Interview With Author H Chris Ransford
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in different countries and have been privileged to be able to absorb quite different standpoints. At university, I studied physics which seemed the best way of bypassing surface appearances, overcoming biases and affects, and getting closer to the essence of things, to their truths.
I was a Tutor and Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and at Monash University (Australia), a guest academic at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) in Germany on a DAAD scholarship, and I also hold a French ‘Grande Ecole’ degree (INPG/Phelma).
I earlier published “The Far Horizons of Time: Time and Mind in the Universe” (de Gruyter 2015), “God and the Mathematics of Infinity” (ibidem Press 2017, distributed outside Europe by Columbia University Press) , “In Search of Ultimate Reality: Inside the Cosmologist’s Abyss” (ibidem Press 2020) and ‘You Are Fundamental’ (ibidem Press 2022). I also occasionally publish peer-reviewed articles and/or Conference papers on themes of eschatology and ultimate meaning, including a chapter in Szymon Wróbelʼs Anthology “Atheism Revisited” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In our modern societies, time is at a premium and many non-specialist people tend to adopt a part of their worldviews from the say-so of scientists – yet I sometimes read outright errors in popular science books, typically stemming from a lack of cross-fertilization between the sciences that may be relevant. These errors are not without consequence, as they may quite negatively impact people’s views of themselves and their place in the universe. I wrote that book to correct, on the basis of incontrovertible yet little-known modern physics, explained at a pop science level, the idea peddled by some public-facing scientists that we are of no consequence, mere meaningless temporary structures in a meaningless universe – and accordingly, my new book is called ‘The Science of Destiny’.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to write short books. Time is at a premium for everyone, and I would not presume to tax people’s time more than I have to in order to make a point as clearly, as convincingly, yet as succinctly as possible.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are so many. In nonfiction, wonderful authors like Paul Davies or John D. Barrow all but established the genre of serious nonfiction, at a time when there was nothing bridging the gap between serious textbooks and books meant for the general public. Then the whole genre of serious nonfiction blossomed, and many authors appeared on the scene – including Roger Penrose, Sean Carroll, Brian Greens, David Darling, João Magueijo and so many others – including quite recently Zoë Schlanger, Nonfiction authors and serious publishing houses have also become more daring in what they say – people like Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer or DW Pasulka and others have helped push the envelopes of public discourse with themes that, no so long ago, would have been deemed out of bounds.
In fiction, Stephen King is a guilty pleasure. I like to experiment and try a variety of different authors, and thereby often discover gems (The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro, springs to mind, as does Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, Robert McCammon’s The Listener or Alain Fournier’s The Lost Estate – and so many others.)
What are you working on now?
I just moved to Washington DC and I’m still all caught up in the myriad details that an intercontinental move entails. My immediate next project will probably be contributing something to the next Dialogo Conference – a conference run by a Romanian University whose purpose is to find common ground between science and spirituality, to which I have contributed a few times in the past.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be yourself.
That is the be-all and end-all, really.
I’m reminded here of Stephen King, who was asked by a college student at the beginning of his career, ‘Why do you only write horror? Why don’t you write something more seriously literary?’ To which Stephen King had replied: ‘What makes you think that I have a choice?’
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never outsource your thinking, and always do your own homework.
What are you reading now?
A few years ago I had written a 130 page short nonfiction book on this very theme of nonlocal consciousness, in which I explore how theoretical physics actually fully supports the reality of nonlocal consciousness.
I have just finished Dan Brown’s ‘The Secret of Secrets’, whose theme is nonlocal consciousness. I am impressed how debates and serious scientific and/or philosophical issues can be framed within fiction, and thereby become exposed to a much wider public.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Noel Gallagher, of the rock band Oasis, once opined that every artist, every creator had a limited set of things to say, sing, or contribute, and that after that their well must run dry.
His later career belied that opinion: people grow, reinvent themselves, explore new paths.
If I believe that I can contribute meaningfully to some public debate, or shed an unexpected light on some old chestnut, I will definitely try and do so.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I seldom re-read books, so this is a bit of a tricky question. If I bring new books, I might be disappointed, and books I’ve already read would definitely risk turning into a case of ‘What else is new?’
But I would most definitely bring the OED or Webster’s Unabridged dictionary. Trawling through their pages and discovering long-forgotten, wonderful old words is a signal pleasure.
Author Websites and Profiles
H Chris Ransford Amazon Profile
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