鈥淧ure fun鈥� is how astrophysicist and science fiction writer Greg Benford describes Paul Hodge鈥檚 Higher than Everest (Cambridge, 2001), a guide to the Solar System in terms of climbing and hiking feats.
He鈥檚 trekking through Time Travel in Einstein鈥檚 Universe by J. Richard Gott (Houghton Mifflin, 2001), 鈥渘ot just because it treats my work! It鈥檚 entertaining and fanciful as good theory can be.鈥�
Benford plans to tackle a hot item in physics鈥攅xtra dimensions鈥攊n his fiction, so he鈥檚 scrutinising early attempts by other authors, such as The Mathematical Magpie edited by Clifton Fadiman (Simon and Schuster, 1962). He鈥檚 also getting stuck into Thomas Nagel鈥檚 Mortal Questions (Cambridge, 1979). 鈥淪obering essays, good for the soul,鈥� he says.
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On a lighter note, he enjoys rereading favourite books from distant eras for flavour. He鈥檚 enjoying Rudyard Kipling鈥檚 Kim (new edition: Penguin, 2000) and Raymond Chandler鈥檚 Farewell, My Lovely (reissue: Penguin, 1949).