Radioactive
May 2013. 24 pp. ISBN-13 978-3-901993-38-1 (= PSPS 7)
£4.50 (+ 1.00 p&p), €4.50 (+ 1.00 p&p), US$ 6.00 (+ 1.50 p&p)
"Shinebourne tells the human story behind the discovery of radioactivity. She explores the interior thoughts, theintellectual conflicts and the joys of scientific revelation. The style is clipped, heady, energised and supple in itsresponse to the hectic demands of the protagonists, and the language is simple and immediate in the way it handles complexscientific ideas. Shinebourne captivates us by revealing the psychological pressures that give birth to the creativeprocess and for this alone the pamphlet is a compelling read from start to end!"
Daljit Nagra
"Pnina Shinebourne can rewind a love to its beginnings, pulling us through a storm of fact, emotion and discovery,taking us from the Dreyfus Affair to the Manhattan Project via radium glowing in a lecture theatre in Piccadilly.There is leaking and decay, but also refining and regeneration. She evokes the daily perils of science:'repeat distill revise // months of labour / and nothing' which might also apply to the writing of poems.She can also bring the physical and emotional together so that they are more than a pair, evoking a past so freshit seems to be happening right now, right here."
Peter Kravitz