The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space

Pippa Goldschmidt, author of the acclaimed novel The Falling Sky, brings together an outstanding collection of short stories on the theme of science and its impact on all our lives. In turns witty, accessible, fascinating and deeply moving, Goldschmidt demonstrates her mastery of the short form as well as her ability to draw out scientific themes with humane and compelling insight. Goldschmidt allows us to spy on Bertolt Brecht, as he rewrites his play Life of Galileo with Charles Laughton after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She introduces us to Albert Einstein as he deals with the loss of his first child, Liesel. We meet Robert Oppenheimer scheming against his tutor, Professor Patrick Blackett, at Cambridge University, having fallen in love with Blackett’s wife. She tells the story of a female university student starting a love affair with her lecturer paralleled alongside the ‘relationship’ between Alice and Bob, two imaginary figures that symbolise the theory of relativity. Goldschmidt’s scope can be epic, at other times intimate, providing a forensic examination of relationships and the forces that influence them.

Reviews of The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space

A delicate and fascinating study of a life in which intellect and external microscopic and cosmic fields interact.' Stephen Fry, Judge of the Dundee International Book Prize 2012 'A fine debut from a writer with considerable scientific knowledge and experience, in addition to her abundant literary talent … a touching picture of a young woman trying to find her place in the universe.' Andrew Crumey 'This novel is brilliant on several levels. Beautifully written, with many flashes of dark humour, it is fascinating… and is also a terrific portrayal of one woman's struggle with past tragedy and present difficulties.' Daily Mai