To me, books were always about stories. Stories about people, places, events and ideas that I would not otherwise know or hear about in the small town in the western part of India where I grew up. Books were hard to find in those days, but my Dad was an avid reader and story teller and we always had a good supply of material at home. As very young kids, I remember every night all the children in the house gathering around him and begging him to tell us a story. Sometimes he read, but a lot of times he made up stories from things he had read and experienced. As I grew up, that love of stories stayed with me and I looked for more stories in local bookstores. There weren't many, but I frequented the ones I found. A few hole-in-the-wall used book stores. I cant imagine where the owner got his books but he had quite the eclectic collection and I remember finding absolute gems in one of those little places. Two of my all-time favorite discoveries - Ayn Rand and P.G. Wodehouse - talk about polar opposites!
But I digress. As I launched into a career in computer science and technology and started reading more technical books, every now and then I would run into an author who actually told stories to explain the concepts. What a thrill! Now I could learn and enjoy a good story at the same time. Over time, my husband and I have gathered quite a collection of scientific and technical books and as I looked back at those recently, I realized most of those were attractive to us because they explained the concept through stories. And that was my ah-ha moment. I know people love stories, we humans learn through stories and what better way to learn a new idea or concept than through stories!
Then I ran into Alan Alda's work. I was familiar with M*A*S*H. But this was a whole another world.
His books on communication, the TV show - Scientific American frontiers - and his latest podcast - Clear and Vivid. He has done a fantastic job weaving together stories and humor and science over his lifetime. And I was hooked! That is where the idea of the Thinking Spot was born. If I could do 1/1000th of what Alan Alda does every day to make science fun and interesting and accessible to all, I wanted to give it a try. So here I am, attempting to create The Thinking Spot where together we can read the stories of science past, science yet to come and the people behind it all.