MY LATEST POSTS
143. Mercury, Shakespeare and me
Very proud to have been awarded a prize in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's competition for Stories from the Periodic Table. Here is my winning entry: Mercury, Shakespeare and me Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, and it exerts an...
Life, REF, and the half-loaf principle
One of my favourite writers is the Russian-born Englishman S.J. "Skid" Simon. Unless you are a bridge player, you have probably never heard of him, although he wrote many murder mysteries in the period before the Second World War, the best-known being "A Bullet in the...
Pursuing Power vs Pursuing Understanding: The Root Cause of Society’s Problems
Very proud to have been invited to do a long "Heroes of Mother Earth" podcast interview, where I argued that the problems the world is facing are interconnected in such a way that sudden large changes are not only inevitable, but also largely unpredictable. I talked...
The Brexit Minister for Food Security
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is my favourite annual indulgence, where I meet many old friends from the foodie world and let fly with my thoughts and opinions on the theme of the meeting. The theme for 2019 was Food and Power, which gave me the opportunity...
MY LATEST POSTS
MINI STORIES FROM SCIENCE
143. Mercury, Shakespeare and me
Very proud to have been awarded a prize in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's competition for Stories from the Periodic Table. Here is my winning entry: Mercury, Shakespeare and me Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, and it exerts an...
STRAY THOUGHTS
Life, REF, and the half-loaf principle
One of my favourite writers is the Russian-born Englishman S.J. "Skid" Simon. Unless you are a bridge player, you have probably never heard of him, although he wrote many murder mysteries in the period before the Second World War, the best-known being "A Bullet in the...
PLANNING FOR LIFE’S CRISES
Pursuing Power vs Pursuing Understanding: The Root Cause of Society’s Problems
Very proud to have been invited to do a long "Heroes of Mother Earth" podcast interview, where I argued that the problems the world is facing are interconnected in such a way that sudden large changes are not only inevitable, but also largely unpredictable. I talked...
FOOD & GASTRONOMY
The Brexit Minister for Food Security
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is my favourite annual indulgence, where I meet many old friends from the foodie world and let fly with my thoughts and opinions on the theme of the meeting. The theme for 2019 was Food and Power, which gave me the opportunity...
MY BOOKS
My books are aimed to help people see and understand the world through a scientist’s eyes, with a good leavening of humour, anecdote and the personal stories.
TESTIMONIALS
“Fisher is a master story-teller, making difficult scientific concepts seem simple through elegant exposition. Crashes, Crises and Calamities addresses the challenge of disaster prediction … by a brilliant and engaging integration of diverse scientific perspectives.”
“[Rock, Paper, Scissors is a] tour de force of exposition, with many amusing and enlightening vignettes of the application of game theory to real-world interactions in the home, amongst friends, in business, and in international relations.”
“Scientists are constantly trying to make science accessible to the general public, but rarely are they as successful as physicist [Len] Fisher.”
“From locusts watching Star Wars to Murphy’s Law of Management, The Perfect Swarm hits all the buttons … a wonderful tour through the new mathematics of swarms, flocks and crowds.”