Physics

I bloody love physics. There was a time when I didn't and, ironically, that was when I was studying it at university, but ever since my mid-twenties, I've become more and more engrossed and interested in the topic. More magical than anything in Harry Potter and more credulity stretching than any of mankind's creation myths, it is a subject that is both marvellous and mind-bending.

Once a year or thereabouts I'll buy a new physics book - always allegedly aimed at the lay-reader - and work my way through it. Last year it was Caleb Scharf's 'Gravity's Engines' and this year it's Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw's 'The Quantum Universe: Everything that can happen does happen'. The book mentions Einstein quite a bit which put me in mind of the excellent film 'Einstein and Eddington', which stars Andy Serkis, David Tennant and Jim Broadbent.

I lent my copy to a friend a while back but it was only a fiver on Amazon, so I recently went to order a new copy, only to find that now it's only available in Amazon Marketplace for an eye-watering fifty quid! In an age when I expect to access most things pretty much on demand, I was quite stunned to find this BBC/HBO beauty was out of print (and, I guess, being picked up by David Tennant fans).

Fortunately, I could remember whom I lent it to and, even more fortunately, they knew where to lay their hands on it. And so, this evening, after a curry (and my first alcoholic drink in seven weeks), the Minx and I watched it in bed. Bloody hell, it's just a beautiful film, telling an amazing story. 

You know, it pains me when my kids say they find physics lessons boring. If there's one topic that should leave them reeling and gasping for more, that's the one. When I was at school, I used to think I'd like to teach English. In fact, I still think being an English teacher might still be the best job in the world, but I wouldn't mind trying to share the wonder of physics.