DVD review by Steve Bennett

Robin Ince gives himself 75 minutes to cover everything in the whole universe. He over-runs by 12.

But he could surely talk all night, had the cameras kept rolling, given how enthused he becomes by science. Not necessarily the nuts and bolts of the theories and results (there’s a very good reason why he’s paired with a real physicist on Radio 4’s Infinite Monkey Cage) but by the process and the mindset of those trying to figure out how stuff works.

A relatively late convert to the wonders of science, Ince has become an impassioned evangelist for rationalism. That, of course, puts him at odds with the professionally outraged (plus a fair few amateur dabblers) who wouldn’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant or a bigoted opinion. And that, it turns out, a lot of people.

It might be hard to imagine someone getting worked up about taxpayers funding scientists to think about killing pets, as Ince describes one reaction to an article about the Schrodinger’s Cat thought experiment – but only if you’ve never read the comments beneath an online article.

Such pig-headed reactions might reasonably produce snorts of incredulity, and it’s that which drives the comedy element. Ince almost needs a new category for himself as ‘stand- up interest’, for this is not laugh-a-minute comedy, but an engrossing talk, part diatribe against the anti-scientists, part hero-worship of great communicators such as Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman – delivered with drollery and fervour.

It’s natural he has found an audience among academics – he recalls one gig when he was heckled with: ‘Why haven’t you done anything about the Tephritidae [fruit fly]?’ But he should strike a cord with anyone who believes trying to find things out is better than picking a stance and sticking to it, whatever the evidence.

Extras are a photo gallery, an audio commentary with Ince and his radio co-host Brian Cox, and a short performance from his rationalist show Nine Lessons And Carols From Godless People.

• Robin Ince: Happiness Through Science has been released through Go Faster Stripe, priced £12. Click here to order.

Here’s a clip:

Published: 23 Apr 2013