Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction - E-book - ePub

Men have walked on the Moon. Siri and Alexa manage-at least often enough to be helpful-to make sense of the things we say. Biologists have decoded DNA, and doctors have begun to tailor treatments to suit our individual genetic make-ups. In short: science and tech happen. But faster-than-light travel? Time travel? Telepathy? A six million dollar-as adjusted, of course, for inflation-man? Starfaring aliens? Super-intelligent computers? Those, surely, are mere fodder for storytelling.
Or wild extrapolations. Just so many "sci fi" tropes. Sometimes, yes. But not necessarily. In Trope-ing the Light Fantastic, physicist, computer engineer, science popularizer, and award-winning science-fiction author Edward M. Lerner entertainingly examines these and many other SF tropes. The science behind the fiction. Each chapter, along with its eminently accessible scientific discussion, surveys science-fiction-foundational and modern, in short and long written form, on TV and the big screen-that illustrates a particular trope.
The good, the bad, and occasionally the cringe-worthy. All imparted with wit (and ample references to learn more). So forget what the Wizard of Oz advised. Let's pull back the curtain.