Tuesday, May 29, 2007

End of an era ...

I now have in my possession a yellow slip of paper that proves that I handed my thesis in at the Examination Schools at 12:13 on 1st June, 2007. That event draws a line under my graduate research in Oxford and I've now turned over and begun to fill a blank page with a new chapter in my life.

On Saturday I relocated to London and I am spending this week observing lessons in the school that have appointed me to teach chemistry from September. It seems a little bit strange returning to a life governed by 'the bell' - but in many ways it feels like coming home and I'm very much looking forward to starting properly in September. I think that it would be unprofessional to share personal views on my work in an open forum such as this (though please be re-assured that I'm getting delusions of grandeur thinking that anyone actually reads these ramblings). Henceforth, therefore, I hope to cut out the (really rather dull) autobiographical stuff on this blog, and return it to being what it says on the tin ... a blog about Chemistry, Ferns and other musings ...

A publisher's mistake, but still a cracking novel ...

I have just finished reading The Mysterious Commission by Michael Innes. The chief characters are a portrait artist (Charles Honeybath, RA) , Inspector Keybird, and a bunch of criminals. However, having read this book from cover to cover, it is most manifestly NOT an "Inspector Appleby Mystery" - as the publisher blazes across the cover.

Apparently, this error by House of Stratus has been noted before (and drawn to their attention) as described by this excellent website, which fills in a little more detail about Michael Innes and his work.

I'm inclined not to be too hard on HoS, though, because they are at least keeping these works in print and available for the public (Penguin seem to have decided that classic crime novels aren't worth producing anymore - those beautiful green and cream covers are fast disappearing from the shops).

Friday, May 04, 2007

Clouds

I have just finished reading a rather interesting little book called The Cloud Spotter's Guide, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Sceptre, 2007).

I must confess to having been avoiding bookshops for a while, mainly due to the distinct lack of book-buying funds which is part and parcel of being a 4th year graduate student in the UK. I am, therefore, probably one of the last people to hear about this book (the 2006 HB edition was selected as the Sunday Times Bestseller). Whilst I won't go so far as to endorse the Sunday Times review comment, (which was 'Go cloudspotting: it's the new religion') I will go so far as to say that I think it is an excellent book, being by far the best treatment of cloud classification and identification that I have ever come across.

Most meterological books tend to jump from the Janet-and-John-level [This is a cloud. A cloud is made of water. When the water falls from the cloud it is called rain] to the mind-blowingly complex this is a Cirrocumulus lancunosus undulatus cloud in a matter of a couple of paragraphs. In The Cloud Spotter's Guide, however, Mr Pretor-Pinney takes us gently through all the cloud types, explains their Latin names, and just when you think it might be getting a bit heavy diverts you onto a human-interest story.

I really recommend this book to anyone who has ever been interested in clouds, even for a split-second. I also own (and have read) Uman's classic text on lightning (kindly kept in print by the wonderful Dover Publications) but that's a much harder read, though just as worthwhile.

If you are in any doubt ... have a look at the Cloud Appreciation Society website, especially the photograph gallery.

The only question now is what to read next. Perhaps this is the time to bite the bullet and actually read Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.