Contributors

Silke Rose West is a Waldorf teacher with over thirty years of experience teaching kindergarten-aged children. In 1995, she cofounded the Taos Waldorf School and today she runs an independent forest kindergarten called Taos Earth Children. She is renowned in Taos for her puppet shows and storytelling and consults with teachers and schools across the US.

Deana L. Weibel, Ph.D. is a Professor of Anthropology at Grand Valley State University
(jointly appointed in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies) and Chair of the Chicago/Great 22 Lakes Chapter of The Explorers Club.

A scholar of exploration, spirituality, and symbolism, she is the author of The Ultraview Effect: What We Can Learn from Astronauts About Awe, Humility, and Exploring the Unknown, published by University of California Press in 2026.

Weibel's work bridges cultural and scientific study, exploring how acts of discovery become expressions of faith and curiosity. In Voyager's Golden Record, she examines the Golden Record as both scientific artifact and act of self-expression, a planetary statement that is as much about being human as about being heard.

Clive Webb is an award-winning historian based at the University of Sussex, where he is Professor of Modern American History and is the recipient of a Leverhulme Fellowship. He has written for numerous magazines and newspapers, including the Guardian, Independent and The New York Times. He has also contributed to news programmes and documentaries on radio and television in Britain and the United States.

Bob Weber is a journalist and author based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Arthur De Weduwen is associate editor of the Universal Short Title Catalogue project at St Andrews. This is his fifth book.

William Weir was born in 1933 and is the fourth generation of the family to have worked for the Weir Group. He succeeded his father as the third Viscount Weir in 1976. In 1999 he retired from the company having worked in a number of positions and served as chairman for 24 years. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he joined Weir's in 1958 after National Service in the Royal Navy.

His other business appointments have included being a member of the Court of the Bank of England, chairman of Balfour Beatty and C. P. Ships Ltd, and a director of British Steel Corporation, the British Bank of the Middle East and Canadian Pacific Railway. He has also been president of BEAMA, the trade association for the electrical manufacturing industries, and a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Monetary Policy.

He is married and lives in Ayrshire, and has three children.

Tiffany Watt Smith is a cultural historian and author of two books about the history of feeling On Flinching and The Book of Human Emotions. In 2014, she was named a BBC New Generation Thinker. She is currently a Wellcome Trust research fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary University of London, and a lecturer in the School of English and Drama. In her previous career, she was a theatre director.

Judith Watt is a writer and fashion historian, whose most recent book was on Ossie Clark for the V&A. She lives in London with her miniature dachshunds, Hettie and Ludwig.

Nigel Watson graduated from Durham University with a degree in history before embarking on his career as a writer and consultant. He is the author of several company and educational histories including The Durham Difference, MGS: A History at 500 and The Hart of Waste. He lives with his wife and children in North Yorkshire.

Alan Watts published over 25 books, including The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, The Way of Zen and Tao: The Watercourse Way.

He was a philosopher, academic and theologian, who wrote and spoke widely on Asian philosophy and theology. He is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and of Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He was the author of more than twenty books on the philosophy and psychology of religion. He died in 1973.

Christian Weaver is an award-winning human rights barrister, social justice campaigner and author of The Law in 60 Seconds: A Pocket Guide to Your Rights. He has represented families in some of the country's most high-profile inquests, including that of Awaab Ishak, a toddler who tragically died in social housing due to prolonged exposure to mould. The case led to the creation of 'Awaab's Law' which directly benefits over 4 million social housing tenants.

In 2023 Christian was named Legal Aid Newcomer of the Year; he was listed in The Lawyer Hot 100 2024 and has been featured on nearly all UK major news platforms including BBC News, the Guardian and Radio 4. Concerned about the increasing number of people he knew being stopped and searched, in 2018 he created the YouTube series 'The Law in 60 Seconds' to inform people of their rights and make the law accessible; those videos have now been viewed thousands of times. Christian has worked at INQUEST and Liberty; currently he is instructed as a barrister on the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. Alongside this, he is touring the UK educating the public on their legal rights. He is from Nottingham and based in Manchester.

Karolina Watroba is a research fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, where she works on modern literature and film across eight European languages and beyond, with a focus on German, English, and Polish.

David Watkin was Professor of Architectural History at the University of Cambridge. He has written major studies of architects like Soane and Thomas Hope and the influential polemic Architecture and Morality. He is now retired and lives in Chicago.