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Today is Ada Lovelace Day – a day of blogging about and celebrating women in science. I used to be a proper working scientist and am now a school one, but I confess I was totally unaware of the day, and Ada Lovelace herself. It turns out she was Byron’s daughter, and was a programmer for Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
The pic to the right shows Rosalind Franklin who did much of the work on DNA, but didn’t get on the Nobel ticket. Several other bloggers have written great posts on women in science today, so I’m going to direct you to them…
- Kirsty at Other Stories
- Nymeth at Things mean a lot
- Chasing Bawa
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Only a few days until I get to see Philip Pullman at the Oxford Literary Festival. I read in the paper that there’ll be security guards at the Sheldonian. Although I paid for a good ticket, the seats are still unreserved which is irritating. How early should I get there? Will he be signing afterwards given that there may be some fundamentalist agitators around? I’ll have to cross fingers and see and I’ll report back to you.
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Lastly, incoming…
The Concert Ticketby Olga Grushin. I couldn’t resist this novel – It’s Russian for a start! It features a family who are all desperate to get a ticket to a ‘For One Night Only’ concert by an exiled composer. Going to the concert would mean different things to each of them …
- Direct Red: A Surgeon’s Story
by Gabriel Weston. This surgeon’s autobiography has been on my radar ever since it came out, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy the hardback – but now the paperback is here. I’ve read many reviews and everyone has really rated it.
- A Madman Dreams Of Turing Machines
by Janna Levin. A faction novel about the lives of scientists Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel written by a young physicist.
I almost booked tickets to see Philip Pullman, but decided not to as there was nothing else on on the same day that I wanted to see. I look forward to a full report on his talk and hope that the activists aren’t in sight.
I’m lucky in that I’m local, so can just pop in so to speak. But this is the first Oxford lit fest event I’ll have been to even though I’m only 10 miles away.
Ooo, The Concert Ticket sounds really interesting. I hope you’re planning to write a review for us – I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
Megan, as soon as I saw the cover, I was hooked. The whole idea of a Russian novel combined with music and a family drama was irrestistible.
Going to see Philip Pullman will be amazing! I am officially jealous.
The cover of The Concert Ticket is beautiful and the story intriguing – it’s already on my wishlist. As does the novel about Turing. Great loot!
I’d not heard of the Turing book, but loving science fiction (as opposed to SF) I had to get it.
Really interested in your thoughts on Pullman and his new book. A full report on the event is awaited with much anticipation.
Your three new books sound fascinating especially A Madman Dreams Of Turing Machines.
Can’t wait for Pullman. The Turing book looked fascinating – I was disappointed to read some of the reviews on Amazon though – hope to prove them wrong.