Download PDF WIZARDS, ALIENS, AND STARSHIPS Physics And Math In Fantasy And Science Fiction by Charles L. Adler

Sinopsis

When I was young, back in the 1970s and 80s, I read a lot of science fiction.I read a lot of other stu􀏱, as well, but science 􀏧ction (and fantasy) 􀏧lled a need that other literature simply didn’t. I tended to read “hard” science 􀏧ction, that is, stories plotted around hard science: physics, astrophysics, giant engineering projects, and the like. The worlds these stories portrayed, where space travel was common, human problems such as poverty were nearly eliminated, and con􀏩icts centered on larger-than-life issues, always seemed to me more compelling than human dramas that revolved around why someone didn’t love someone else.

My tastes have changed since then, but the initial thrill of these stories has never really left me. I am a scientist because of my initial love of these tales. A chill still runs down my spine whenever I look at a Hubble Telescope photo or learn of a new exoplanet discovered. I live in hope that I will be alive when life on other planets is discovered. I still want to take a vacation to the Moon or to an orbiting satellite. These thrills are tempered by my adult realization that much of what goes into science 􀏧ction is quite unrealistic. This book is written for my 􀏧fteen-year-old self, and other readers like him, who would like to know which parts of science 􀏧ction are based on real science, and therefore in some way plausible, and which parts are unrealistic. This is the book I would have wanted to read when I was young. Just as for Niven’s correspondent, my interest in science 􀏧ction was mostly in the strange environments, the new worlds, the alien life, the superscience it portrayed. I wanted to know which parts were (potentially) real and which weren’t. To a large extent, that is why I eventually became a physicist.

Almost any science 􀏧ction story has a lot of incorrect science. This doesn’t make the story bad or invalid. Some authors, like Larry Niven, are almost obsessive in trying to get the science right; most are more lackadaisical about it. However, the standards for the profession are pretty high: no science 􀏧ction writer can be really esteemed accomplished unless he or she has a thorough knowledge of basic physics, chemistry, biology, astrophysics, history (ancient and modern), sociology, and military tactics; and besides all this, must possess a certain something in their air and manner of writing, or their profession will be but half-deserved. (Improvement of their minds by extensive reading goes without saying.) Science 􀏧ction writers do not have the same opportunities as research scientists do to stay up-to-date in their research 􀏧elds, and writing science 􀏧ction involves a lot more 􀏧elds than most research scientists can keep up with.

This book is one physicist’s attempt to discuss the science, particularly the physics and mathematics, that goes into writing hard science 􀏧ction. As an added bonus, I also take a look at physics in fantasy writing: there’s more in it than meets the eye. This is not an attempt to predict the future: as G. K. Chesterton pointed out, most of the fun in predicting the future comes from burying the people who attempt to do it [50]. Rather, I stick to the science used in crafting the stories. There are many books dedicated to the literary criticism of science 􀏧ction; this book is devoted to its scientific critique. As such, my choice of which literature to use is dictated both by my own reading and by the needs of the book. I tend to avoid writers who don’t make much use of science in their stories, except occasionally to comment on their errors. I also tend to stick to literature, that is, novels and short stories, although I occasionally comment on science 􀏧ction movies or television shows as well.

Content

1. PLAYING THE GAME
2. POTTER PHYSICS
3. HARRY POTTER AND THE GREAT CONSERVATION LAWS
4. WHY HOGWARTS IS SO DARK
5. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND HOW TO DISPROVE THEM
6. SPACE TRAVEL
7. WHY COMPUTERS GET BETTER AND CARS CAN’T (MUCH)
8. VACATIONS IN SPACE
9. SPACE COLONIES
10. THE SPACE ELEVATOR
11. MANNED INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL
12. ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
13. SPECULATIVE PROPULSION SYSTEMS
14. INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND RELATIVITY
15. FASTER-THAN-LIGHT TRAVEL AND TIME TRAVEL
16. WORLDS AND ALIENS
17. DESIGNING A HABITABLE PLANET
18. THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR SPOCK
19. THE MATHEMATICS OF TALKING WITH ALIENS
20. YEAR GOOGOL
21. THE SHORT-TERM SURVIVAL OF HUMANITY
22. WORLD-BUILDING
23. DYSON SPHERES AND RINGWORLDS
24. ADVANCED CIVILIZATIONS AND THE KARDASHEV SCALE
25. A GOOGOL YEARS

Click here to download