Newsletter No. 7: Hacked and hurt by time
John Tyndall · Galápagos cormorants · why English is so odd · Thoreau & Darwin · anthropological discoveries · mass-extinction hyperbole · WG Sebald · yellow rattle · Inigo Thomas · Mars exploration
Newsletter No. 5: Incongruous owl
dawn chorus · Simon Armitage · the invention of the telescope · huge, sprawling collaborations · Withnail & I · book smells · re-assembling Darwin’s research notes · converting walks into words · Daniel Dennett · writing letters · humanist politics · dentistry with stone tools · analysing penguin poo · Melissa Harrison · Robert Macfarlane · swallows
Newsletter No. 4: Paint to pufferfish
Robert Macfarlane · Hilary Mantel · Martha Sprackland · Viking wool · Charles Darwin's reading habits · human evolution · praying to Elrond · drawing · making ink · Rebecca Solnit · insectivorous plants · do pufferfish hold their breath?
Notes from Nell Carr Farm
‘Notes from Walnut Tree Farm’ is by far my favourite Roger Deakin book. His assembled notes and jottings are packed full of ideas. The signal-to-noise ratio is phenomenal.
Newsletter No. 1: Kudos to youdos
Patti Smith · W.G. Sebald · Sexual Selection · Roman chicken · Robert Graves · Swallows & Amazons · Thames Estuary · James Brindley · Spoonbills
Migrant waders anthology
I have provided an article for a new anthology about wading birds.
Darwin on earthworms: small change writ large
A review of Charles Darwin's wonderful final book, ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits’.
Book review: ‘Darwin and Lady Hope: the Untold Story’ by L.R. Croft
A dreadful book attempting to breathe new life into the long-discredited myth of Charles Darwin's deathbed conversion to evangelical Christianity.
… So Let's All Be Scientists!
If Charles Darwin could do his bit for science from the comfort of his own home, perhaps we can too.
The great Darwin fossil hunt
For my 50th birthday, a friend beyond compare organised a very special birthday present for the only self-confessed ‘Darwin groupie’ in her life.