Yearly Archives: 2025
On Bosons. And Name-dropping
“Now, did I read that somewhere, my dear fellow, or did I think it?”*
There are two basic types of fundamental particles: fermions a...
On Duality
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I decided to study physics. I did so because it offered a concrete and dependable model of the world...
On Indeterminacy
You will often hear it stated, in certain circles, that nothing can be said about the outcome of some quantum interaction or other, whe...
An Irish Publisher – and a Strange Bird
When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of my time (probably too much) in secondhand bookshops – and a lot of my somewhat limited resource...
As kind as sunshine: Why I write
Years ago, I had a conversation with my mother about the Middle East. With mingled pleasure
and pain, she told me about her c...
The Strange Case of the Missing Zero and the Over-mighty Neighbour
It sounds like the title of a Sherlock Holmes story. In fact, we're talking about something more prosaic: the relative strengths of pub...
On Love and Loss
Last summer, my mother succumbed to cancer after a fleeting battle. Beautiful and generous, she was beloved by all who knew her. After ...
Work in Progress: the Craft of Printing
It takes a village to raise a child; a book is the work of many hands.
In today's digital world, most of us pay far too little attenti...
Refuge by Fatema Alarabi
In the streets where you grew up, there you will live and there you will die.
The Greek poet Cavafy, often quoted by the late great Ir...
Bare
With beach-read season in full flow, we were heartened to read Kirsty Blake-Knox's cover story in the Irish Independent magazine, inves...
The Language of Illness
In his book The Language of Illness, internationally renowned gastroenterologist Fergus Shanahan talks about an exceptionally fascinati...