鈥淎mong the heap of books by my bedside,鈥� says Frances Ashcroft, professor of
physiology at the University of Oxford and author of Life at the Extremes
(HarperCollins, 2000), 鈥渁re novels, poetry, popular science and airport
bestsellers.鈥� At the top of the pile is Simon Blackburn鈥檚 Think
(Oxford, 2001), a 鈥渕asterful introduction to philosophy that really does make me
迟丑颈苍办.鈥�
Below lies Kazuo Ishiguro鈥檚 The Remains of the Day (Faber, 1990), a
haunting tale of social class and lost love. She鈥檚 also dipping into the
delights of A Quark for Mister Mark, a 鈥渨onderful eclectic鈥� selection of
poems about science compiled by Maurice Roirdan and Jon Turney (Faber, 2000).
Her current favourite is The Chemical History of a Candle by Michael
Faraday (Cherokee, 1978), the text of the six lectures Faraday gave to children
at the Royal Institution in 1849: 鈥淚鈥檓 learning a lot about candles and
肠丑别尘颈蝉迟谤测.鈥�