23/03/2015

Lecturer Eduard Martorell Makes Biology Accessible with Novel

In November 2014, Eduard Martorell, a lecturer in the Faculty of Education, together with the Universitat de Barcelona’s David Bueno and the University of Leicester’s Salvador Macip, published the novel Los límites de la vida (The Limits of Life). The novel has recently been translated into German and Italian.

The authors’ idea was to make biology more accessible to everyone with a story about love and overcoming obstacles that was full of amusing and unexpected anecdotes about science. They hoped to do for biology what Sophie’s World did for philosophy.

The novel focuses on Lara, a 14-year-old girl being treated in hospital for systemic lupus erythematosus, and her relationship with Carme, the doctor who tells her the incredible story of what life really is.

The novel was first published in Catalan and Spanish, but its success has prompted the publication of translations into German and Italian.