This is the website of Mark Brake, author and communicator of science.

Mark is a freelance scholar, working out of the UK, who writes popular science books, and has done science communication work in film, television, print, and radio on five continents. He has communicated science for, among others, NASA, Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum, the BBC, including BBC4, CBBC, and BBC Stargazing Live, the Royal Institution, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Nature, the British Council, the British Film Institute, Sky Movies, and the National Science Museum of Thailand.

Mark, Jon Chase, and Mal Pope of the BBC

Mark runs iScience with science rapper Jon Chase. They tour science festivals, literary festivals, schools and communities with their roadshows, including the very popular ‘Science and Fiction of Doctor Who’ show. The iScience website is here.

Forthcoming appearances include:

Stoke Newington Literature Festival, 8 June

Recent appearances include:

The Science of Dr Who, Edinburgh Science Festival, 6 April
They Came from Outer Space, Edinburgh Science Festival, 4 April
Cardiff Children’s Literature Festival, 23 March
Enfield Schools, 14-15 March
Barry Library, 9 March
Penarth Library, 2 March
National Maritime Museum, Falmouth, 16-17 February
Doctor Who Experience, 12 February
Big Bang Near Me, 20 November
GobbleDeeBook Festival, 25 October
Just So Festival, 19 August
Green Man festival, 17 & 18 August
Wrexham Science Festival, 19 July
Dinefwr Literature Festival, 29 June
Cheltenham Science Festival, 16 June
Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, 5 June
Smack The Jellyfish!, 24/5 May
Lacock Church, Wiltshire, 22 May
Cowbridge Literature Festival, 30 April
Hay Festivals Scribblers Tour, University of Wales, Trinity St Davids, 23 March
Creative Writing Workshop, University of Wales, Lampeter, 22 March
Hay Festivals Scribblers Tour, University of Wales, Trinity St Davids, 22 March
Cambridge Science Festival, 18 March
Enfield Science Week, 15-16 March
Hay Festivals Scribblers Tour, Aberystwyth University, 23-24 February
National Maritime Museum, Cornwall, 11-12 February
BBC Stargazing Live Showcase Event, Lacock, 18 January

Cheltenham Science Festival Somerset Schools Christmas Lecture, 7 December
Winchester College, 21 November
Cheltenham Literary Festival, 1, 2, 14 October
Aberdeen Science Festival, 23 September
Bradford Science Festival, 13 September
Edinburgh Book Festival, 24-26 August
Green Man Festival, 21 August
Just So Festival, 19 August
Really Really Big Questions About Space and Time, Rheged
The Guardian Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, 26 May – Really Really Big Questions About Space and Time
Cowbridge Literary Festival, 22 May – Really Really Big Questions About Space and Time
Valleys Discovery Festival, 16 – 21 May – In These Bones, Horizons Sing
Edinburgh Science Festival, 12 and 13 April – The Science of Dr Who
Sunday Time Oxford Literary Festival, 10 April – Science Fiction to Science Fact
Cambridge Science Festival, 19 and 20 March – The Science of Dr Who

You can find out more about Mark’s previous work in About.

Out Now! The Alien Hunters Handbook

Mark’s latest childrens book, The Alien Hunters’ Handbook, for Kingfisher/MacMillan, was published in October 2012. Mark and Jon continue touring with their space and time shows, including a new show based on The Alien Hunters’ Handbook.

The Alien Hunters’ Handbook takes a step-by-step look at the ways in which we are searching for life in the Universe. It looks at what life ‘is’ and how we might recognize it. The handbook looks at how we can find alien worlds, where life is a possibility. It also considers when it was that alien life could have begun in the Universe, and what aliens might look like.

The Alien Hunters’ Handbook also looks at the way in which we might communicate with extra-terrestrials. Have aliens already been in contact with Earth, and have they visited? Are we ourselves from outer space? Did we arrive in another form, in years gone by, and then develop into what we call ‘human beings’?

Also Out Now: Alien Life Imagined

Mark’s latest adult title, Alien Life Imagined, for Cambridge University Press, was published on November 8. The book’s summary is,

“One day, astrobiologists could make the most fantastic discovery of all time: the detection of complex extraterrestrial life. As space agencies continue to search for life in our Universe, fundamental questions are raised: are we awake to the revolutionary effects on human science, society and culture that alien contact will bring? And how is it possible to imagine the unknown? In this book, Mark Brake tells the compelling story of how the portrayal of extraterrestrial life has developed over the last two and a half thousand years. Taking examples from the history of science, philosophy, film and fiction, he showcases how scholars, scientists, film-makers and writers have devoted their energies to imagining life beyond this Earth. From Newton to Kubrick, and Lucian to H. G. Wells, this is a fascinating account for anyone interested in the extraterrestrial life debate, from general readers to amateur astronomers and undergraduate students studying astrobiology”

Alien Life Imagined can be ordered here

Space and Time Tours

Mark’s book, Really, Really Big Questions about Space and Time, published October 2010, is a quirky introduction to the science of space. It explores those massive, complicated, weird, and often unanswered questions such as: What makes sunshine? Does space smell? How do you build a time machine? and Do aliens look like me?

The book is brilliantly illustrated by Nishant Choksi, an exciting Brighton-based illustrator who has created artworks for The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, NewScientist, and Vodafone.

‘Space Hoppers’ Summer Reading Tours

Mark and his colleague, Jon Chase, have also been touring the UK to promote The Summer Reading Challenge, in association with The Reading Agency and MacMillan, the publishers of the Space Hoppers book. Events in theatres and libraries are still running throughout the UK, from Perth in Scotland, down to Poole, in Dorset. Any enquiries are warmly welcomed and can be directed through our Contact page.

Space Hoppers Book!

Mark was involved in a television program, and spin-off book, for the BBC.

The series, Space Hoppers, is a seven x 30-minute interplanetary adventure in which intrepid travellers investigate worlds beyond our own and try to find out exactly what you would need to do to take a holiday in outer space, do a bit of space hopping. They delve into the wonders of the Solar System, blending global adventures with explosive experiments, and quirky animation with state-of-the-art CGI.

Each episode explores a holiday-related theme, from holidays in the Sun to volcano-spotting. The search takes in extreme environments, wild weather and the best places in the Solar System to ‘enjoy’ a bit of snow and ice. Science rapper Jon Chase appears throughout the series, directing the explosive experiments, and performing a specially commissioned rap for each episode.

Mark, who acted as science advisor to the program, wrote the spin off title for the series. The book helps explore the Sun, ice, volcanoes, comets, extreme weather, extreme distances and water on Earth and in the Solar System. The book is also packed with experiments that can be done at home.

2010 was Year of Science at the BBC. Timed to coincide with the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary, Space Hoppers was part of the year-long series of programmes and activities in a celebration of science.

Also Out Now

Mark had two books published in Autumn 2009 by MacMillan. Both are academic in nature, and can be bought through Amazon. The books are Revolution in Science: How Galileo and Darwin Changed Our World, and Introducing Science Communication

Book Project: Galileo and Darwin

Mark’s ‘Revolution in Science’ book project for MacMillan was on the topic of Galileo and Darwin. 2009 was a cause célèbre for both scientists, and a watershed for the weapons of discovery they used in the name of science. The year marked both the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s discoveries with the telescope, and the 150th anniversary of the theory of natural selection.

‘Different Engines’

Mark’s first book, Different Engines: How Science Drives Fiction and Fiction Drives Science, written with Neil Hook, was published in 2007 by MacMillan Science. It’s the first popular science book to explore the relationship between science and science fiction. Read more about Different Engines in Books.