Stephen Hawking: His Life And Work
by Kitty Ferguson
Bantam Press
4/5
When Stephen Hawking became Luciasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge he was conveniently associated with his predecessor in the post - the irascible and unlikable genius Isaac Newton.
But, as Kitty Ferguson's biography of the time-wrangler makes clear, the lineage follows more comfortably from Albert Einstein who, in addition to his insight and genius, was an instinctive populariser.
The pair both have an approachable other-worldly image, self-deprecation and a way with wit that ensured they sidestepped the brickbats (or indifference) that is the usual fate of intellectuals.
Hawking's image is also his struggle. His disease has slowly eroded his body but kept his mind brilliantly alive.
That his computer voice is, paradoxically, our only route to his humanity means this 70th birthday tribute is an essential unveiling of the man and his motives.
Survivors by Richard Fortey
HarperPress
4/5
If Santa Claus were a scientist, he would be Richard Fortey, the veteran chronicler of the natural world.
Not only are his books gifts that keep on yielding sparkling treasures but they are delivered with such avuncularity that the brutality of extinction feels like a cuddle by the fireside.
His latest work is endlessly fascinating. Survivors sees the naturalist travel the world in search of animals and plants that have found a means to thrive, virtually unchanged, for millions of years.
As he points out, to suggest that these old-timers - ferns, horse shoe crabs, worms - are crude anachronisms is to miss the point. They carry secrets of reinvention that are far superior to those of the sprightly ingenues who claim mastery of the modern biosphere.
