| Author Interview: John Gribbin |
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 John Gribbin is a successful popular science author based in the U.K. Born in 1946 in Maidstone, Kent, Dr. Gribbin earned an MSc in astronomy at the University of Sussex before moving to the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, to work for his PhD in Astrophysics. Since 1993, John has been a Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex, chiefly working on the problem of determining the age of the Universe.
Best known for one of his earliest efforts, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, Dr. Gribbin has written 120 books on topics such as mathematics, quantum physics, human evolution, the origins of the universe, climate change, and global warming as well as writing biographies of famous scientists. How can an astrophysicist who once worked in the laboratory for the famous Fred Hoyle explain complicated phenomena with simplicity, clarity, humor, enthusiasm, and such ease? I had to ask him. |
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| Shelley Kronzek: Hi, John. Thanks for agreeing to spend a few minutes with me and our Dover readers! |
| John Gribbin: My pleasure. |
| Shelley Kronzek: John, I'm curious: How in the world did you come to be a science writer spending your time writing popular science books? |
| John Gribbin: It all started when I was studying for my PhD in Cambridge — that's Cambridge, England — and ran out of money. I started writing little news items for Nature and New Scientist, literally to put food on the table. But I enjoyed it so much that I asked the then editor of Nature, John Maddox, how I could become a full-time writer, and he promptly offered me a job! I was with Nature for 5 years, mostly writing daily science reports for The Times newspaper as part of the Nature-Times News Service — actually, I was the Nature-Times News Service. Then I went freelance and also started writing books. Gradually, books took over from journalism. The key moment was the publication of my book In Search of Schrödinger's Cat in 1984. Still going strong today. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Here in the states, professors are discouraged from writing textbooks and popular books. They are meant to be buried in research and writing papers. I know that you have a PhD in Astrophysics and were once working in none other than Fred Hoyle's astrophysics lab as a research assistant. Were you a professor and teaching first? A researcher perhaps? |
| John Gribbin: I went straight from my PhD to writing, and have never had a conventional academic job. But lately I have been made a Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex, and have been teaching what in the U.S. would be known as Astronomy for Poets. |
| Shelley Kronzek: I'm afraid that I only came to know of your work after your book Get a Grip on Physics was found on the floor in Tiger Woods' crashed SUV a few years ago. Most people have known you for decades as the author of the book In Search of Schrödinger's Cat. Why has it been your mission to explain mathematic, quantum physics, human evolution, the origins of the universe, climate change, and global warming as well as writing biographies of famous scientists? |
| John Gribbin: The first reason was to make a living, doing what it turned out I had a natural aptitude for. But a very powerful second motive is that I am evangelical about science and the importance of spreading an understanding of science among the general public. Underpinning all this is what Feynman called "the pleasure of finding things out." I want to know how the world works, from the Big Bang to human evolution, and to share that amazing knowledge with everybody. |
| Shelley Kronzek: How many books have you written to date and give us a glimpse of your daily writing routine? |
| John Gribbin: I don't add them up every time, but including collaborations, picture books, books for children, about 120. Sounds a lot, but the number of words I have written in 40 years is about the same as the number of words my newspaper journalist friends write. But their words get thrown away! I no longer write every day, but am quite disciplined when I do. Writing time is in the morning, roughly 8 am til noon. The afternoon is for other things, including getting my head around what to write next. Non-writing weeks — or longer! — include trips to research the next book. I've just got back from a visit to Bletchley Park, home of the first electronic computer, which features in my next book. |
| Shelley Kronzek: What are your favorite books that you've written to date and why? |
| John Gribbin: Schrödinger's Cat because it was the first book I wrote solely to please myself, and turned out to be popular. Deep Simplicity because it was the hardest subject to get to grips with ... chaos, complexity, and the rest. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Your book on Schrödinger's cat helped to popularize mathematics to the masses the way that Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time popularized physics. What are the most elegant concepts in physics and mathematics that you continue to be captivated by and why, in addition to Schrödinger's cat? You certainly have wonderful ways of explaining complicated concepts in your books! |
| John Gribbin: Cat is actually more physics than mathematics! In my view, the most profound insight into the nature of the world comes from the study of chaos theory and complexity — my book Deep Simplicity — and the most elegant idea in science is evolution by natural selection, which explains so much from such a simple idea. |
| Shelley Kronzek: How well has your first popular science book, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat sold over time? |
| John Gribbin: About 300,000 copies in the U.S.; 250,000 copies in the U.K. and bits and pieces around the world. |
| Shelley Kronzek: I'm sure that you've had feedback about the book from readers over the years. |
| John Gribbin: I honestly cannot think of any except for nice things it would be embarrassing to repeat. But students — school, undergraduate, even postgraduate — often tell me they started out on the road to physics by reading my books. An awesome thought! |
| Shelley Kronzek: Looking back at your childhood and upbringing, what first made you interested in science generally and physics in particular? |
| John Gribbin: Science fiction! A friend of our family used to get Astounding magazine from the U.S. This was very rare in the U.K. in the 1950s, and he passed copies on to me — I still have them. Each issue included a science fact item, written by people like Isaac Asimov, which fascinated me. So I started reading their books from the library. One of my proudest achievements is that I have written both fiction and nonfiction for the same magazine, now called Analog. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Were any of your family members interested or working in the sciences or mathematics? Which teacher or teachers first drew you to the sciences and influenced you? |
| John Gribbin: My father was interested in science, but never took a degree because service in WWII interrupted his education. No one teacher stands out, but I went to a very good state school in Maidstone — what you call a public school. |
| Shelley Kronzek: What were you interested in reading and studying at school, lower and upper levels, as well as in your free time? Which books and authors appealed most to you? |
| John Gribbin: I read masses of "hard" sci-fi — which means the science in the stories was as real as possible — and fiction and nonfiction books by people such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. But I read masses of everything — literally, at an early age, the list of ingredients on sauce bottles at the table. In the science area, Jacob Bronowski was also influential. Fred Hoyle's books, which made it a bit special to work with him later; George Gamow's Mr. Tompkins series. |
| Shelley Kronzek: In terms of popular reading, what interests you ... science fiction? |
| John Gribbin: These days, I mostly read John Grisham, Dick Francis, and nonfiction. In science fiction I've been reading Iain M. Banks. It reminds me of the stuff I grew up with. And I still subscribe to Analog. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Who are your heroes and heroines of science and astrophysics historically and today? Why? |
| John Gribbin: From way back, William Gilbert, whom I regard as the first scientist, Robert Hooke — much maligned by Newton — and Newton, in spite of his faults. In modern times, Richard Feynman, head and shoulders above the rest. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Are you at all interested in utilizing the technology of today — iPads and Kindles, eBooks, Apple apps, YouTube, and the Khan Academy, as well as web pages, blogs. and ecourses for communicating information and learning? Do you do much research and reading electronically today? |
| John Gribbin: I use most of that stuff in getting input for my books, but I am not very up to date at using it to spread the word about my books. |
| Shelley Kronzek: What are a few of your favorite websites? |
| John Gribbin: Am I allowed to say Amazon?! Science Daily, AAAS, Nature, and Cricinfo for news about cricket matches. |
| Shelley Kronzek: I notice that your wife is frequently your co-author on book publications. Is she a scientist as well? |
| John Gribbin: Mary has a degree in psychology and used to be a teacher. Her job is to stop me getting my head stuck in the clouds and keep things intelligible. She is lead author on our books for young readers, where my role is to get the facts right. On biographies, it is 50:50. |
| Shelley Kronzek: You are a bit of a prognosticator, John …Will paper books continue to be rivaled and cannibalized by electronic readers and books? How much of your own book sales have been impacted by Kindle and eBook versions? |
| John Gribbin: I see books continuing, just as vinyl continues, but becoming a niche market. Significantly, on my latest royalty statement, the U.S. sales of In Search of Schrödinger's Cat were one third electronic and two thirds paperback. The writing is on the wall. |
| Shelley Kronzek: Thanks so much for your time, sir. |
| John Gribbin: Thank you — and people might like to know that I'll soon have a revamped website up and running, thanks to a friend in Australia. All done electronically without meeting face to face! |
| Shelley Kronzek: John, until that promising new website is completed, where can our readers find out more about you? |
| John Gribbin: http://www.johngribbin.co.uk/ but soon it will be replaced by something much better ... promise! |
