Tom McLeish's literary work delves into the intersection of science and the humanities. His writing explores the deeper philosophical and cultural implications of scientific understanding, leveraging his expertise in physics to illuminate complex natural phenomena. Through his texts, he aims to make intricate scientific concepts accessible to a broader audience, fostering critical thinking and encouraging dialogue between science and society. His approach is characterized by clarity, depth, and a commitment to finding common ground between seemingly disparate fields of human inquiry.
Tom McLeish delves into the growing field of soft matter - the study of materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, and foams. Looking beneath their appearance to their inner structure, he discusses their shared physical properties, the principle of Brownian Motion that underlies all soft matter, and the applications of these materials.
McLeish takes a scientist's reading of this ancient text as a centrepiece to make the case for science as a deeply human and ancient activity, embedded in some of the oldest stories told about human desire to understand the natural world. Drawing on stories from the modern science of chaos and uncertainty alongside medieval, patristic, classical and Biblical sources, he challenges much of the current 'science and religion' debate as operating with the wrong assumptions and in the wrong space. Its narrative approach develops a natural critique of the cultural separation of sciences and humanities, suggesting an approach to science, or in its more ancient form natural philosophy - the 'love of wisdom and natural things' - that can draw on theological and cultural roots. Following the theme of pain in human confrontation with nature, it develops a 'Theology of Science,' recognising that both scientific and theological worldviews must be of each other, not holding separate domains ... There are lessons for education, the political process of decision-making on science and technology, our relationship with the global environment, and the way that both religious and secular communities alike celebrate and govern science. --From publisher description
The Poetry and Music of Science examines aspects of science and art that bear close comparison - for example the art of the novel and the art of scientific experimentation. The book eavesdrops on conversations between scientists on how new theories arise, and listens to artists' and composers' witness of their own creative processes.
What if the Christian faith could actually help us to understand science better?