O Atlas Geek: 128 Lugares Onde a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ganham Vida (The Geek Atlas in Portuguese)

At the start of June, The Geek Atlas will be published in Portuguese by publisher Editora Altabooks (it's also available in German):

Os 128 locais abordados neste livro compõem uma lista pessoal de lugares para visitar onde a ciência, a matemática e a tecnologia aconteceram ou acontecem. Você não encontrará pequenos e tediosos museus de terceira categoria, ou placas presas à parede indicando que “o Professor X dormiu aqui” entre os locais selecionados. Cada lugar possui real interesse científico, matemático ou tecnológico.

Nem todos os lugares apresentam invenções ou descobertas humanas. Há também fenômenos naturais, como o variável Polo Norte Magnético e a Aurora Boreal. E há também alguns túmulos de cientistas famosos, mas tenha a certeza de que há equações neles.

Cada lugar tem seu próprio capítulo e cada capítulo é dividido em três partes: uma introdução geral sobre o local, com ênfase em sua importância científica, matemática ou tecnológica; um assunto técnico relacionado, abordado em maiores detalhes; e informações práticas sobre a visitação. O livro pode ser usado como um verdadeiro guia de viagens (e espero que você tenha a oportunidade de visitar alguns desses lugares), mas também pelo viajante de poltrona, a quem espero inspirar a deixar este livro de lado para aprender um pouco mais sobre a ciência, a matemática e a tecnologia aqui abordadas...

More details.

The Geek Atlas and Japan Disaster Relief

Today, March 22, my book The Geek Atlas is part of a special O'Reilly Deal of the Day. Here are the details:

O'Reilly, No Starch Press, and Tidbits will donate all revenues, less author royalties, from "Deal of the Day" sales to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Thanks to the Internet, we understand more deeply than ever that everyone on the planet is connected. The disasters that have hit Japan feel close to home, and those of us at O'Reilly, No Starch, and Tidbits want to do something to help the Japanese people recover and rebuild. We know many of you do, too. Working with the O'Reilly Tokyo office, we will ensure that your valued contribution goes to the relief of those most in need. We'll update the total amount donated throughout the day, as well as the final amount.

That's a great deal since all the revenue will go to the Japanese Red Cross. You can take advantage of this deal with the code DDJPN.

But there's one part that makes me uncomfortable. Although O'Reilly is giving almost every penny they receive to this cause, they are going to pay me my royalty. That's 10% of whatever people pay O'Reilly for the eBook of The Geek Atlas using that code.

I can't in good conscience promote this deal and then accept money. So, if you buy The Geek Atlas eBook today using that code please email me the receipt from O'Reilly and I will donate 10% of what you paid O'Reilly to the Japanese Red Cross so that 100% of what you pay to O'Reilly ends up helping victims of the earthquake and tsunami, and so that I don't profit from this disaster.

Geek Weekends

Here's a quick summary of all the "Geek Weekend" posts I've made.

1. Bletchley Park, Bletchley
2. The Brunel Museum, London
3. The Curie Museum, Paris
4. Foucault's Pendulum, Paris
5. The Arago Medallions, Paris
6. Institut Pasteur, Paris
7. Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Kew
8. London Transport Museum, Acton Depot
9. Charles Darwin's Home

Geek Weekend: Charles Darwin's Home

A few weekends ago I went to visit Down House where Charles Darwin and his family lived from 1842. It's very close to London and an easy drive. The house is managed by English Heritage and contains a combination of restored rooms and an exhibition covering Darwin, his family life and his work. It was completely restored in 1996.

The museum explains how Darwin ended up thinking about natural selection and contains a large selection from Darwin's own collection. There are his original notebooks on display as well as items he collected, such as these Galapagos finches:

His family life is covered, including the death of his daughter Annie aged 10. This log book details Darwin's observations of his daughter's health and treatments tried.

It's clear that Darwin had a lot of affection for his children. This is a slide he had built that attached to the staircase inside the house to his children could slide down on pillows.

The museum has many parts that are suitable for children. Here's a game that explains how traits are passed down in birds and there's another that shows the link between the number of cats at Down House and the amount of clover growing on the lawn (cats kill mice, mice attack bee hives, bees pollinate; increase the cats and you get more clover).


Darwin himself wasn't averse to a good game. There's a room in the house dedicated to billiards where Darwin would go to relax from the strain of the public reaction to his theory of natural selection.

In his study, there's his armchair which he modified so that it had wheels attached. This allowed him to scoot around the room to get books or specimens without having to get up. Since he would be sitting with a board across his lap for writing it was more efficient to glide around.

Lest you think Darwin was physically lazy any trip should end at the bottom of the large garden with a walk around Darwin's sandy thinking path inside a copse. Darwin had it constructed so he could take a daily constitutional walk while thinking. He would walk around the path using a pile of stones to count the number of circuits he'd done while thinking.

How to buy signed copies of The Geek Atlas

Many people ask me about getting signed/dedicated copies of The Geek Atlas. I tried to arrange this through O'Reilly directly, but it was complicated logistically. So I'm doing it myself. If you are interested in a signed/dedicated copy of The Geek Atlas then you can buy it directly from me.

Here's the scoop:

1. You need to pay the full retail US price: $29.99; there is no shipping to pay. Paying the full price covers the cost of shipping/packaging by me. I will ship anywhere in the world.

2. If you have a specific dedication you'd like written in the book (e.g. "To Bob", or "For Alice") then enter it in the text box below before clicking Buy Now. If you don't write anything then I will simply sign the book.

3. I will sign each copy sent out. You will also receive a special stamp in the book containing the latitude and longitude of a mystery location. This is a bit of fun for people interested in tracking down what's there (of course, you can just Google it if you want).

4. Make sure the shipping address you give Paypal is correct. I will endeavour to ship out your signed/dedicated book within three working days.

To buy use the following form:

Enter desired dedication