Graham Farmelo鈥檚 It Must Be Beautiful: Great equations of modern science is just out in paperback (Granta). So he鈥檚 set to work on a new book, about the life and legacy of theoretical physicist Paul Dirac. This is dictating most of his reading.
For the art of writing biography, he鈥檚 deep into Michael Holroyd鈥檚 one-volume edition of Bernard Shaw (Vintage, 1998) 鈥� 鈥渢he Full Monty four-volume version can wait for now,鈥� he says.
He is enjoying Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2002). As he points out, 鈥淒irac was one of the very first to see that nature sees a fundamental difference between left and right.鈥�
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And for insight into Dirac鈥檚 role as a quantum revolutionary, Farmelo is perusing Quantum Dialogue by Mara Beller (University of Chicago Press, 2001). 鈥淎 masterful account of the work done by the junta responsible for the revolution,鈥� he says.
So what is he reading to take his mind off Dirac? Pulitzer prizewinning novel, and now 鈥渄arling of the Oscar nominees鈥� The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Fourth Dimension, 1999). 鈥淭he biggest surprise is that it鈥檚 even better than the film.鈥�
*The potto is a bushbaby-like primate. The male displays enormous spines on its penis.