The ScienceBorg Librarian salutes you!

Hi there! My name is Vasile Decu, I’m a science journalist, amateur astronomer, and ‘professional’ book worm.

Welcome to a new ‘Book Talk Blog’, where you can enjoy longform interviews and conversations with authors of some of the best non-fiction books out there.
The focus is on science and technology books, but, as science is concerned with and connected to everything else, we’ll also talk about history, food, sports, or science-fiction (anything and everything is interesting, as any bookworm knows so very well).

This blogletter is published at least three times a week: two longform interviews or features; and a magazine style newsletter on Friday with a selection of reviews or relevant/interesting news in the book world.

If you’ll allow me in the precious trust space of your inbox, I promise to respect it and only send you interesting articles and conversations.

Even with all the hype on ‘pivots’ to video, podcasts, VR, or ‘stories’, newsletters remain the best ‘innovation’ in media and journalism.

This ‘inbox magazine’ offers me a direct line to you, my readers, bypassing the algorithms of social media. It also empowers you, the reader. That unsubscribe button in every email is a very effective instrument - to punish me if I break my promise or simply bore you, and to always keep me focused on the quality and relevance of what I write and publish.

If you‘ll enjoy these interviews, learn from them, discover great books or great people through them, please subscribe:

I first launched this blog in the spring of 2020, but then got scared of going on my own, so I went back to working in newsrooms. My second attempt was in March this year, with the Bellingcat interview - but then I was hit with some serious health issues. So third time’s the charm, right? I promise to bring you the most interesting talks with some of the best writers of this golden age of nonfiction.

Curiosity is our superpower

The ScienceBorg Librarian… Now that’s a strange name, isn’t it? I know it’s not a Shakespearean level word play, but I’m proud of it, even thought I feel I have to explain it:

I’m a science journalist, specialised in astronomy, and a ‘professional’ bookworm.

Our lives and bodies are constantly transformed by science, hence the reference to the concept of a cyborg. Some say we’ve been cyborgs since we picked up a rock and a spear, other point to the glasses many of us wear, or to the super-gadgets in our pockets, always connected to the Internet. We’re all right, but I point to the book.

We may end up downloading libraries directly to our brains, in seconds (that may finally take care of our ever expanding ‘to read’ lists), or ‘reading’ them by immersing in their stories in virtual reality. But for now, and I guess for a long time in the future, reading remains the best way to download information and the best VR and AR application out there. So please join my new new book club and let us share our passion of books.