Love it...

I am now solely using this from now on.

Review (murder mystery): Mortmain Hall - Martin Edwards **** - Although not quite repeating the dramatic revelations of the first book, an excellent successor with a complex plot and the Necropolis Railway brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/mort... #bookreview #mysterynovel

If I want to win, have I really got to fight @carterlavin.bsky.social ?

Review: Littlebird ***** - this Mac AI app provides genuinely useful information from notes, emails and other activities to help your working life. There are privacy concerns, but for me the benefits of using it are impressive: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/litt... #softwarereview #AI

Review: The World as We Know It: Peter Dear *** - Dry but interesting exploration of the move from natural philosophy to science. Not an enjoyable read but worth it to discover more about the process rather than the science itself. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-... #bookreview #histsci

With the partial reintroduction of common sense to some social issues, it was timely to revisit a post from 10 years ago when I wondered if objectification is always bad: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/is-o... #objectification #socialnorms

I don't know if reflects the people I follow here, who mostly write about science rather than politics, but it's taking even longer for me to find a mention of what's happening in Iran here than it has taken the BBC to admit it's occurring.

Coming in Friday's free email newsletter a one star review and one that would have been six star if allowed. Sign up to receive it here: authory.com/BrianClegg/s... #newsletter #bookreviews

Review (SF): The Tainted Cup: Robert Jackson Bennett ***** - A brilliant SF/murder mystery set on a world with medieval tech but advanced biological modifications, featuring a detective who is a cross between Mycroft Holmes and Judge Dee. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-... #bookreview

Review (mystery/puzzles): The 12 Murders of Christmas: Sarah Dunnakey * - Finishing off Christmas mysteries with a whimper. Despite a promising main story arc, the 12 mini-tales aren't engaging and the need to solve ciphers ruins it as a novel brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-... #bookreview

Review: I Wish They'd Taught Me That: Robin Pemantle and Julian Gould *** - Just for maths undergraduates and above, but for that small market an excellent exploration of the mathematical ground less covered. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2026/01/i-wi... #bookreview #mathematics

I get the impression that @bmj.com, like many journals, assign far greater weight to possible risks of retraction than they do to the risks of NOT retracting a flawed paper, and leaving it to influence others. Not a good balance when patient care is involved.

Some spam gives us an object lesson in [replace generic slop with something more personal] and how to write better emails.

Review (murder mystery): Gallows Court - Martin Edwards ***** - As a young reporter gets embroiled in a series of strange crimes, he must decide if the mysterious Rachel Savernake is a criminal mastermind or a crime-fighting vigilante brianclegg.blogspot.com/2026/01/gall... #bookreview

It's on tonight (Tuesday) at 8.30pm on BBC2.

Just a reminder for all you cat lovers...

Anyone for Cluedo?

Hope you’ve had a good one! But I still don’t like Substack:

Is space our future? Caleb Scarf sees it as an evolutionary development:

Review (Christmas mystery): The Christmas Clue: Nicola Upson **** - Entertaining and different murder mystery novella featuring the inventors of Cluedo in the hotel that inspired the game. Highly unlikely but fun. brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-... #bookreview #murdermystery #Christmasbooks

Sun’s gravitational lens could reveal alien planets’ surfaces - the bold concept calls for sending telescopes 10 times farther than Pluto www.science.org/content/arti...

Review: The Giant Leap: @calebscharf.bsky.social **** - An invigorating mix of investigating the technology required to get humans into space and the idea that expanding into space is our evolutionary next step. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-... #bookreview #popularscience #spacetravel

A few thoughts on why I don't like Substack... and a chance to throw in some seasonal cheer: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/why-... #blogging #irritatinginterfaces #carols

In case you are out-saccharined by Christmas fare, Andrew May has assembled a collection of Temptation of St Anthony paintings with a digital soundtrack starting but deviating from Brahms: it's something when Hieronymous Bosch is one of the least weird: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvn...

Review (Christmas mystery): Murder at Mistletoe Manor: F. L. Everett ***- A clever plot, isolating (apparent) strangers in a snowbound hotel with no modern comms... but this did limit the opportunity for characters to do anything brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/murd... #bookreview #murdermystery

Just had a letter from the NHS to say if I've got a letter saying I've an appointment on 25 December, it's not a real one, it's just a holding date. Nice to know.

Review: Quantum 2.0: Paul Davies **** - Excellent on the basics of quantum theory and quantum computing, but could have more on the limitations and uncertainties that are common in the field. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/quan... #bookreview #popularscience #quantumphysics

When I was a bit younger, I used to find the whole business of Christmas made me feel a bit small...

I recently set a puzzle to mark the reissue of my puzzles and ciphers book Conundrum, specifically designing one part of the challenge so AI was likely to fail - but I didn't expect the failures to be so bizarre: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-pu... #puzzles #AIfantasies #AIfailures

Review (Christmas mystery): Death at the Village Christmas Fair - Debbie Young ** - Debbie Young's book is to a good Christmas mystery what a made-for-streaming Christmas movie is to It's a Wonderful Life. Passable, but readily forgettable. brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/deat... #bookreview

Review (SF): Whalesong: Miles Cameron *****- Highly engaging with a combination of complex political background, strong characters and exciting action. The best rival to Alistair Reynolds for intelligent space opera popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/whal... #bookreview #sciencefiction #spaceopera

You've not subscribed to my free weekly newsletter - book reviews, thoughts and moans all included? Still time to get this Friday's - authory.com/BrianClegg/s... #newsletter #freearticles #nosubstack

Review: Crush - James Riordon *** - I know this dance around gravity and its impact with relatively little science but lots of personal anecdotes and fun asides will work for many readers, but sadly it's not for me. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/crus... #bookreview #popularscience #physics

I have recently had a partial (if Pyrrhic) victory in a tiny battle with the BBC over their support of smart speakers - but I explore how they have tried to avoid admitting they were wrong: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-... #BBC #streamingradio #advertising

Christmas can be a pain. You need presents for difficult-to-buy-for people: stretch their imaginations with Conundrum, featuring 200 cryptic puzzles and ciphers, ranging from simple to mind-bindingly complex. www.brianclegg.net/conundrum.html #giftbook

Review (Christmas mystery): Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife - Martin Edwards **** - A cleverly constructed double mystery, when real murders start happening at a remote retreat where a mystery game is in progress brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/miss... #bookreview #murdermystery

Reflecting on the fact that I never knew Tom Stoppard, yet his death seems to constantly be with me brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/i-ne... #obituaries #fame

"Religion, politics and the arts are profoundly entangled, in ways that mean the characters must risk everything, including their souls, to survive" I'm not sure I entirely knew what The Bruegel Boy is about, till Isaid it on @brianclegg.bluesky.social's blog! buff.ly/dfUclKj Thanks, Brian!

Delighted to say that the Lancaster Christmas University Challenge team from 2013 is back in action on 30th December - sadly one substitute, but otherwise looking Christmassy as ever... www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Applications are open for 2027 RLF Fellowships. If you are resident in UK&I & have at least 2 books or scripts published or professionally produced, this is a great opportunity to be paid to give one-to-one support to university students with their writing mailchi.mp/royalliterar...

We're in that season now when pedants like me get irritated by all the '12 days of...' offers, pointing out the 12 days of Christmas start on 25 December. I've just had an email about '12 days of perks', while the post I can see below as I write is for 'Day 1 of the 12 books of Christmas'. Grr.

Review: The Future of Seeing: Daniel Sodickson **** - Imaging might seem like a niche subject, but this well-written exploration takes us from imaging in nature to the benefits and challenges of our techno-imaging future. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-... #bookreview #popularscience

Interview: Author and lecturer @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social tells us why her latest novel features the 16th century artist Bruegel, why her central character was tone deaf and what's next: brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/emma... #bruegelboy #interview #historicalfiction

Just had this ad on Facebook - does its AI know something about the future that I don't?

Review (SF): Hyperion: Dan Simmons ***- I can see why this 1990 novel of a pilgrimage to a deadly creature appealed to literary types, but despite excellent ideas, I found its structure irritating and the writing heavy going. popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/hype... #bookreview #sciencefiction

Two weeks to go to enter the free Conundrum Cracking Christmas Challenge - as yet, no correct entries received, so everything to play for if you are up to the ultimate in GCHQ-style puzzles: www.conundrumbook.com/page/bonuspu... #ciphers #puzzles #conundrum

Review (Christmas mystery): Murder at the Christmas Emporium - Andreina Cordani *** - Plenty of twists and suspense in this trapped-in-a-store revenge mystery, but I found it too depressing for Christmas fun. brianclegg.blogspot.com/2025/12/murd... #bookreview #murdermystery #christmasmystery

Interesting comparison of my X and Bluesky timelines. X leads on the budget. Bluesky on a traffic jam in Oslo...

In a fascinating interview, astronomy professor Jon Willis tells us about questions where the answer is 'I don't know', why a single data point can be helpful, and a discovery that has blown his mind: popsciencebooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/jon-... #interviews #astronomy #astrobiology