Interview with Lucy Jane Santos, author of Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium
Lucy Jane Santos, author of Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium recommends a wonderful bunch of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Lucy's book:
Review from Book Depository:
Lucy Jane Santos presents the surprising history of radium in everyday life.
Of all the radioactive elements discovered at the end of the 19th century, it was radium that became the focus of both public fascination and entrepreneurial zeal.
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Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium
Half Lives tells the fascinating, curious, sometimes macabre story of the element through its ascendance as a desirable item - a present for a queen, a prize in a treasure hunt, a glow-in- the-dark dance costume - to its role as a supposed cure-all in everyday 20th-century life, when medical practitioners and business people (reputable and otherwise) devised ingenious ways of commodifying the new wonder element, and enthusiastic customers welcomed their radioactive wares into their homes.
Historian Lucy Jane Santos - herself the proud owner of a formidable collection of radium beauty treatments - delves into the stories of these products and details the gradual downfall and discredit of the radium industry through the eyes of the people who bought, sold and eventually came to fear the once-fetishized substance.
She reveals a new history of radium, one in which the stories of those previously dismissed as quacks and fools are brought to life, as part of a unique examination of the interplay between science and popular culture.
Buy On:
Easons €14.00
Book Depository €9.98
Waterstones £9.99
Wordery $12.566
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
Trans Like Me by C N Lester is something I keep coming back to again and again. Lester is a greater writer and this collection of essays is really special.
Review From Book Depository:
In this eye-opening book, CN Lester, academic and activist, takes us on a journey through some of the most pressing issues concerning the trans debate: from pronouns to Caitlyn Jenner; from feminist and LGBTQ activists, to the rise in referrals for gender variant children - all by way of insightful and moving passages about the author's own experience. Trans Like Me shows us how to strive for authenticity in a world which often seeks to limit us by way of labels.
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Trans Like Me: A Journey for All of Us
Buy On:
Book Depository €8.57
Waterstones £9.99
Wordery $11.60
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
I recently read Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of The Climate Crisis by Alice Bell which is such a fascinating and timely read.
Review from Book Depository:
It was Eunice Newton Foote, an American scientist and women's rights campaigner living in Seneca Falls, New York, who first warned the world that an atmosphere heavy with carbon dioxide could send temperatures here on Earth soaring. This was back in 1856. At the time, no one paid much attention.
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Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis
Our Biggest Experiment tells Foote's story, along with stories of the many other scientists who helped to build our modern understanding of climate change. It also chronicles our energy system, from whale oil to kerosene and beyond -- the first steamships, wind turbines, electric cars, oil tankers and fridges. Alice Bell takes us back to climate change science's earliest steps in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to the advancing realisation that global warming was a significant problem in the 1950s and right up to today, where we have seen the growth of the environmental movement, climate scepticism and political responses like the UN climate talks.
As citizens of the twenty-first century, it can feel like history has dealt us a rather bad hand in the climate crisis. In many ways, this is true. Our ancestors have left us an almighty mess. But they left us tools for survival too, and Our Biggest Experiment tells both sides of the story. The message of the book is ultimately hopeful; harnessing the ingenuity and intelligence that has long driven the history of climate change research can mean a more sustainable and bearable future for humanity.
Buy On:
Easons €21.00
Book Depository €19.49
Waterstones £17.99
Wordery $20.37
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
Really handily for a historian, I have a terrible memory and often cannot remember the exact plots (or authors even) so I can’t say I have a favourite book as such. But I do have vivid memories of reading as a child and seeing the cover of something familiar can transport me right back to my childhood.
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
Paper is my preference for research but I think that is probably something to do with not having a suitable device for Kindle reading. I cannot really get on with audio as I need to physically see the words to be able to take in information. Am working on that though!
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
It has to be the Waterstones on Gower Street. This is where I spent hours as an undergraduate at UCL (in its previous incarnation as Dillons that is) and is a place which I have a lot of affection for.
Many thanks to Lucy for recommending a wonderful bunch books! Please don't forget to check out Lucy's book Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Saraband (Extraction To Extinction), HarperCollins Publishers (The Age of Wonder), Canongate Books Ltd (Waiting For The Last Bus), Hodder Children's Books (The Famous Five Collection).
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