Peter Forbes

Science, art and what's happening. Teach Narrative Non-fiction at City University.

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

My new book, Thinking Small and Large: How Microbes Made and Can Save Our World, will be published by Icon on 22 May 2025 https://t.co/yxWVZ9f4Lt

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

What is the connection between Paul McCartney and the great academic guardian of English Literature F. R. Leavis?
https://t.co/FEFTRc7WsA

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Paul McCartney's way with words https://t.co/GgVnrnvkxM

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

The paperback Thinking Small and Large is published today: “I began to read it casually and found that I couldn't stop ...” Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Swerve https://t.co/mrtqAPXuW5

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

The paperback Thinking Small and Large is published today: the 4 billion year Great Convergence of life on earth https://t.co/mrtqAPXuW5

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

This euphorbia produced a remarkable inverted conical growth with inverted concentric cones. It's supposed to be a simple smooth mound https://t.co/CLbPdR1HmB

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

@PlanktonPundit Canary in the coalmine? we need to change the metaphor perhaps?

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

How did we lose the elegance of the 1990s Tigra and Ka https://t.co/O3RDFAzDky

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Last 7 places on City St George’s Narrative Non-Fiction Sept 30. “To writers seeking a jumpstart, I recommend the Narrative Nonfiction course taught by @heliconiuscydno“ - Ciaran Thapar, Penguin author and former student. https://t.co/OQIAWbEmoZ

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

The Gecko’s Foot is still going strong at 20 but J. E. Gordon’s Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down is still in print at 47. And he still outsells me! https://t.co/bmOIG4439a
https://t.co/1DPmqtLVsh

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

The Gecko’s Foot still going strong at 20. My inspiration was J. E. Gordon’s Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down. He was THE biomimetics pioneer; I'm pleased his book and mine are both on the Cambridge Engineering syllabus. https://t.co/bmOIG4439a
https://t.co/1DPmqtLVsh

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Celebrating 20 years of The Gecko’s Foot ‘The Gecko's Foot is an act of two-cultures healing. One page quotes Miroslav Holub, "immunologist and poet", the next Vladimir Nabokov, "Russian novelist and serious amateur lepidopterist".’ (The Independent, 2005)

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Twenty years of The Gecko’s Foot. “Forbes is consciously trying to blur the distinction between a proper awe for the intricacy and beauty of Nature's nanostructures and an appreciation of the ingenuity of human engineers who try to emulate them.” (the 2005 Guardian review)

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Narrative Non-Fiction at City St George’s. Open taster evening this Thursday. If you sign up for this there's a 10% course fee discount available until midnight the day after the open evening. Full details of registering are here: https://t.co/pqPqWgexHA

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Narrative Non-Fiction at City St George’s. Open evening this Thursday. If you sign up for this, there's a 10% course fee discount available until midnight the day after the open evening. Full details of registering are here: https://t.co/pqPqWgexHA

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

First published 20 years ago, The Gecko’s Foot is today the Amazon No 1 Bestseller in Nanotechnology https://t.co/bmOIG4439a

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

With a terrific record of publishing success, Narrative Non-Fiction at City St George’s is the course to take. Join from anywhere in the word (timezone permitting). New course starts September 30. https://t.co/OQIAWbDOzr

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Narrative Non-Fiction at City St George’s: “It’s like “sitting in a circle with a group of friends around a pot-bellied stove in a delicious old bookshop somewhere” (former student). New course starts Tuesday September 30 https://t.co/OQIAWbDOzr

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

A quite remarkable interview in Scientific American with Peter Brannen, author of The Story of CO2 is the story of everything. A perfect resume of the book and the best way into this must read https://t.co/nbyK4PgBxY
And my take on the subject: https://t.co/h11RChBMUH

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

Read my piece, published on Medium on May 23 and Peter Brannen’s Long Read in the Guardian today (who I’d never heard of in May). The 4 billion year Great Convergence of life on earth and minds wrestling with the question. https://t.co/HlaHeaQkK9... https://t.co/7GF7iYhq34...

[Peter Forbes @heliconiuscydno]

The results of mitochondrial replacement therapy have been kept under wraps for several years. Great to hear of the success https://t.co/0ywIr7IP1U for the deep background story see my Thinking Small and Large https://t.co/yxWVZ9f4Lt