Two Books about Dounreay
Posted: 31st August 2025
Two wildly different books telling alternative stories have been published
recently – “The Atomics: the story of Dounreay’s people” by Ian
Grant and James R. Gunn (Whittles Publishing, ISBN 978 – 1 – 84995 –
606 – 2) “Gaia In Extremis: sketchbook drawings and poems” by Timothy
Neat (St Ives Printing and Publishing Company, ISBN 978 – 1 – 0683053
– 2 – 0). The former is a reverential chronicle of the coming of
Dounreay to Caithness, which the authors present as a very good thing for
“Dounreay’s people”. The latter is the manifestation of a brilliant,
restless and revolutionary artist concerned about the future of the planet.
Their correlation is that both are concerned with myth. In “The
Atomics” it is the myth of nuclear energy, that it is “necessary” and
there should be more of it; and
in “Gaia In Extremis” it is that all
living things on Earth form a synergistic and complex system that helps to
maintain the conditions for life on the planet, but it is in crisis and
this is what Timothy Neat depicts in his art. One book is quintessentially
about paternal management and the other is a nomadic journey in colour and
form. Both contribute, from radically differing premises, to our
understanding of reality.
Bella Caledonia 14th Aug 2025
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/08/14/dounreay-in-extremis/