Welcome to the Chemistry World Book Club. Each month we’ll be sharing our thoughts on one of the latest popular science releases and interview the authors to find out what inspired them to write about science. 

Scientific Babel

Join us for a review of the book itself, as well as discussion of the themes and issues found in the book.

This month we examine the history of scientific language, with Michael Gordin’s book Scientific Babel. We ask whether the mixture of science and language can be distilled, or if our reactions to words are too strongly bonded to their meaning. We’ll discover how English came to be the language of science, and ask what the future holds.

You can read our review of Scientific Babel here, and find all of our book reviews here.

We want to include you, the Chemistry World reader, in the conversation and we’ll announce which book will feature in the next episode, so you can read the book with us. Join us next month when we’ll be asking some tricky questions with Andy Brunning’s Why does asparagus make your wee smell?. Tweet your thoughts to @ChemistryWorld, or use the hashtag #BookClubCW and we’ll endeavour to include your opinions (or questions) on the podcast.