When we thought of a name for this blog we wanted to create an image of cosy fireside chats about interesting things.

I just came across a book review written in The Spectator in 1872 (thank-you internet!) for a book called Fireside Science by James R Nicholls! So we’re not the original. You can even buy it today! It seems to have been rediscovered.

Here are some quotes from the “blurb“:

“It has been the aim of the author to present some of the facts of science in their bearings upon hygiene, the arts, agriculture, etc., in a way to interest and instruct those who gather by the fireside, and those who labor in the workshop and the field.”

“Science can only be attractive to the busy men and women of our time when its facts and instructions are unincumbered with abstract reasonings and technicalities.”

Exactly our aim.