Dan recommends: The best recreational non-fiction of 2018

2018 has been a stunning year for me when we talk about books and reading, and here’s a selection of recreational non-fiction titles that I have enjoyed in the back half of 2018 and that you too can enjoy over the New Zealand summer season!

First up; an audiobook! A Collection of Conversations With Richard Fidler Volume 3

Volume 3 is another outstanding collection of conversations with Australian ABC Arts journalist and author Richard Fidler. His genius with interviewing technique unwraps some amazing stories from people who have done amazing things with their lives. The common thread among all of these interviewees is their passion for continued learning, their curiosity about the world, and their passion for life. In this volume we hear from a blind woman who navigates by sonar, a Bundjalung woman who rose to become one of Australia’s brightest lights, a man who spent 10 years alone in the bush before gaining a doctorate while being homeless, the animalistic life of comedian Bill Bailey, and many more fascinating stories. A great summer’s day listening at the bach, maybe with a glass of something refreshing…

Next we have the soon-to-be-considered-classic work of Philip Hoare Leviathan, Or, The Whale

I was lucky enough to see/hear Philip Hoare speak at this year’s Word Christchurch festival, and it was the realisation of a dream that I didn’t know I had – to meet the man who has had me mesmerised with his writing about the sea and natural science too often to count. Philip Hoare writes of the sea in such powerful and beautiful language. This particular book is his own graceful exploration of whales, their place in our world, our human history interacting with them, and the perils that they face at the hands of humanity and environmental changes. A book to read slowly, embracing every sentence for its beauty and poetic brilliance.

In completely the other direction, 2018 was the year I discovered this book from long ago – Wisconsin Death Trip

This book is a surreal journey about the real events surrounding the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin way back in the 1890s. Over a decade or so the townsfolk underwent what can only be called a mass-mania with incidents of murder, arson, infanticide, institutionalisation, and all manner of other horrors. These stories are told through archival newspaper reports and the most astonishing images taken from glass-plate negatives taken during the time. Haunting images and crazy stories… an amazing piece of captured history.

And perhaps in the lead up to Christmas you could indulge in a British custom and read about the history of the Royal Institute’s Christmas Lectures 11 Explorations Into Life on Earth

A very compelling volume of short accounts of the sessions delivered by many noted British scientists including Richards Dawkins and the great David Attenborough himself. These lectures were aimed to get kids excited about science and they are very entertaining and informative – you’ll love them too!

And the last title I’ll share with you is a micro-history. A micro-history is a work which focuses on one very specific piece of human or natural history. In the past I’ve enjoyed brilliant micro-histories like Salt by Mark Kurlansky – the amazing story of the most popular food seasoning in the world, or The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester (a repeat offender when it comes to micro-histories!) – an account of a madman who made the most significant contribution to the English language dictionary. I may one day write a blog just about the amazing world of micro-histories (Alina has done a very good microhistories list to start with) but for this time it’s all about Krill in The Curious Life of Krill.

This is a fascinating read about one of the most bountiful and important food sources in the Earth’s oceans. Written with an expert’s mind and a writer’s sense of storytelling this is a most enlightening read. Krill; they’re not as small as you think, and they are almost definitely the most important link in the food chain for life on Earth. Great read. Cool creatures. Think of them when you’re BBQ-ing your prawns this Christmas! 🙂

And that’s the back half of my 2018 reading in recreational non-fiction. These are not all the titles that crossed my path but definitely the most interesting and the ones I would like to share the most.

Happy Christmas season to y’all and happy reading for the rest of 2018!

^DevilStateDan

Chicken Lady Day

National Chicken lady day (US) came about to honour Dr. Marthenia “Tina” Dupree, a woman who worked for 12 years in the second largest chicken restaurant in the world (and, rather more integrally, helped to raise educational standards in the United States as Director of Community Relations and Training), but chicken ladies the world over can, and happily do, also take this day as an honorary hat tip to them.

There are a surprising amount of chicken ladies in Christchurch alone and they are not limited to the countryside – the resurgence of backyard chickens is on the rise and as a crazy chicken lady myself, I can vouch for the fact that once you start keeping chickens, you will never want to go back.

Chickens really are a champion pet – not only do they provide you with fresh eggs every morning, but they also show affection in their endearingly goofy, chicken way. Our girls like to follow us about as we do gardening, jump onto the windowsills and stare in at us curiously as we eat dinner, and try their luck at an indoors adventure or lap cuddle.

They are also not the scatter brains that people think – a study conducted by Australian University in 2015 found that chickens can count, while a report by neuroscientist Lori Marino has revealed chickens to be on a par with many other animals when it comes to self awareness and emotion. If you are wanting to learn more about the chicken, Annie Potts, associate professor and co-director of the New Zealand centre for human-animal studies at the University of Canterbury, has written a highly informative and entertaining book on the chicken from its origins as a jungle fowl to its current status as domesticated poultry. Along the way, Potts explodes the many misconceptions and myths surrounding this often revered and conversely often mistreated animal.

There are so many fantastic books on chicken keeping at the library, which will help chicken ladies as they begin their mama hen journey. A real stand out for me is the chicken chicks guide to backyard chickens, which gives helpful day to day advice on selecting a breed, your chicken routine, how to treat your ill chook, dietary requirements and much more. Our selection of books on backyard chicken keeping are really worth a look at whether you are new to chicken keeping or not.

The library also has an excellent selection of books which serve as a guide to the many chicken breeds out there- from the hard working to hybrids to the fancy show girls. Just a warning though- once you start with one type of heritage breed you won’t want to stop adding to your flock.

Wanting to go the extra mile and build your own coop? The library has some great books on the subject filled with ideas and even detailed plans of your new architectural wonder.

November fourth is the ideal day for chicken ladies the world over to celebrate their successes – and for aspiring chicken ladies to take the plunge and start up their new flock. As Kathy Mormino  (the chicken chick) says in her guide, the question isn’t why chickens but why not chickens?

Find out more

• Christchurch Poultry, Bantam and Pigeon Club of Pecking order fame
• Read our post about Keeping Poultry
• More resources about poultry

Kōrerorero mai – Join the conversation

Ada Lovelace Day – Tuesday 9 October 2018

Today is Ada Lovelace Day.

Ada Lovelace, born in England in 1815, was the first computer programmer. Growing up, she was a sickly child, home-schooled in a variety of subjects, including mathematics and astronomy. She invented a steam-powered flying machine at the age of 12. When she was 17, she met Charles Babbage – a mathematician and mechanical engineer who was working on a clockwork calculating machine (initially the Difference Engine, then the Analytical Engine) – to produce error-free logarithmic and trigonometric tables, which could be use by anyone from navigators to powered loom designers.

Babbage’s notes about his Analytical Engine were expanded, corrected and published by Lovelace. She saw the full potential of the machine more than he did. She wrote “I want to put in something about Bernoulli’s Number, in one of my Notes, as an example of how an explicit function may be worked out by the engine, without having been worked out by human head and hands first.”

Ada died on 27 November 1852, aged just 36 years old, having never been able to test her theories on the actual Analytical Engine, as it was not built. But her ideas found their way into modern computing via Alan Turing. During the Second World War while working on decoding German communications, Turing discovered Lovelace’s notes and they helped to shape his thinking.

Find out more: Ada Lovelace: Victorian computing visionary by Suw Charman-Anderson.

Ada Lovelace’s passion for science and technology made her the logical namesake for an international day to celebrate the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

In New Zealand the roll call for Illustrious Women Scientists includes such names as:

• Nancy Mary Adams, botanical artist and botanist
• Helen Anderson, seismologist
• Rosemary Askin, Antarctic researcher
• Betty Batham, marine biologist
• Jean Gardner Batten, pilot
• Philippa Black, Professor of Geology and president of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1993 – 1997
• Margaret Brimble, biotechnology chemist
• Kathleen Curtis, plant scientist and the first female fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand
• Michelle Emma Dickinson, nanotechnologist and science educator
• Edith Elizabeth Farkas, meteorologist and ozone researcher.
• Dr Elizabeth Alice Flint, freshwater algae scientist
• Elsa Beatrice Kidson, soil scientist and sculptor
• Lucy Beatrice Moore, botanist
• Dr Charlotte Paul, medical doctor and Emeritus Professor
• Dame Margaret Sparrow, medical doctor
• Vida Stout, limnographer
• Dr Beatrice Muriel Tinsley, astrophysicist
• Joan Wiffen, palaeontologist
• Professor Christine Winterbourn, pathologist

150 women in 150 words Royal Society Te Apārangi celebrates women’s contribution to expanding knowledge in New Zealand.

Woman inside a laboratory, Wallaceville Animal Research Centre. Ref: 1/1-021378-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23081298

Nanogirl: Cooking with Science! – WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Dr Michelle Dickinson wants everyone, everywhere to enjoy a meaningful relationship with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics).

She introduced her book and her mission to a sold-out crowd of kids and whānau. If you missed her on Sunday, get ready for Nanogirl Live! “Out of this World!” – a Live Science Spectacular on at the Isaac Theatre Royal on Saturday 17 November 2018. Her bus is Paul McCartney’s old tour bus rigged out in a science-focused fashion, and it will be coming to Christchurch in a Hercules plane. There’s also a TV show Nanogirl and the Imaginauts coming soon to the TVNZ app HeiHei.

Michelle explained her mission  – “teaching kids to have fun experiences with different technology”. Her nanotechnology career has involved cool jobs such as designing concept cars that will tap you on the shoulder if there is a cyclist behind you, and know if you are feeling a bit bleak and make your commute home go past the beach. She also helped devise a 6 nanometre wide coating for iPhones to protect the screen.

Then she talked about her new book The Kitchen Science Cookbook. It came from the idea that you can sneak science into a recipe book:

Home is where the learning is probably more powerful.

The book took three years of experimenting, and a determination that the recipes be achievable for all families, using what is in the kitchen.  After shopping it to publishers who wanted to skimp on production values (she wanted the ribbon/bookmark in her book), she made the decision to self publish. Michelle used Facebook to solicit recipe testers. People were keen as.  A Kickstarter campaign raised the necessary money ($85,462). Her father in law took the photos.

10,000 books have been sold already, and for each one sold, one goes to a needy family or school and there is a connection to organisations like Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and Pillars (for families with parents in prison).

Next up, it was kitchen science ahoy – and kids got to head up on stage to be part of the experiments. Can crushers, unicorn noodles, edible earthworms, chicken in a cup, centrifugal force – it was brilliant to watch, and kids had their hands in the air, desperate to get up on stage and do some kitchen science.

Photos from Nanogirl! Cooking with science

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The question from the audience were the tops:

How long have you been a scientist?
I have been a scientist since I was 8.

What is your absolute fave experiment?
Ones where I blow things up, like the 66 gallon drum crush.

And my personal fave:

Can you please come to my birthday?

Yup, Nanogirl is a rock star.

Postscript:
My scientist made marbled milk this afternoon.

• Find works by Michelle Dickinson in our collection
• Follow our coverage of WORD Christchurch Festival 2018
• Visit Dr Michelle Dickinson’s website
• Visit the Nanogirl website
• Follow Dr Michelle Dickinson @medickinson on Twitter
• Nanogirl Live! “Out of this World!” – a Live Science Spectacular is on at the Isaac Theatre Royal on Saturday 17 November 2018.

The Kitchen Science Cookbook

Fatbergs, toilet water, and the number 2 bus: Laurie Winkless: WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

When Laurie Winkless, author of Science and the City, in conversation with Michelle Dickinson (aka Nanogirl) at the WORD Christchurch Festival yesterday, immediately outed herself as massive train and tunnel geek, I knew we were in safe hands. “London life” she said, “is defined by tube lines”. Laurie knows what she’s talking about. She lived in London for many years, as a student at University College London and then working at the National Physical Laboratory. Since then, while writing her book, she has been looking into how cities around the world work, and how science and technology can be used to improve the lives of city dwellers. I’ve blogged about this topic before, so I was delighted to hear more about what she found out.

Laurie Winkless. Image supplied.

The conversation quickly turned to fatbergs, stinking accretions of fat and other unsavoury substances that so many of us misguidedly pour down our drains, which clog up the sewers of cities around the world. Reference was repeatedly made to the mythical place called “away” that we refer to when we “throw things away”. There is no away; these things have to end up somewhere. So-called “flushable wipes” may be flushable in the sense that they will go round the U-bend and disappear from view, but that doesn’t mean they are biodegradable and will breakdown somewhere in the waste disposal system; it just means they are someone else’s problem now, although they are still all our problem in the end as we have to pay for the resulting mess to be cleared up.

The tone of the conversation lifted only slightly when the topic turned to the concept of “toilet to tap” drinking water. This is the reverse of the usual situation. Laurie was incredulous that we currently flush our toilets with water that is clean enough to drink. How ridiculously inefficient is that?, she asked. With the right kind of processing however, toilet water can be turned into potable drinking water. The processing of course is crucial (“you really don’t want to have contact with faeces”, she said), and expensive, so this is only really a solution for drought-prone cities. Remarkably, blind taste tests have revealed that people actually prefer the taste of recycled water over tap water.

Even when the topic turned to transport we were straight back to hearing about human waste. We were shown a picture of a poo-powered bus. Hilariously, this was the number 2. Apparently, the taxis in Stockholm are partly fueled in this way. It’s genius really when you think about it, turning one problem (waste disposal) into the solution for another (fuel consumption). Brilliant!

Another huge source of waste is the way we treat our electronic devices as disposal ephemera, but this is changing. Landfill mining is now a major source of recycled materials for the industry. Experiments are currently underway to turn single-use plastic waste into building materials. There is even a trial of an asphalt mix that incorporates waste plastic currently underway at Christchurch Airport.

While Laurie had managed to restrain herself until now, she went into full on rant mode when it came to cars, roads, and traffic (although she confessed to being a motorsports fan). New Zealand, she told us, has the highest car ownership in the OECD. While there are understandable reasons for this that she recognizes (small pockets of people separated from each other by large distances) this threatens to impact on the clean green image that we trade on. Don’t think “Oh no, I’m stuck in gridlock” she said, “you are the gridlock!”. Fewer cars on our cities’ roads would have measurable economic and health benefits, but this would require alternative means of public transport, which would necessitate something of a culture-shift.

Michelle raised the interesting question of what cities might look like if they were designed by women. Laurie wouldn’t be drawn into making any firm conclusions, but she did make the point that “to build better cities we need to listen the voices of the people living in them, half of whom are women”. She seemed more concerned about listening to older people and those with access issues. “Cities built with older people in mind”, she said, “will be better for everyone”. “Modern cities are built to be easy to get to, but not worth arriving at”, she quipped.

This led on to a nuanced discussion of green spaces. Laurie is a big fan and cited many benefits of urban trees, not least their effect on cooling cities down. “We need to prioritise green over grey” she said. But she’s not such a fan of more gimmicky solutions, like living walls and vertical gardens, which she sees as largely hype and greenwashing, and she was ambivalent about urban farming. She would like to see a more evidence-based, problem-focused approach. Ask first what we are trying to achieve and then pick the best tools to do that job.

The conversation then moved on to smart cities. Smart cities rely on sensors she said, but these are difficult to incorporate into concrete buildings. There is a trend among urban planners and designers to add more and more sensors to every new structure that we build, but how we will use the enormous amounts of data that they collect is less clear. Laurie seemed to be calling for a more mindful approach, in which sensors are deployed to achieve particular aims, rather than incorporated willy-nilly into all our new buildings by default.

Before questions, the main part of the session concluded with a brief, but fascinating, discussion of driverless cars. They are not coming to all of us anytime soon, Laurie said, but we don’t have to wait for everyone to have one to reap the benefits. To illustrate this, we were shown a compelling video, which demonstrates that just one driverless car can improve traffic flow on a busy road.

Questions were taken at the end, most of which focused on local issues. Laurie clearly felt that New Zealand is doing some amazing things in this space, but not taking the credit it should for that. “New Zealand’s energy mix is the envy of the world”, she said. Let’s hope that local and central government start taking more notice of people like Laurie who have looked at cities around the world and understand the evidence the underpins the ways that science and technology can be used to improve our cities to all our benefits.

Further reading

For more on this topic, check out the booklist I put together for my blog about the Smart Cities Christchurch Innovation Expo

For more about how Christchurch City Council are using smart technologies check out the Smart Cities page on the Council’s website.

Also, check out The Kitchen Science Cookbook by Michelle Dickinson, which has received some rave reviews…

Philip Hoare – Hunting for Moby-Dick and The Sea, The Sea: WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Oh ye! Whose eyeballs are vexed and tired

Feast them on the wideness of the sea.

(Keats)

I love the Sea and books about the Sea. Thrillingly rough and washing up over carparks or velvet-smooth, there is something at once wild and calming about its compelling expanse.

Although I swim until March, Philip Hoare is a man who swims in the ocean every day (at 4.30am), no matter where in the world he may be, or whatever the season. He was not to be deterred by Canterbury’s spring temperatures, which swung from ‘damp and drizzly’ (Melville) to very welcome sparkly sunshine within a day.

Hector's dolphins came to take me away; I may be gone some time@WORDChCh pic.twitter.com/lbF9s22MvM

— Philip Hoare (@philipwhale) August 30, 2018

Hosting a workshop and documentary on the classic Moby-Dick and speaking at WORD Christchurch Festival about the inspiration for his books, Philip shared his wonder of the ocean with the redoubtable Kim Hill for a large audience.

Risingtidefallingstar is Hoare’s latest book. Following a common thread this WORD Festival, in Risingtide Philip also blurs the lines between fact and fiction in an alliterative tidal flow that combines the mystical with tales of experience; taking the reader on a journey to discover how the ocean has influenced human life, literature, art, and essentially, ourselves.

To signpost this journey back to our primal selves, Hoare refers to many wonderful works of art and literature inspired by the Ocean itself. Shakespeare’s Tempest, Spenser’s Faerie Queen, the works of Shelley and of course the master of high sea adventure, Herman Melville; absorbed all and more of these, including the Bible.

At times in human story the Ocean is appears to be a metaphor for Nature’s evil. But in doing so it raises the question of, “Can Nature be evil?” turning the spotlight on perhaps the true villain, man:

“Humans have become disconnected from the natural world”

“Our vocabulary, speech, has distanced us.”

Here Hoare apologises for not speaking Whale. (We later discover that Waitaha can speak whale. That’s another story.)

What struck me was how similar to humans whales can be, not just physically (our bone structures are very similar). But maybe more evolved as they stuck to their path, and weren’t distracted by dreams of land (like the little Mermaid, to her doom). Whales define themselves by each other, says Hoare; like family, and are never alone.

Humans are defined by our larger culture, Philip himself relating poignantly to the death of iconic David Bowie, whose loss was felt worldwide, while he was writing this book. Bowie is, of course, the Falling Star.

We return to the subject of swimming. Whilst in Canterbury, Philip has taken a dip at Sumner Beach, and in Akaroa. He’s heading north to sunny Nelson next. The ritual of swimming is for Hoare a meditation, made more sensual by being done in darkness. In times gone by, Monks meditated in the sea, immersed in its timelessness.

“Why do you do it?” Asks a relentlessly funny Kim Hill.

“To leave it all behind,” replies Philip, “the Earth, earthly problems, gravity itself.”

“But you could die.”

“That’s part of the charm.”

“I’m reborn!”

exclaims Philip excitedly.

• Follow Philip Hoare on Twitter @philipwhale 
• Philip chats to Kim Hill
• Find works by Philip Hoare in our collection
• Follow our coverage of WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Opium licking, self-mummification, and whistling trees: Jonathan Drori: WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Jonathan Drori loves trees. So much so that he has spent a career working with them as a documentary film maker at the BBC, and on the boards of Kew Gardens in London, and the Eden Project in Cornwall. On a very wet afternoon yesterday in a full auditorium at The Piano for WORD Christchurch Festival an audience of enthralled drendrophiles (tree lovers) and nemophilists (woodland enthusiasts) got to hear Drori tell us about his passion for trees, and recount some enlightening stories from his recent book Around the World in 80 Trees.

Jonathan Drori. Image supplied.

Jonathan was first introduced to the wonderful world of plants by his father, a Russian emigre to the UK, who would take him to botanic gardens where he took a very unorthodox approach to botanical education. His father would feed him small pieces of the plants on show, some of which were psychoactive (like the opium poppy his dad suggested he lick), or even poisonous, like the unfortunate plant known as the dumb cane. The story behind this particular plant is deeply unpleasant as the name comes from that fact that slave owners fed it to their slaves as a punishment as it was extremely distasteful and could cause the mouth and tongue to swell up until the slave could no longer speak.

There is much talk these days, Drori said, about what people need, but he is more interested in what trees need, and this provided the structure for much of his talk. Firstly, trees need water, and it seems that this sets a fundamental limit on how tall they can grow of about 120 meters, above which they are physically unable to bring water up from the ground to the leaves, flowers, and fruits in their uppermost reaches. For this reason, none of the tallest tree species ever exceed this height, and they never will, despite any evolutionary pressure that might otherwise drive them to do so.

The second thing that trees need is food, which they get not from the soil, or even sunlight (although that does drive the process), but in fact the mass of a fully-grown tree has almost entirely come from carbon dioxide in the air, a fact that is of obvious significance in the context of climate change.

A perhaps less known requirement of trees is for particular species of fungi, called mycorrhizae, that live in the soil and form close associations with tree roots. In many cases, the trees can’t survive without them. These associations are often very specific, for example the fungi that birch trees need form the familiar red mushrooms with white spots known as fly agaric, which are very poisonous. (Drori had some entertaining stories about these mushrooms, but I’ll let you discover them for yourself in his book, see p.21). The mushrooms themselves are only a temporary, and very small part of the fungus as a whole, necessary only for its reproduction, but the vast bulk of the fungus is in the form of thin threads, hidden from view in the soil, which wrap around and interact with the roots of trees and other plants. Drori painted a picture of a vast information super-highway of fungal threads that allow trees to communicate. For example, when one tree is attacked by insects it can use these fungal threads to warn others around it, so that they can activate their defenses.

Defense was the next need that Drori told us about, and he spent quite a long time on it, telling us several amazing stories. He told us how caffeine is used by plants to defend themselves from attack by plant-eating insects. We learned that the alder tree, which lives in boggy ground and is highly resistant to rot, was used extensively for building in water-logged renaissance Venice, and apparently its charcoal makes the best gunpowder, still favoured by the military.

We heard about the whistling thorn, which whistles in the wind because of small holes made by ants that live inside the tree and protect it from other insects. A particularly gruesome story in this section was about how certain Buddhist monks used a tea made from the sap of the lacquer tree to mummify themselves while still alive, becoming ‘whole-body relics’, a truly horrific form of suicide by dehydration that is now thankfully no longer practiced.

Drori then moved on to talk about sex and seed dispersal, as trees need to make more trees. We heard that the laxative properties of many fruits are an evolutionary adaptation to make them pass through the gut quickly before the seeds are digested so that they can be deposited elsewhere in their own little pile of fertilizing dung. We heard about the extraordinary, and provocatively-shaped coco da mer, the heaviest seed in the world, once highly revered, which exchanged hands for extraordinary sums of money. We also heard about the traveller’s tree of Madagascar, the blue seeds of which can only be dispersed by lemurs as they are the only animals strong enough to break open their seed pods. This means that the fate of the tree is tied to that of these endangered lemurs, emphasizing the connectedness of trees with the other organisms in their environments, and the extent to which species rely on each other in fragile ecosystems.

This brought Drori to his final, and perhaps most important point; trees need love. To make this point he talked briefly about his involvement with the Eden Project, “the largest rainforest in captivity”, and mentioned the possibility of an Eden Project coming to Christchurch’s red zone, although in a rather different form much more suited to the needs of the local community, and in keeping with our own native flora. What we need, he said, is “a mycorrhizal network of people” dedicated to caring for, and looking after, the interests of trees. Inspirational stuff!

Drori finished his talk by pre-empting a question he had been asked before; if you could be any tree, which one would you be? The Quiver tree, the national tree of Namibia, he said. Why? Because whenever anyone sees one they smile, and then they want to stroke it – a lovely end to a delightfully entertaining and informative tour of the fascinating world of trees.

Drori’s talk was accompanied throughout by beautiful illustrations from his book drawn by Lucille Clerc. They are truly stunning, and this is one of the most beautiful books I have seen this year. It is full of many more amazing stories about trees like those we heard in this wonderful talk and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

• Jonathan Drori’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018
• Find works by Jonathan Drori in our collection
• Follow our coverage of WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Quick Questions with Laurie Winkless – WORD Christchurch

We are asking quick questions of writers and thinkers coming to the WORD Christchurch Festival 2018 (Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September).

Laurie Winkless is a physicist-turned-science-writer. After a research career in materials science at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory, her first book, Science and the City, was published worldwide by Bloomsbury. Laurie’s second book, Sticky, is in the works.

Laurie Winkless. Photo credit: Tim Goffe

What are you looking forward to doing in Christchurch?

I’m looking forward to exploring Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, and finding some of the famous street art dotted around the city

What do you think about libraries?

My local library changed my life! As soon as I started to show an interest in books – before I could read – my parents brought me to the library. There, I found my happy place. Without that access, I doubt I’d have written my own book. Even today, I’m at my most comfortable when surrounded by books. Libraries have just as important today as they always have been. As our cities grow, and populations spread, libraries act as the heart of the community, opening the world to readers, young and old. Librarians, too, offer an incredible, vital service

What would be your desert island book?

I can’t possibly pick just one!

Share a surprising fact about yourself.

Here are a few:

• I come from a stage-school family, so I can sing and dance
• I used to collect stamps
• I’ve done a parachute jump
• I am obsessed with trains

Laurie’s sessions at WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Inspiring writers secondary schools day Thursday 30 August

Laurie Winkless: Science and the city Saturday 1 September

• Find works by Laurie Winkless in our collection
• Our page on WORD Christchurch Festival 2018
• More WORD Christchurch Quick Questions

WORD things to get excited about: Mark’s picks of the 2018 festival

The WORD Festival is arriving in Christchurch (29 August to 2 September) in a celebration of all things literary. There will be something for everyone with events ranging from the silly to the profound with over 120 authors, and close to 100 events across 30 venues. Below is just a tantalising taste of what this wonderful event has to offer, so feel free to explore the WORD Christchurch Festival programme in full.

So pull up a chair, get yourself a drink, and get ready to explore the wonderful world of the WORD.

Picks of WORD Christchurch 2018

The Politics of fiction (Saturday 1 September 4-5pm, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)

Brannavan Gnanalingam, Pip Adam, and Rajorshi Chakraborti. Image supplied.

There will be certain pieces of fiction that hold special places in the hearts of literature fans, and one of the reasons could be for political reasons. Join Ockham award winning author Pip Adam, with fellow authors Rajorshi Chakraborti, and Brannavan Gnanalingam in conversation with Julie Hill as they discuss the very topic of the politics of fiction looking at the way fiction can be more than mere entertainment, but can serve a role in helping create empathy and change perspectives.

Yaba Badoe: Fire, Stars and Witches (Saturday 1 September 2.30-3.30pm, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)

Magical Realism is a beautiful genre of literature with narratives that can displace time and space or use magic as a metaphorical device through which to tell fantastic story rich in cultural relevance. A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars author Yaba Badoe is a great international author of the genre of magical realism in addition to being an accomplished filmmaker and will be in discussion with University of Canterbury PhD candidate Sionainn Byrnes. This talk promises to explore issues surrounding women in Africa in addition to magical realist fiction itself.

Laurie Winkless: Science and the City (Saturday 1 September 4-5pm, Phillip Carter Family Concert Hall)

A topic that should be at the heart of all Christchurch locals. Following the tragedy that was the Christchurch Earthquakes, everyone – bar none – has had an opinion on how the rebuild has progressed and what should have been done. Laurie Winkless, author of Science and the City, will provide specialised knowledge on the subject that is well informed through studies of cities from all over the world and explore the scientific considerations of cities.

New Regent Street Pop-Up Festival (Thursday 30 August, 6-7.20pm, New Regent Street)

A glorious event for young and old. The New Regent Street Pop-Up Festival is my favourite event from Word Festival’s prior, and it’s free! This event will bring world class talent to New Regent Street in multiple pop-up events as the street is turned into a festival celebrating the literary form. The New Regent Street Pop-Up Festival will make you wish New Regent street was like this everyday.

David Neiwert: Alt-America (Thursday 30 August 6-7pm, Philip Carter Family Concert Hall)

David Neiwert. Image supplied.

American journalist David Neiwert will be talking about his book Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Time of Trump, in an attempt to explain what is actually happening in the American political landscape at present. What promises to be a great and informative event, David Neiwert will historicise the rise of this seemingly overnight political phenomena to the 1990s as he discusses his work in tracking and following the far-right in American politics for multiple decades.

Ted Chiang: Arrival (Sunday 2 September 2.45-3.45pm. Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū)

The Science Fiction Author of Story of Your Life, which was adapted into the film Arrival, Ted Chiang will be in conversation with science fiction and fantasy author Karen Healey. Expect and interesting and philosophical conversation from this thought provoking and awarding winning author.

Find out more

• Our WORD Christchurch 2018 page
• WORD Christchurch festival programme

What’s lava got to do with it?

What’s lava got to do with it? Quite a bit if you’re talking about volcanoes.

As a kid I had recurring nightmares about both volcanoes and earthquakes. I blame the abundance of seventies-era disaster movies that seemed to often make it onto the television during that period. I took games of “the floor is made of lava” Very Seriously.

My antipathy towards earthquakes has become less nightmare-based and more practical since 2010, but my morbid fascination with volcanoes is still one that I enjoy (not sure that’s the right word, exactly) though thankfully from something of a distance.

Certainly, Hawaii’s Big Island is plenty close enough for me. Mt Kīlauea started erupting in early May and is still doing a very convincing “Mount Doom”, destroying around 600 homes in the process (so far), and with no signs of stopping.

But New Zealand sits on the same Pacific Ring of Fire as the Hawaiian islands, Indonesia’s Krakatoa, Japan’s Fujiyama and Bali’s Mt Agung which is currently ejecting 2km high columns of ash. Our own history and landscape is peppered with reminders of eruptions, like the caldera that became our own Lyttelton Harbour, for instance.

Volcanic eruptions can and do happen in New Zealand, sometimes with devastating effect (looking at you, Mount Tarawera), so it’s probably just as well that we know something about what they are and how they behave (and preferably from a better source than an old Paul Newman movie).

If you’re keen on finding out more about lava, fissure vents, and pyroclastic flow, you could do worse than consult some of the resources below:

• GeoNet Volcano Watch – It’s good to know that someone is keeping an eye on our local volcanoes, isn’t it?
• The United States Geological Survey (USGS) – They are currently making regular status updates on Kīlauea on YouTube documenting things like “volcano whirlwinds”.
• Our page on New Zealand earth science and geology which gives you links to resources covering not just volcanoes but also landslides and earthquakes.
• Gale Interactive: Science – This engaging and instructive tool includes an Explore: Volcano resource that lets you use your mouse to remove sections of a virtual volcano to see what happens underneath the surface. It’s pretty cool! I mean, hot!
• The Life and Times of Supervolcanoes – Book your seat for this free lecture by Professor Colin Wilson at St Margaret’s College Charles Luney Auditorium, 6.30-7.30pm Wed 1 August, 2018. Presented by The Royal Society – Te Apārangi in partnership with GNS Science, EQC and Victoria University of Wellington.

Gale Interactive: Science lets you remove half a mountain to see what’s underneath. In this case, it’s a magma chamber.

And if that’s not enough to quench your thirst for everything volcano, there are also lots of books on volcanoes, for kids and adults alike.