The Physics of Star Trek

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing look at possibilities of Star Trek
Review: This book gives a good overview look at each of the major physics-oriented aspects of the Star Trek universe. Just how likely is it that we will develop transporters, food replicators, or (probably of greatest interest to most of us) holo suites? The answers are here in this well written layman's guide. This book is best suited for the curious, for those who wonder if these things will one day be possible. The authors take us down each path, sometimes determining that it will be possible, someday, and at other times, letting us down easy. I thank the authors for satisfying my curiosity as well as teaching me some theoretical aspects of physics at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: The first, and the best
Review: This book was the first of its kind-- to try and relate science to popular culture and science fiction--and it is the best of the bunch. The author is one of the best popularizers of science around. The writing is engaging, and humorous. I completely disagree with the reviewer who didn't like the writing and argued that this is for physics neophytes. Even those who are familiar with popular physics will get new insights into the exciting world of modern physics and astrophysics. And those who aren't will get a great first introduction to the wonders of the universe.

Rating:
Summary: my brain hurt...
Review: This books really surprised me.. I reread some parts several times to really grasp what he was saying because he delves into some pretty deep thinking and math based ideas. I highly recommend this to anyone who ever wondered how a transporter or warp drive could work and wanted a really good answer

Rating:
Summary: Trekers Delight
Review: This is a most awsome book!!! It is not nessarly Trek centered. However it gives you insight on many questions any fan or general person may have.

Rating:
Summary: Be entertained while being educated
Review: This is a really fun book. If you are a fan of Star Trek, you likely have enough of an interest in science and physics to enjoy this read. The book's concept is simple enough, that physicists, as a group, have somewhat of an obsesive-compulsive disorder over anaylyzing the scientific feasability behind the fictional events on the show. Krauss, being a physicist afflicted with Star Trek OCD, decided that writing a book on the subject might be good therapy.

Regardless of whether the treatment worked for Krauss, it works for readers. The book is always entertaining, teaches a surprising amount of physics along the way and introduces the reader to some novel problem-solving approaches. Fans of Star Trek will also get an appreciation for just how large an effort the show's creators put into scientific plausibility, even if they occasionally bend the laws of physics to enhance the plot.

Highly recommended for fans of physics and Star Trek.

Rating:
Summary: Good Technical detail, narrowminded author
Review: This is an interesting book that has a great amount of valuable scientific information included, such as the basics (and the not so basics) of many of the technologies employed in all of the Star Trek shows. The writer does spend alot of the book on nitpicking about details the Star Trek writers got wrong, but I neither like or dislike this. To his credit, the author does tell of many of the innovations that the Star Trek show led to, and also tells of the particles/concepts that they somehow got right before researchers discovered them. The shortcoming is the closedmindedness. All through the book he tells of the impossible energy requirements to accomplish many things, such as warpspeed, but they're only impossible according to current knowledge. Go back to BC times and ask their scientists about flying machines: impossible. But the book is still filled with great technical details that'll keep any avid Hawking readers on their toes, and is still interesting to the "lay" reader.

Rating:
Summary: Plausibility
Review: This text is very enlightening for the Star Trek viewer. It gives technical answers to questions concerning warp, transporters, worm holes and other technology and phenomena that do not have the opportunity to be addressed on camera. Despite some deviations in the series, this text offers more plausible explanations for the inner workings of the Star Trek multi-verse.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Ideabut limited vision
Review: This volume by Lawrence Krauss is a physicists' exploration of the scientific feasibility of "Star Trek science". As a student of science myself and a Star Trek fan for many years, I was intrigued by this book. Apart from drawing attention to curious inconsistencies (such as "how come we hear explosions in space, where there's no air to carry the sound?") this book addresses a wide range of issues, such as WARP drive, transporters, the Holodeck, Black Holes, and Data, among other things.

What this turned out to be is a nice and easily accessible introduction to modern day physics using Star Trek as a model. Overall the book is very interesting to read and often thought-provoking. Unfortunately, the book suffers from a significant limitation because of its attitude. The "Physics of Star Trek" tests the feasibility of Star Trek phenomena based on our understanding of physics today. Thus many things are deemed "impossible" because the author cannot visualize a way to make them work using 20th century science. The problem with this attitude is that it lacks vision. Had he been writing with this attitude in the 1940s for instance, he would have discounted any possibilities of having any automated thinking machines and dismissed any aspect of the computerized world that we enjoy and take for granted today. The beauty of Star Trek is that it is visionary in nature, and a fair analysis of the show needs to make some educated guesses about what the science of the future will look like and not merely confine thinking to the science of today.

Having said that, I do concede that this book is a very nice, fun to read, and interesting introduction to the science of today, and I highly recommend it to any Trek fan interested in real science!

Rating:
Summary: Plausibility
Review: This volume by Lawrence Krauss is a physicists' exploration of the scientific feasibility of "Star Trek science". As a student of science myself and a Star Trek fan for many years, I was intrigued by this book. Apart from drawing attention to curious inconsistencies (such as "how come we hear explosions in space, where there's no air to carry the sound?") this book addresses a wide range of issues, such as WARP drive, transporters, the Holodeck, Black Holes, and Data, among other things.

What this turned out to be is a nice and easily accessible introduction to modern day physics using Star Trek as a model. Overall the book is very interesting to read and often thought-provoking. Unfortunately, the book suffers from a significant limitation because of its attitude. The "Physics of Star Trek" tests the feasibility of Star Trek phenomena based on our understanding of physics today. Thus many things are deemed "impossible" because the author cannot visualize a way to make them work using 20th century science. The problem with this attitude is that it lacks vision. Had he been writing with this attitude in the 1940s for instance, he would have discounted any possibilities of having any automated thinking machines and dismissed any aspect of the computerized world that we enjoy and take for granted today. The beauty of Star Trek is that it is visionary in nature, and a fair analysis of the show needs to make some educated guesses about what the science of the future will look like and not merely confine thinking to the science of today.

Having said that, I do concede that this book is a very nice, fun to read, and interesting introduction to the science of today, and I highly recommend it to any Trek fan interested in real science!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Idea but limited vision
Review: This volume by Lawrence Krauss is a physicists' exploration of the scientific feasibility of "Star Trek science". As a student of science myself and a Star Trek fan for many years, I was intrigued by this book. Apart from drawing attention to curious inconsistencies (such as "how come we hear explosions in space, where there's no air to carry the sound?") this book addresses a wide range of issues, such as WARP drive, transporters, the Holodeck, Black Holes, and Data, among other things.

What this turned out to be is a nice and easily accessible introduction to modern day physics using Star Trek as a model. Overall the book is very interesting to read and often thought-provoking. Unfortunately, the book suffers from a significant limitation because of its attitude. The "Physics of Star Trek" tests the feasibility of Star Trek phenomena based on our understanding of physics today. Thus many things are deemed "impossible" because the author cannot visualize a way to make them work using 20th century science. The problem with this attitude is that it lacks vision. Had he been writing with this attitude in the 1940s for instance, he would have discounted any possibilities of having any automated thinking machines and dismissed any aspect of the computerized world that we enjoy and take for granted today. The beauty of Star Trek is that it is visionary in nature, and a fair analysis of the show needs to make some educated guesses about what the science of the future will look like and not merely confine thinking to the science of today.

Having said that, I do concede that this book is a very nice, fun to read, and interesting introduction to the science of today, and I highly recommend it to any Trek fan interested in real science!