I have been thinking about nuclear attack and survival recently. Not especially because of recent international politics, but because of a book called Nerves Versus Nazis that found its way under my nose. Published in 1940, it is the personal advice of John Langdon-Davies on the subject of coping with air-raids. Based on his experiences […]
Author: Graeme Hawley
Research Slam – call for participants
The National Library of Scotland is a place of research, investigation, reflection, amusement, and distraction. We are keen to support and celebrate research in all of its manifestations. In addition to research which takes place in a more formal way through academic institutions, we know that lots of research takes place outside of that environment. […]
EU Referendum
Here’s a short post to direct you towards our webpages on resources that you might find helpful in the run up to the referendum on the United Kingdom’s continued membership of the European Union. Subject searching in our main catalogue using the following subject search terms will reveal hundreds of books on useful topics: European Economic […]
Britain in Europe – Making your mind up
The British public will shortly be asked to decide how they would like to participate in Europe. To help you make your decision, we would like to point you in the direction of just some of our resources on this important topic.

Because we are bipeds
I’m the worst kind of scientist, because I’m not one. A little knowledge and all that… When someone is behaving in an irritable way, it is quite reasonable to think of the experience as an emotional one, not as a biochemical crisis (leaving aside whether emotions are just biochemical processes anyway). But we shouldn’t rule […]