My latest read - very hard but glad I persevered

Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction by Frank Close
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must admit that this was a hard struggle for me to read. Not that there's anything wrong with the book. The author has a great style and explains difficult concepts extremely well. It's just a little too advanced for me. It did fill me with a great sense of wonder and awe though, at the way the universe is built and the magical world of the infinitesimally tiny. Despite my scientific shortcomings, I was able to grasp some new to me knowledge.

The Science of Sherlock Holmes

The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases by E.J. Wagner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fascinating and informative read. Shines a light on the forensic background to the Sherlock Holmes stories, with examples from real cases that may have influenced Conan Doyle, and the insights and misapprehensions of investigators at the time. I some ways, the police and scientists of the late Victorian/Edwardian era naturally drew the same correct conclusions that their contemporary counterparts would... but in other cases they were blundering in the dark without benefit of modern technology and discoveries.

Very enjoyable and readable, frequently enhanced by the author's dry wit.

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