鈥淎lmost made me want to become a scientist again,鈥� says Trevor Pinch of Steven Strogatz鈥檚 Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order (Theia). Pinch is professor of science and technology studies at Cornell University and author of Analog Days (Harvard, 2002). He loves Strogatz鈥檚 irreverent approach to mainstream science.
Pinch is on sabbatical for six months in Berlin so he鈥檚 catching up on a few novels. One favourite is W. G. Sebald鈥檚 The Emigrants (Vintage, 2002): 鈥淚t captures the almost accidental connections between people and places in disrupted lives, weaving between details of rural East Anglia, the Swiss Alps and Ithaca 鈥� all places I have lived in.鈥� Set in the Second World War, Ian McEwan鈥檚 Atonement (Vintage, 2002) 鈥渞eminds people what it was like in the retreat from Dunkirk to be on the receiving end of shock and awe鈥�. And Pinch is reading Philip Pullman鈥檚 series His Dark Materials (Scholastic) with his 10-year-old daughter. They both agree it is much more imaginative and scarier than Harry Potter 鈥� and are delighted that 鈥渢he main character is a girl!鈥�