BLOCKBUSTER SCIENCE

Nonfiction

Spacetime and human spaghetti

BLOCKBUSTER SCIENCE

The Real Science in Science Fiction

By David Siegel Bernstein

336 pp. Prometheus Books

Reviewed by Eric Petersen

As any devotee of science fiction can tell you, what makes the genre so beloved is its ability to inspire Man to think beyond his grubby, mundane world and consider what lies beyond. To ponder his existence and his place in the universe. To hope for a better future and inspire him to develop the technology to create it.

Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein (1818) – a masterpiece of both horror and science fiction – gave the world a timeless warning about what can happen when scientists try to play God and tamper with the very nature of life. One can only imagine what she’d think about the cloning and genetic engineering achieved by science today.

When Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870, could he have conceived of a future where actual high-tech submarines like Captain Nemo’s Nautilus plumbed the depths of the ocean? That future is now, as the science fiction of the past has become the science fact of today – and the science fiction of today will become science fact tomorrow.

But what of the science behind science fiction? That’s what author David Siegel Bernstein – himself a science fiction writer – examines in this flawed, flighty, yet fascinating nonfiction book geared toward science fiction enthusiasts.

Our journey begins with Einstein’s theory of relativity as we learn about mass, energy, and spacetime. Next, we look at quantum mechanics, the science of subatomic structures that offers some truly mind-bending theories about the nature of the universe – such as string theory, alternate universes, and parallel worlds.

Did you know that at the center of the Milky Way and every other galaxy in the universe lies a supermassive black hole the size of one million suns? What lies within it may hold the secret to traveling through time like Doctor Who. All you have to do is avoid being stretched tall and thin like a stick of human spaghetti.

Next, we explore the science behind the technology that allows the starship Enterprise to traverse the far reaches of space at warp speed. Might we soon develop our own fully functional Enterprise and go where no man has gone before? Not yet.

We still rank as a lowly Type 0 on the Kardashev scale of civilization development, with Type 7 being the highest developed (and godlike) civilization. Don’t be discouraged – in the 21^st century, we’ve evolved nearly three quarters of the way toward being a Type 1.

Speaking of evolution, the book also explores the evolution of life in the universe and on Earth, and how our technology has evolved so rapidly. Computers, robotics, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence, once only conceivable by the imagination of a science fiction writer, are now a reality and continue to advance. 

Who knows, someday we may be able to plug network cables into our brains like the main character in William Gibson’s 1984 science fiction masterpiece Neuromancer and surf an Internet that’s become a virtual world.

As the evolution of technology is discussed, the author offers a prescient look at the ethical and safety concerns raised by the emergence of technology such as genetic engineering (Is it right to create genetically perfect humans?) and artificial intelligence. (What happens when the robots decide to get rid of us humans for the good of the planet?)

Of course, no modern science book could (or should) be complete without a discussion of the threat of global warming, the possibility of and the search for extraterrestrial life, and the possible colonization of a planet that could sustain human life after we’ve destroyed the Earth.

Blockbuster Science provides some food for thought, but it lacks a strong narrative structure to tie all the information together. It’s the nonfiction equivalent of assembling a collection of related short stories and calling it a novel. It definitely needs more editing, if only to cut this cringeworthy final sentence:

Bye for now. There is a lot more science and science fiction to share in our universe.

While geared toward science fiction fans, most of them would find this book too brief (subtract the notes, glossary, reading / movie / song list, and index, and it only runs 283 pages) and too simplified for their taste. Those without a good basic working knowledge of the topics covered may be left scratching their heads after the first few chapters.

Though the idea of the book is to explore the relation between classic science fiction novels, films, and TV series and the real science behind them, it doesn’t go into much detail about the science fiction. 

Still, I liked author David Siegel Bernstein’s snappy, witty prose style, and while I do have a good basic working knowledge of the topics covered, I learned a few things I didn’t know before. It’s no Neil deGrasse Tyson or Brian Greene, but if you have an interest in science and a rainy day to kill, you could do worse than Blockbuster Science.

Eric Petersen is an administrator and blogmaster for the Internet Writing Workshop, an international, online writer’s group run out of Penn State University. You can reach him by e-mail at EricPetersen1970@hotmail.com