Review: Nature's Memory

September 2, 2025

One would think that the stories told by the exhibits in natural history museums are reasonably objective and factual, but apparently not.

Illustration of algorithmic objectivity, generated in ImageFX

Computing discussion topic

May 23, 2025

A topic to discuss with your students perhaps: the hidden bias in algorithms.

Politics and education technology reviews

February 12, 2019

To what extent is bias in reviews unavoidable? And does it matter anyway?

Books in brief: Technically Wrong

August 17, 2018

This is one of a current spate of books about the in-built bias found in many automated processes.

Computing discussion topic 2016-05-23

May 23, 2016

A topic to discuss with your students perhaps: the hidden bias in algorithms.

Recent book reviews

Review: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Hopefully, neither you nor I will ever find ourselves in court, undergoing a medical procedure, or taking an important exam.

Review: Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World

Finding Fibonacci is a memoir of the authors’ quest to find out about Fibonacci.

The Teachers' Standards in Primary Schools.jpg

Quick look: The Teachers' Standards in Primary Schools

This is very well set out. It takes each standard, and gives you ideas on how to achieve it, and what success in this context looks like.

How Computer Games Help Children learn.jpg

Quick look: How Computer Games Help Children learn

When I was teaching Econnures I realised that I could have taught quite a chunk of the synabus if I'd been able to run Sim City on the school network.

Quick look: Reinventing Project-Based Learning

I can verify from first hand experience that PBL kept students highly engaged, and helped them to develop skills such as working with others and independent research.

Quick look: The Human Touch

Although this book is published by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, the focus is not on IT at all.

Quick look: Better Living through science

I have often thought that I would have been much more interested in science at school, and been much more successful at it, had the teachers taught us anything of practical value.

Quick look: Tubes: Behind the scenes at the internet

We are all so accustomed to using the internet, searching the world wide web — "going online" — that most of us most of the time probably do not stop to consider the question: yes, but where exactly is it?

Quick look: Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings: (When) do leaders make a difference?

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference.

Review: Power Up, by Matthew Lane

This book looks at the maths concepts — and, to some extent, the physics concepts — hidden in popular video games.