鈥檚 The Ministry of Fear (Vintage, 2001),
because 鈥淚 was telling a friend about the English disease, embarrassment, and
she said there was a scene in the book in which the hero would rather die than
suffer social shame.鈥�
He鈥檚 also writing a book himself about the biology of belief, so was shocked
to find that this is the subtitle of Why God Won鈥檛 Go Away by Andrew
Newberg (Ballantine, 2001).
For a spot of light entertainment, he鈥檚 immersed himself in Plato鈥檚 Early
Socratic Dialogues, edited by Trevor Saunders (Penguin, 1987), to get to
grips with the origins of science in ancient Greece. 鈥淒ifficult鈥攂ut then
philosophy is鈥攂ut amusing, even enjoyable because Plato is so clever鈥�.