What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Football’ by Etienne Ghys

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Updated 11 September 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Football’ by Etienne Ghys

“The Football” takes readers on an entertaining and fact-filled exploration of the mathematical secrets of the most popular spherical object on the planet. The football is familiar to billions of fans across the globe, but how many really look at it? Do footballs all have the same shape? Spoiler: not exactly. How does their shape affect how they play? With Etienne Ghys as our guide, we discover why ballistics, friction, and air flow are key to scoring goals—and why the football is a mathematical problem that engineers are still trying to solve.


What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Europe

Updated 06 December 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Habitats of Europe

Authors: Dale Forbes, Iain Campbell, and Pete Morris

Europe is a place of natural wonders, from the icy expanses of the tundra to the arid beauty of deserts and the lush vibrancy of rainforests.

This illustrated guide covers all the continent’s major habitats, providing an invaluable resource for understanding and preserving its breathtaking landscapes, ecosystems, and wildlife.

Unlike standard habitat classification systems that focus solely on plant communities, Habitats of Europe offers a unique approach to understanding habitats by combining animal assemblages with descriptions of habitat structure, climate, soils, and vegetation.