Richard Carter, FCD

Guest speaker and TV celeb historian Michael Wood at Durham University, 1985. He was promoting his book on the Trojan War at the time, but, as he was in Durham, ad libbed for an hour on (his, if memory serves, dissertation subject) St Cuthbert, without notes, complete with quotes in Old English.

Just spotted this in my RSS feeds and popped over here to send you a big hug, @rmathematicus.bsky.social

Get well soon!

These people knew mammoths! Ice Age Art • Robert Macfarlane • Kathleen Jamie • medieval poems • lichen • Barbarian Conspiracy • the Shipping Forecast • escaping the entropy • and more…

Just sent out my latest science • history • nature newsletter. It features: Ice age art • Robert Macfarlane • Kathleen Jamie • medieval poems • lichen • Barbarian Conspiracy • the Shipping Forecast • escaping the entropy • and more…
open.substack.com/pub/richardc... #HistSci

24-Oct-1852: Darwin on the new miracle substance, chloroform ‘The grandest & most blessed of discoveries.’

24-Oct: On this day in 1852, Charles Darwin wrote to his cousin to commend the miraculous new substance chloroform… #histsci friendsofdarwin.com/darwin-on-ch...

24-Oct: Out later today, the latest rip-roaring roller-coaster edition of my 100%-free eponymous Rich Text science • history • nature newsletter. Look out for it in your inbox. richardcarter.substack.com/welcome/

science • history • nature | Richard Carter | Substack Two free newsletters: ✏️ RICH TEXT (on science, history and nature writing) • 🪲 DARWIN newsletter (celebrating Charles Darwin’s view of life). Click to read science • history • nature, by Richard Cart...

Subscribers to my TOTALLY FREE science • history • nature newsletter can look forward to finding it in their inboxes some time tomorrow afternoon (UK time).

If you’re not yet a subscriber, now would seem the perfect opportunity to remedy your lapse… SEIZE IT!
richardcarter.substack.com/welcome/

It’s my new iPad on top of my old printer. (I ran out of desk-space.)

Transferring my stuff over to my new toy.

YouTube video by ChessNetwork Daniel Naroditsky (1995-2025)

Daniel Naroditsky (1995-2025) #chess

Book review: ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms’ by Charles Darwin Charles Darwin's wonderful final book.

21-Oct: To mark #WorldEarthwormDay, here’s my review of *the* book on the subject: Charles Darwin’s final masterpiece, ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms’.
#HisSci #NatureWriting
friendsofdarwin.com/reviews/darw...

Second-hand bookshop haul. Tiny shop; excellent photography section.

Lovely Ludlow.

#HistSci being celebrated in Ludlow.

@rhiggitt.bsky.social Spotted in Ludlow this morning.

A bottle of ‘Darwin’s Origin’ beer.

I’m currently visiting Shropshire, the county of Darwin’s birth. There’s a good choice of local beers available, but this one was the natural selection.

Book review: ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms’ by Charles Darwin Charles Darwin's wonderful final book.

10-Oct: On this day in 1881, Charles Darwin's final book, ‘The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits’ was published. It was a magnificent swan-song. You can read my review here: friendsofdarwin.com/reviews/darw... #HistSci

TFW you think, ‘I know, I’ll just bash out a quick blog post!’ and, two hours later, you find yourself deep down the old Research Rabbit Hole, annotating a PDF from Nature journal about the population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.

Turns out I never use any of the additional keys either.

Making notes on my computer.

After the reading, the obligatory note-making, transcribing and cross-linking from my index-card bookmark.

I find the friction/hassle of making hand-written notes then having to re-type them into my system is a useful way of determining which notes are actually important to me. #Zettelkasten

The covers of all the books I've read this year.

The covers of all the books I’ve read (so far) this year. Follow the link below to my website then click the individual covers to read my review:
richardcarter.com/books-2025/

OK, (asking for a friend) you’ve got me worried now… Should I be worried about my penis? I don’t usually give it a moment’s thought.

Very much looking forward to seeing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social strut her stuff in Bradford tomorrow evening: how the Roman Empire evolved into a Christian empire. Right up my street! Bonus points if she manages to sneak in a reference to Darwin!

FINALLY finished boxing off our indoors coal-bunker. Power tools, electrical cabling and a lot of swearing were involved. The last time someone spent this long on a wall, Emperor Hadrian was very upset.

189 years ago today…

On the 2nd of October [1836] we made the shore of England; and at Falmouth I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good little vessel nearly five years.
—The Voyage of the Beagle, ch. 21

…After which, Charles Darwin remained a landlubber to the end of his days.

NOOOOO!!! Kelloggs have ruined All-Bran! They’ve reduced the bran content from 86% to 78%, padding it out with flour.

IN WHAT WAY CAN REDUCING THE BRAN CONTENT IN A PRODUCT 86%-ACCURATELY NAMED ‘ALL-BRAN’ POSSIBLY MAKE IT ‘TASTIER THAN EVER’?

I am incandescently irked!

28-Sep-1838: Darwin brainstorms Malthus On 28 September 1838, Charles Darwin made some notes inspired by the writings of Rev. Thomas Malthus, and a famous simile was born.

28-Sep: On this day in 1838, Charles Darwin made some notes inspired by the writings of Rev. Thomas Malthus, and a famous simile was born. Here’s a lightly edited account from my book ‘On the Moor: science, history and nature on a country walk’… #HistSci
friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar...

23-Sep-1832: Darwin discovers a ‘rhinoceros’ …for which, read ‘giant ground sloth’ or ‘Megatherium’.

23-Sep: On this day in 1832, young Charles Darwin made an important discovery at Punta Alta, near Bahia Blanca in Argentina: the fossil remains of what he took to be a species of rhinoceros. It was actually an extinct species of giant ground sloth, or Megatherium… #histsci

Spent 40 minutes providing FaceTime tech support to my 90-year-old dad this afternoon. Whenever he tried to print a photo on his printer, it came out in black and white.

It turned out he has a black and white printer.

Great night out!