CURRENT MISSION

Avoidance of people describing themselves as "wacky" or "spiritual"

ABOUT ME

I live alone and work fairly long hours but I like to maintain the (possibly deluded) belief that I have some life outside of the science I am paid (and incidentally really like) to do. This includes speaking to and even occasionally making eye contact with people.

I traveled for a few years after my PhD and have tried to get away as much as I can ever since (e.g. I was three months in Sydney last year). My experience was always better when I had someone to stay with. So this is payback.

PHILOSOPHY

Has anyone taken "I'd rather have a bottle-in-front-of-me than a frontal lobotomy"?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

This is it

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None through this site. Best unexpected stay was 1994, unexpectedly arriving in a Vietnamese viallage at night with nothing open. A student I'd met on a ferry put me up for the night. His family fed me delicious pork noodle soup from which I, in my totally pampered Western fashion, picked out a (tiny) amount of fat. In the morning, more noodle soup from which they had removed every last scrap of fat.Just unbelievably hospitable and considerate people (ps don't expect pork noodle soup at mine, i am not that nice)

Interests

The usual: travel, music, books, film. Activities that makes the most of being in London, partic. live music, theatre, science-based stuff.

• books
• fashion
• running
• traveling
• cars
• music
• live music
• scuba diving
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Boards of Canada, Cloud Atlas.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The Banda Islands (part of the Spice Islands) Indonesia. Remote, beautiful, volcanic, and historic. So important was the trade in nutmeg (that grew only here) that in 1667 the Dutch took possession of a tiny island called Run from the English in exchange for... Manhattan. These days, kids come up to you with Dutch East India company money, you explore old Dutch nutmeg farms overgrown by jungle, the volcano smolders, the diving is perfect. Its just the most extraordinary place.

Teach, Learn, Share

That we only use 10% of our brains is a myth arising from the fact that we do pretty well when large portions of our brains stop working. This shows the ~3 km of wiring in your head is resistant to damage. People use 100% of their brains all the time, with the possible exception of when they choose to drive large four-wheel-drive vehicles in the city (which are much less safe than normal cars killing around 3000 extra people in the US every year). See what I did there? Pretty slick.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Aruba, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Laos, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Samoa, Seychelles, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, United Kingdom