Literature and science may seem like opposite ends of the spectrum, but reading can have an impact on even the most scientific of brains. A new film series reveals the reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists and peeks inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives. 

- See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/novel-thoughts-what-cambridge-scientists-read#sthash.N7vp7BtB.dpuf

Novel Thoughts

Lectures, Interviews, Intellectuals

This week, the NYPL Podcast welcomes Marjane Satrapi, the graphic novelist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author who brought us Persepolis. She speaks to NYPL's Paul Holdengraber about the liabilities of learning English from American movies, the intelligence required for a sense of humor, and more.

Marjane Satrapi - Narratives of Social Protest

This week, we honor Pulitzer Prize winner and former US poet laureate Mark Strand, who passed away over the weekend at the age of 80. The beloved poet and author joined us this October to discuss art, imagination, and the life of the mind.

Mark Strand on Artistic Imagination

The bestselling author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” a portrayal of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and its effects on one university professor and her students, Azar Nafisi comes to NYPL to celebrate the success of her most recent book, “The Republic of Imagination.” Nafisi joins NYPL’s Paul Holdengraber for a conversation on the importance of literature, freedom, and originality in today’s global society.

Azar Nafisi on the Freedom to Read

As a child, Dr Paul Coxon from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, was fascinated by the madcap inventions of the boy hero in Jan Wahl’s SOS Bobmobile  (illustrated by Fernando Krahn) – and he still likes to tinker with his own inventions in the lab today. 

Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives.

‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks.

Novel Thoughts #1: Paul Coxon on Jan Wahl's SOS Bobmobile

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/novel-thoughts-2-clare-bryant-on-as-byatts-possession 

Professor Clare Bryant from Cambridge’s Department of Veterinary Medicine explains how reading AS Byatt’s Possession at a crucial point in her early career reminded her of the excitement of research and persuaded her not to turn her back on her life as a scientist.

Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives.

‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks. 

Novel Thoughts #2: Clare Bryant on AS Byatt’s Possession

Karen Yu’s growing love of science as a young girl was galvanised by reading the novelisation of the Star Wars movies (Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker by George Lucas). Her desire to build her own fusion reactor eventually morphed into a PhD in industrial photonics, using lasers for nanoscale manufacturing (if not for lightsabers), at Cambridge’s Department of Engineering.

Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives.

‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks. 

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/novel-thoughts-3-karen-yu-on-george-lucas-star-wars

Novel Thoughts #3: Karen Yu on George Lucas' Star Wars

As a mineral scientist, Professor Simon Redfern from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences travels widely, and likes his visits to be about more than just the rocks. A recent trip to Kazakhstan was enlivened by reading Jamila by Chinghiz Aitmatov, a novella set in post-war Soviet Kyrgyzstan, on the borders of Kazakhstan.

Here he talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives.

‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks. 

Novel Thoughts #4: Simon Redfern on Chinghiz Aitmatov's Jamila

Dr Juliet Foster’s ongoing fascination with the portrayal of mental illness in literature was triggered by reading The Madness of a Seduced Woman by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. Today she carries out research in Cambridge’s Department of Psychology.

Here she talks about this favourite book as part of ‘Novel Thoughts’, a series exploring the literary reading habits of eight Cambridge scientists. From illustrated children’s books to Thomas Hardy, from Star Wars to Middlemarch, we find out what fiction has meant to each of the scientists and peek inside the covers of the books that have played a major role in their lives.

‘Novel Thoughts’ was inspired by research at St Andrew’s University by Dr Sarah Dillon (now a lecturer in the Faculty of English at Cambridge) who interviewed 20 scientists for the ‘What Scientists Read’ project. She found that reading fiction can help scientists to see the bigger picture and be reminded of the complex richness of human experience. Novels can show the real stories behind the science, or trigger a desire in a young reader to change lives through scientific discovery. They can open up new worlds, or encourage a different approach to familiar tasks. 

Novel Thoughts #5: Juliet Foster on Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's The Madness of a Seduced Woman

Azar Nafisi discusses Czeslaw Milosz and reads his poem “An Honest Description of Myself with a Glass of Whiskey at An Airport, Let Us Say, in Minneapolis” at Czeslaw Milosz and the Conscience of Literature, part of the 2005 PEN World Voices Festival.

Azar Nafisi Reads “An Honest Description of Myself …” by Czeslaw Milosz

[PT] Entrevista com a escritora iraniana Azar Nafisi. Esta entrevista foi realizada por Vanessa Rodrigues, em 2010, no âmbito da Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, Brasil. 

[ENG] Interview with iranian writer Azar Nafisi. This interviewed was conducted by Vanessa Rodrigues, in Paraty, Brazil, in 2010, in the context of FLIP - Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty, a literary event that gathers worlwide writers. 

Novel Thoughts #2: Clare Bryant on AS Byatt’s Possession

University of Cambridge