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

Need a break? This book of short stories could be just the ticket!

The 39 stories in this collection span a hundred years, during which Polish society underwent seismic political change several times over.

Review: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

An interesting look at how differently societies across the globe view and use technlogogy.

Review: The Idea Machine: How Books Built Our World and Shape Our Future

The written word has endured for millennia, and herein you'll discover why.

Review: Craftland: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades

A book that offers a glimpse into the way traditional crafts were practised before the Industrial Revolution.

Quick look: Digital Culture Shock: Who Creates Technology and Why This Matters

Chapters look at how technology is used around the world, online communities, and building a culturally just infrastucture, amongst other topics.

Artificially Gifted Notes from a Post-Genius World.jpg

Quick look: Artificially Gifted: Notes from a Post-Genius World

The author, Mechelle Gilford, explores how AI may render our usual way of interpreting the concept of “gifted” obsolete.

Quick look: Dr. Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us―and How AI Could Save Lives

Dr Bot discusses something I hadn’t really considered…

Review: Seven Brief Lessons on Physics: Anniversary Edition

Rovelli draws readers into his world by describing the development of theories that scientists have posited to try and explain our world and the universe beyond.

Review: Dear Data

The authors spent a year sending each other postcards on a different theme each week, with pictorial representations of the data they had collected.

Review: Blueprints: How mathematics shapes creativity

What place might Blueprints merit on a teacher’s bookshelves?