Need a stop-whistle tour for essential scientific books and movies? Photo credit: Jiaqi Ding via The Oxford Scienist
A great book or film can change how you view the world. It can prompt provocative questions that ignite new perspectives and push the boundaries of what we believe to be possible. For many, contact with science begins—and reaches perhaps its most profound point—through a captivating narrative. Whether it’s mind-bending science fiction, inspiring biopics, or educational encounters with our human ancestors, we have hand-picked an array of pieces that offer windows into new worlds.
Whether it’s mind-bending science fiction, inspiring biopics, or educational encounters with our human ancestors, we have hand-picked an array of pieces that offer windows into new worlds.
Books and films aren’t diversions from academic study; they are an essential complement to academia, a reminder of the people and places shaped by the facts and figures that we absorb in our studies. Amidst busy terms at Oxford, it can often feel like there’s no time to indulge in such luxuries. But to have this mindset is to diminish the enormous value of enriching our minds and fuelling our curiosity as scientists. This Michaelmas, we encourage you to take a moment out of your brimming schedule to explore the following works, selected with love by your new Culture editors. Each pick is sure to leave you with more questions than when you started, whether about the nature of consciousness, the relationship between science and faith, or the complexities of finding our place in the natural world. If you feel something is missing, we invite you to share your own recommendations. What stuck with you long after you turned the final page or watched the end credits roll?
Books and films aren’t diversions from academic study; they are an essential complement to academia…
Question what it means to be human:
Watch Ex-machina (2014)
Ex Machina is becoming an increasingly terrifying watch with time, as we move towards a future where its events may soon become reality. The film is a sinister exploration of what makes us human, examining the morals of our control over ever-advancing A.I. in a way that will have you questioning who you’re rooting for. Wholly immersive, with Oscar-winning visuals and a score used to the greatest effect, Ex Machina fills you with a sense of dread that is difficult to shake off even days after watching.
Read Being a Human by Charles Foster
Being a Human is utterly kooky and I loved every minute! Charles Foster (Fellow at Exeter College) took it upon himself to live as one of our ancestors would have tens of thousands of years ago: this book was the result. We follow Foster’s experiences and reflections on life at the dawn of the modern human, and how it shaped his understanding of the present, in what is a moving, fascinating, occasionally repulsive tale, sure to make you wonder about your own humanity.
Read The Overstory by Richard Powers
This Pulitzer Prize-winning journey through the intertwined lives of nine people and their profound connections to trees is a sweeping narrative on environmentalism and humanity that will expand your view of relationships with the earth and with each other. Powers demands you take your time and engage deeply, intimately with the tangled stories he tells—and rewards you with a window into seeing the world at its roots and seeds.
Engage in mind-bending fiction:
Read Solaris by Stanisław Lem
This mind-bending work from the legendary Polish science fiction author stretches the limits of human rationality, and of what an “alien” can be. It gets to the heart of what science fiction is about—in a quest to discover another kind of life, we inevitably hold a mirror up to ourselves.
Watch Coherence (2013)
Criminally underrated, Coherence is one of the most complex sci-fi flicks to exist. Whilst unassuming, the film is extremely clever, scattered throughout with subtle clues that build towards a mind-shattering revelation. Filmed in just 5 days with a micro-budget of $50K, the genius of Coherence lies simply in the big ideas that were used to create it. The plot is well-considered, down to even the tiniest details, which will leave you scouring the internet for hours afterwards reading through the nuances you missed.
Watch Arrival (2016)
The merits of Arrival are difficult to condense. It is a deeply philosophical imagination of our first encounter with aliens, emphasising the vital intersection between science and linguistics. The film is meticulously crafted on every level, with breathtaking cinematography and a thought-provoking discussion of language that is sure to leave an impression.
Gain a deeper insight into the healthcare field:
Watch Help (2021)
Help is a brutally honest portrayal of the devastating impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on care homes in the UK. Focusing on the touching bond between a care worker and a challenging patient with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the film is brought to life by the brilliant pairing of Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, and forms a heart-wrenching portrayal of compassion and institutional failure.
Read Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag
A must-read for anyone entering a healthcare field. In this work of profound cultural criticism and the accompanying AIDS and its metaphors, Sontag explores the powerful emotional and metaphorical weight of illness in society. She traces the history of epoch-defining diseases such as TB and cancer and how they have infected our collective consciousness through time, resulting in a classification of the ill into a world shrouded in metaphor, romanticism, shame and blame, all unpacked into this digestible book.
Connect with a more personal narrative:
Watch October Sky (1999)
The only biopic on the list, October Sky is a timeless story of a boy striving to break free from family tradition to follow his dreams—in this case, rocketry. A fresh-faced Jake Gyllenhaal is endearing in his role as Homer Hickam, whose curiosity for science radiates from the screen and is utterly infectious. This feel-good classic is the perfect choice when you’re in need of some inspiration.
Read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A joyful introduction to Indigenous ways of knowing from Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer. In this blend of mythical storytelling and scientific experience, Kimmerer constructs a world from the ground up, dissecting the relationship between humans and others to illuminate a new (or rather, ancient) way of thinking about our place in the world. Braiding Sweetgrass demonstrates that science for a better world must be accompanied by a cultural shift towards appreciation and reciprocation that can be informed by Indigenous perspectives.
Dive headfirst into creative madness:
Watch Sunshine (2007)
Not your average space movie, Sunshine presents, in metaphor, the conflict between science and faith. It goes slightly off-the-rails in its third act, descending into absurdity as it diverts from the science-fiction genre straight into slasher. I found that the crazier the film got, the more invested I became. If you can look past the scientific inaccuracies, of which there are many, then you will really be able to appreciate the film’s brilliance, both figuratively and literally (some scenes in it are really bright!). Sunshine is a hugely entertaining watch—save it for a movie night with friends to fully indulge in its madness.
Read Bitch by Lucy Cooke
The brilliance of Bitch is twofold: on the surface, it is a fascinating romp through the bizarre world of animal sexual behaviour and biology, from the female insects that eat their lovers to the primates that dominate and deceive them. This journey through the animal kingdom uncovers something deeper: an exposition of the history of evolutionary biology, reminding us that longstanding cultural beliefs and biases have a sneaky habit of being projected onto our pursuit for truth. Science, it turns out, is often not an exact science.
