Novels with scientific themes can be convincing even if the science isn鈥檛.
Take Jim Crace鈥檚 Being Dead (Penguin, 2000). It traces the history of two
corpses, partly through the parasites that feed on them. Its microbial heroes
were good enough to fool palaeontologist Richard Fortey of London鈥檚 Natural
History Museum. It鈥檚 an even better book because of it, says Fortey.
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