10 - Viva Lewes

CD REVIEW: STELLA HOMEWOOD
I had the pleasure of hearing Stella Homewood in the �rst of what will
be a monthly Union Music Store gig at the Lansdown. Indeed, she
opened the evening, and listening again to those songs and more on her
new album, Ordinary Day, it seems even more �tting that she did. Originally
from Lancashire and now resident in Lewes, Stella has a long track
record as a performer in both folk and jazz, touring and performing with
groups since 1994. This solo album sees a return to the English folk
tradition with 11 of her own songs. Her voice had a purity and beauty,
with echoes of Lewes’ own Shirley Collins and the soaring tones of Joni
Mitchell. The songs themselves draw on images of nature harking back
to early English folk, but with a sense of a deeper truth underneath.
Available from Union Music Store and Skylark. Rob Read
BOOK REVIEW: FREE RADICALS
BITS AND BOBS
Free Radicals is an attack on the ‘myth of the rational, logical scientist who
follows a clearly understood scienti�c method’. The myth is the result of
a successful branding exercise, Brooks argues, to make science seem like a
robotic way of generating undeniable facts. In reality, science is a lot more
messy, and scientists are prone to normal human �aws like jealousy, impatience,
and arrogance.
It the style of Malcolm Gladwell, Brooks starts with a seemingly irrelevant
story about LSD-taking hippy Stewart Brand, who in 1965 started campaigning
for NASA to photograph Earth from space. This is linked, through
plenty of fascinating stories, to the main point of the book: scientists ignore
the rules.
Rather than using the standard method, many pioneering scientists come up
with ideas through ‘drugs, dreams, visitations and visions’, and try to prove
them by ignoring inconvenient data, or ‘fudging’ it to �t the theory.
Some scientists bypass ethics committees, or test theories by experimenting
on themselves. Even after the experiments, there can be endless in�ghting
about whose theory is right. Well-established scientists often hold back progress by ridiculing new ideas from
bright young upstarts. Brooks seems to conclude that this is a good thing: important discoveries have been
helped, not hindered, by scientists’ bad behaviour. Whether or not you agree with the conclusion, there are
enough quirky stories in Free Radicals to make it well worth reading.
BOOK REVIEW: OLIVES AND BARBED WIRE
Sue Beardon, Lewes-based Patricia Cockrell and David Mitchell (not that one)
spent three months in 2010 as volunteers for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme
in Palestine and Israel. Their work involved monitoring and reporting on
violations of human rights. On their return, they have written a thoughtful and
informative book, Olives and Barbed Wire, about their experiences.
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