A book about science written by a non scientist, but somebody who has proved over many years his determination to try to get his head round complex scientific concepts after being completely turned off science at school. This is the second book by Robin Ince I have reviewed, the first being a joint venture with his friend Professor Brian Cox ‘How to Build a Universe‘ which I covered almost a year ago now and which promised a review of this book as I already owned it “in a couple of months or so”. Oh well it sadly got buried in the To Be Read pile but has now resurfaced and I’m so glad it has as it was a joy to read. Unlike the first book which appears to be mainly written by Brian Cox with interjections from Ince this, far longer, book at 390 pages excluding Cox’s introduction, is entirely the work of Robin Ince and as he explains at the start it was largely written during the first covid lock down in the UK in 2020. The book is based around over a hundred interviews he conducted during lock down with scientists in many fields who like him were pretty bored being stuck at home so were quite happy to talk about their various specialisms. His contacts with them grew out of not only The Infinite Monkey Cage radio show he does with Brian Cox (see review on How to Build a Universe) but also ‘The Cosmic Shambles Network‘ a largely science based website co-founded by Ince and Trent Burton which helped me through lock down with Ince’s regular videos from his book filled attic study providing much needed mental stimulation.
The book has twelve chapters all of which have an individual theme, although like his radio show with Brian Cox staying entirely on topic is not something that really happens. There is also an afterword as Ince didn’t want to finish with a chapter on the heat death of the universe, although quite appropriate for a finale it is rather depressing Having recently lost my father, something that has also recently happened to Ince, the chapter on death was probably the most difficult to read although ultimately as it provided food for thought it was also somewhat uplifting. Scientifically the most difficult and yet also possibly the most interesting, at least for me, was the chapter on the brain. My background is physics not neuroscience so this was well off my topic knowledge. But the important thing is that at all times I was interested in what Ince had to say, there isn’t a single formula in the book but that is sort of the point, you don’t have to be able to understand the formulas to get a reasonable overview of the topic being covered and its importance in a general understanding of ideas in physics, biology, cosmology, chemistry, neuroscience or whatever and it is all beautifully written.
What Ince also provides, although indirectly, is a reading list of works that will take you further or just sound interesting. For example I’ve never read anything by Bertrand Russell but now need to get hold of a copy of ‘Sceptical Essays’ as featured in the first chapter which covers doubt and uncertainty and also the spread of conspiracy theories. I have read works by physicist Carlo Rovelli but not ‘The Order of Time’ so that also makes it to the list. At the other end of the scale when Ince asked physicist Jon Butterworth about time he responded by quoting an author whose work I do own but have not yet read i.e. The Venerable Bede, an English monk who lived around 1300 years ago and wrote ‘The Ecclesiastical History of the English People’. After saying a couple of months and then taking eleven months to get round to reading this book I’m making no promises regarding Bede, whose great work has been sitting on my shelves for something like twenty years but I do keep spotting it and thinking I must get round to reading that sometime.
Ince has had plenty of interactions with astronauts both in the infinite Monkey Cage and Cosmic Shambles so the chapter on space exploration is packed with interesting anecdotes from people who have actually been into space including Helen Sharman, Chris Hadfield and one of the few Apollo astronauts still alive Rusty Schweickart, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969. Ince has always been interested in space and as he says in this book he had always wanted to be an astronaut but as he says “The only things in the way of pursuing such an ambition have been an uneven temperament, a fear of small spaces, a fear of heights, a lack of dexterity, my total lack of any necessary qualifications, frequent fits of existential anxiety, general non specific anxiety and a deep existential worry about ever being too far from an effective flushing toilet.”
As a professional stand up comedian Robin Ince has had years of experience in organising his thoughts to communicate an idea although he self-deferentially claims several times in the book that his performance style is more a stream of consciousness rather than a well planned set piece. Read this book and discover the importance of being interested in just about everything, it’s good for the brain.