The Science of Doctor Who

by Paul Parsons

Book Overview

Almost fifty years after he first crossed the small screen, Doctor Who remains a science fiction touchstone. His exploits are thrilling, his world is mind-boggling, and that time travel machine--known as the Tardis--is almost certainly an old-fashioned blue police box, once commonly found in London.

Paul Parsons's plain-English account of the real science behind the fantastic universe portrayed in the Doctor Who television series...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080189560X
• ISBN13: 9780801895609
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A Good read.

I enjoyed this book quiet a bit. The author does a good job of reconciling aspects of the who-verse with current scientific theory. I don't always agree with some the theories he uses to explain who technology. Sometime it feels like he overlooking some other theories in physics which would make a little more sense when pitted against Dr. Who's Tech. But given that there are soo many theories out there, the author would have had to pick one and stick with that theme through out the book. The book does get a little dry at points, and some chapters are almost snoozers, but as a whole, I think fans of science and science fiction will enjoy it.

Hope Daleks can't turn pages

This is a very good book for Dr Who fans, it looks at different aspects of the show from a "real world" point of view and tries to explain "how it works". This more difficult than other books like these because the Technology of Dr Who runs the gambit from Stone Knives to Time Travel. Another aspect of this book that I like is that it takes into account the entire Dr Who Series, all 10 Doctors are included, not just the last two Doctors. The book takes on everything from the Doctor's physiology to how the TARDIS travels. The technology of a Sonic Screwdriver to Wormholes and alternate universes. Overall, it is a very fun book to read and could introduce some people to new worlds of science and physics.

Very good for Doctor Who fans only.

The problem with books that try to use science to explain science fiction is that it sort of sucks the fun out of it. Books like this also tend to fall into the category of "overly nitpicky," whereby fans will try to dissect the minutia of inaccuracies. Now, onto the book itself. It's a good book, told in a rather straight forward way, focusing on concepts versus equations. It's also a comprehensive overview - I thought I had watched enough episodes to know major plot points, but you can tell that Dr. Parsons did his homework. The book seems to cover both the old and new series equally - so that newer viewers will realize various things about the multitude of alien species in the first few seasons of the Doctor Who relaunch. The book's depth is impressive as well. I was sort of expecting to get a page worth of Doctor Who material for every ten pages of science. No stone has left unturned, even addressing the bisexuality of Captain Jack Harkness and cloning (along with the Sontarans.) As a fan of the show, to be honest, I don't pay *that* much attention to the science aspects of the show while watching it. It's why it's called fiction: you can make things up. The show is more fantasy than fiction, and that's why I accept things that seem totally preposterous. The Daleks not flying in the previous series, was a running joke that was mainly due to the limited SFX budget that the show had. It didn't make them less terrifying as an adversary for The Doctor. Doctor Who fans will enjoy this, but it doesn't have a broad appeal to a mainstream audience. Nor will it bring new fans into the Doctor Who universe. The book is a labor of love, and it should be rewarded for that.

It's blinding me with science!

I'll admit, I'm a fan of "Doctor Who". I've seen most of the extant episodes, have several of the DVDs and have even been known to read the novels and listen to the audios. Yes, I love it a lot! Americans don't generally "get" the show. Even most American sci-fi fans, at least until recent years, would look askance at American "Doctor Who" fans. Yes, you might own one of Shatner's toupees, Dirk Benedict's cigars or Gil Gerard's... what was he famous for again? Anyhow, you might have those in your collection you display proudly for anyone who walks by, but you'll still stare down your nose at Americans who like "Doctor Who". This has changed somewhat in recent years. I'm no great fan of Russel T Davies, the now-former producer for the new series of the show, but I'll give him credit: he brought back "Who" and made it accessible to the masses. It's one of the most popular shows in the UK, and even here in the USA it's getting some popularity. Why just his past weekend I was at a "Doctor Who" convention in LA and we had over 1,500 guests. "Doctor Who" has never been a great bastion for science-fact. I'd say it's more sciencey than, say, "Star Wars", but not up to the level of "Star Trek" at its best. You occasionally get some interesting science concepts, but mostly the show is essentially a science-fantasy. But there is real science to be had in the show, and that's what Paul Parsons wants to bring to us with this book. He explores in great detail the possibility of things like time travel, robot dogs, cybernetic men, space travel and even the possibility of having a space that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Parsons does this all in a very accessible way, making everything... well, if not exactly EASY to understand, at least not all that hard to grasp the basics of. I have a grounding in science only slightly better than that of the average layman and while I got most of what was being said, I did get rather lost at sea anytime math came into play, which is distressingly often. Parsons is clearly a man who likes his science and his science fiction, and that shows. Even when reading about concepts I had a tough time grasping (like a ping-pong ball experiment related to the concept of eternity), I still found his writing entertaining. This is a good companion piece to Michio Kaku's book, "Physics of the Impossible", the Kindle version of which even shows a TARDIS on the cover. While perhaps not as well written as Kaku's work, and certainly not as broad, it does offer some great information and some interesting thoughts on where science might take us in the not-too-distant future (possibly we might live on a space station and be made to watch horrible movies?). Worth picking up for "Doctor Who" fans and sciencey types.