The Science of Sci-Fi

From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel

By: Erin Macdonald, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Erin Macdonald

Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Science fiction allows us to go places we can only dream of seeing - other worlds, distant stars, entirely different galaxies. While not every story is concerned with the hard science behind space travel and other futuristic ventures, fiction can give us amazing insight into what we could be capable of and what we dream of doing. 

In the 10 lectures of The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel, Professor Erin Macdonald interweaves real science and the achievements of the imagination to reveal the truth that underlies our favorite stories and sheds light on what the future may hold. From faster-than-light travel to journeys through time itself, science fiction makes humanity seem limitless. So, what scientific boundaries are we pushing against as we seek to fly among the stars? 

Beginning with an overview of the physics of time and space as we know them, Professor Macdonald shows how stories extrapolate current knowledge to create visions of the future and how likely - or unlikely - these fictional journeys could be. What would happen if a spaceship flew into a wormhole, as it does in the film Galaxy Quest? Or, if you prefer video games, what would happen if you fired a rocket launcher on the Moon like the soldiers of Mass Effect? Could we ever break the bounds of light speed as they do in Star Wars and move across the universe without spending decades trying to make it to a distant exoplanet? Is the transporter technology of Star Trek really possible? 

As you look closely at artificial gravity, inertial dampeners, tachyons, red matter, time dilation, and other sci-fi mainstays through the theories of some of science’s greatest thinkers, you will find that your favorite science fiction stories become even more astonishing.

©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.

surfing the surface

Erin Macdonald may be a brilliant physicist, and sci-fi fan, but I found this "series of lectures" to be extremely superficial. That may because I've already read/listened to/watched most of Brian Greene's work, which goes much deeper into the science that Erin barely covers. In addition, she gives multiple example of sci-fi, but she never really goes into detail (oh, and it would help if her references to Battlestar Galactica made it clearer that she is referencing the reboot, not the original).
If you are expecting these lectures to actually TALK about specific shows and how they used science or if you have more than a passing familiarity with theories behind science in science fiction, I cannot recommend it.

Selling Sci-Fi

This is more for the casual reader who has doubts about the value of science fiction. For longtime fans, this will feel like an extended dust jacket description of the genre.

Typical Audible Original

If you're a hardcore sci-fi fan, give this one a pass, it's just a bare bones basic primer for people who have only watched Star Wars or Star Trek movies.

Time, space, physics, and sci-fi

This is an entertaining, informative set of ten lectures on the physics used, whether accurately or creatively, in science fiction. Erin Macdonald is a physicist--and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable science fiction fan. She wants the interested fans to be familiar with the science behind their favorite movies, games, and books, but for the purpose of greater enjoyment and more fun, not for the purpose of telling us, "But that can't work and you shouldn't be enjoying it."

She starts off with an introduction to the science of space, time, and space-time, including the history of how we arrived at our current understanding. We also get an overview of some really cool ideas, like string theory, that aren't as prominent as they were just a few years ago, not because they've been proven wrong, but because, on the contrary, no one has come up with any effective ideas on how to test these theories. If you can't come up with a way to test a hypothesis on whether it's true or false, it might be a cool idea, but it's not science. At least not yet.

In subsequent lectures, she talks about how science fiction uses science to create stories and to make the stories work. Hyperspace, subspace, wormholes, and various ways of generating artificial gravity all get their turns in these lectures. Macdonald relates them directly to popular science fiction franchises, including Star Trek, Mass Effect, Galaxy Quest, and Star Wars. Ursula Le Guin's Ansible, the instantaneous communication device originally developed for her Hainish cycle and then spread to other sf by other writers, gets its share of attention.

The Star Trek transporter stands out as something that really can't work, but which she particularly loves because they quietly acknowledge that: a "Heisenberg compensater" is necessary to make it work properly and safely. I.e., the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that you can't know both the location and the velocity of any give particle at the same time, means the transporter, which needs to track many, many particles exactly, in both location and velocity, at the same time, means we'll never have a transporter, but we really, really need it to make this tv show work... (Really. It's only on screen that you need this. Plus, it makes for really pretty special effects, a bonus. In print, it's much easier to work around the time needed to get to and from the surface of a planet, whether by landing your ship, or using shuttles.)

As I said at the beginning, it's interesting and a lot of fun, and Erin Macdonald gives really good lecture. Enjoy!

I bought this audiobook.

Annoying music overpowered the narrator

I couldn't even make it through 2 minutes of this title. The annoying electronic music overpowered the narrator and gave me a headache.

Poorly written. Scattered and incongruent.

Sounds like another Millennial that didn't bother paying attention in their English class. Basically just a retelling of wikipedia articles concerning physics.

Fun, accessible, knowledgeable and entertaining

Great way to understand what is really possible in sci-fi and why. Always great to have the author also be the narrator as you can hear her passion for the subject in her voice.

Interesting Facts

This had some really interesting facts and as someone who doesn't read much Science Fiction it was quite fascinating to hear how plausible it all is

Captivating and Informative

I loved every single freaking second of this from beginning to end. The universe is vast and wild and endlessly interesting place and that's one of the reasons I love science fiction. I love any piece of media that explores topics like these. MacDonald paints a grand, complex picture of both the world we live in and worlds and futures we could hypothetically and/or potentially live in in an accessible manner. The way she breaks down concepts and theories and illustrates them with examples from sci-fi and colourful analogies of her own guarantee that I'm going to be re-listening to this ever other week. I learned more about physics in the first lecture than I did in all of high school. MacDonald has a YouTube channel and a podcast too and I'll definitely be checking those out. This was such an incredible listen.

interesting

This is an Audible freebie. The subject matter is the role of science in the development of science fiction. The author does a nice job with her subject matter.

Deeply patronising and scared of science.

I can't work out who the target audience for this book is. it can't go five minutes without apologizing for hurting your brainy brain by making it thinky think.
Is it for children? It reads like a science teacher that thinks they're keeping everyone from eating worms and sticking crayons up their nose.
Actually it's exactly like the sort of documentaries you get on discovery. It's terrified that you will change that channel and keeps promising you that there will be some bright and colourful adverts along in a minute so don't switch back over to love island just yet. I bet it's written in comic sans...

Might get better later on I don't know I couldn't take more than half an hour. Everytime it threatens to get interesting the author makes some banter remark about how they won't go in to all the boring science. It's supposed to be a science book isn't it? That's what I'm here for. Granted I don't want someone reading out long equations to me as something's don't translate so well to the audiobook format but give me something. I've got science blue balls... and I didn't know that was a thing.

Interesting popular science

Interesting and laced with some humour but a bit spoiled by a very fast narration

interesting sci fi themed sciences

Science made interesting for people of a science fiction fan inclination.I liked it, and still like to listen to it every now and again, hoping to increase my very basic science understanding.The narrator/author sounds passionate about her subject , which is obviously good and she does have a good engaging style and tone. This is a cool listen with some cool science fiction references which do bring alive a lot of the actual science explained and detailed in each of this books chapters.Tries hard to give at least some of the science fiction ideas explored some chance to be a reality.
Interesting enjoyable listen, which I enjoy in its bite size chaptes and revisit often.

I would have liked this *so* much more if

it weren't for all the "now stay with me"s and "get it?"s and other incredibly patronizing and infuriating comments the whole way through. The first lecture is probably the worst but it does continue somewhat throughout.
I don't have a great grasp on astrophysics and definitely not quantum mechanics but I'd like to, hence listening to this series. She does do a good job at explaining complex concepts in an easy to understand way, but she seriously needs to cut out all her atrocious attempts at humour or relating to her listeners because she clearly has no idea how to do that. She seems to think that no one listening is going to want to know the science?? Wtf would we be listening to this for otherwise?? Who on earth is her intended audience? Wish she'd stick to the material and cut the attempts at guessing what the listeners want or are thinking.

Not for those with even a decent grasp on basic physics concepts as I don't think it would tell you anything new.

If you love sci fi

A really interesting listen showing the connections between fiction and science. Def worth diving into.

Nice and short, well read and endlessly fascinating

Science books can be so stuffy, but this one is incredibly approachable. The author does a great job of highlighting the mathematics and science stuff in a way that you can just get, without a PHD. It’s also really well read with the author’s enthusiasm for the subject spilling out.

Great listen, highly recommended!

Explained a lot

I live Star Trek n have watched all the series plus the other shows n films Erin mentioned. Erin's examples from these shows n films explained a lot, really enjoyed it!!

A fantastic science book

Really easy to understand coverage of topics that have always confused me and peppered with really interesting facts.

What comes first, Sci-Fi or Science

It's fascinating to see where Sci-Fi gets it's ideas from and what can be taken from Sci-Fi and made real.
Well written by a Dr whose a fan of the genre and the stories used in gaming.
Thinking of ways to achieve in reality what can germinate in the pages of a book, captivating.
Nothing can go faster than the speed of light unless you cascade multiple warp bubbles. The concept is easy enough, just have to build it now!!!

More of a cursory look across topics...

The narrator, Erin Macdonald, clearly loves what is a fascinating topic: the science of scifi. She spoke with a clear and engaging voice. Top performance! But the material was too basic for me. In fact, the informational content was very low. I'm not sure what (if anything) I learned. Who was the audiobook for? Too difficult for kids. Too basic for adults who have held some interest in science. So is it for teenagers and adults who have had no interest in science whatsoever? In any case, it is perhaps a nice introduction to the topic, but don't expect anything more than a very (very) basic introduction.