The Science of Star Wars: An Astrophysicist's Independent Examination of Space Travel, Aliens, Planets, and Robots as Portrayed in the Star Wars Films and Books

by Jeanne Cavelos

Book Overview

Former NASA astrophysicist Jeanne Cavelos examines the scientific possibility of the fantastical world of Star Wars. She explains to non-technical readers how the course of science might soon... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312263872
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

STAR WARS COULD HAPPEN!!?

What I loved about the Star Wars saga is the fact that travel across the galaxy is as commonplace and taken for granted ascar and air travel is today. And I love the alien world our heroes visit like the Fourth Moon of Yavin,the Moon of Endor,Tatooine,Hoth,Bespin,Dagobah and Coruscant. This book explores the possibility of rapid interstellar traveland alien planets and extraterrestrial life and the even how tobuild lightsabers and blasters with incredible detail. Cavelosexplains that such breaktroughs may or may not happen in a fewthousand years. Who knows what breaktroughs humanity will make?We may not be at war with aliens or other civilizations and I hope it won't happen. But I do hope that someday people will beable to travel to other solar systems and galaxies as quicklyand easily as crossing our oceans. Cavelos gives interestingdetail on wormholes,warp drives,and even what it would be liketo travel at warp drive with the stars stretching into streaksof light. That will be a very exciting time. I hope that galactictravel and even intergalctic travel will be used for tourism aswell as exploration and colonization. People will travel to exotic planets and moons like Yavin 4,Endor,Hoth,Coruscant etc.and even view our own galaxy from above as a glowing celestialspiral. That would be a very exciting time!!Perhaps itwill happen in the next thousand years or so.

Great Book

I am not a huge, or even big Star Wars fan (heck, I didn't even like the first one), but I loved this book. A great concept, very well done. I could not put it down.

'The force' is not a farce.

Let me start out by saying that I could hardly put this book down. Once I started, each chapter made me starve for the next. The book, as the title suggests, offers a scientific look with amazing theories and explanations to some of the concepts in the movie, "Star Wars." For example, one may ponder the existence of aliens and the ability to travel at light speed--or even faster! Well, this book provides a thorough look at these questions giving an opportunity for some very accomplished scientists in such fields as physics and statistics to share their views and offer a hypothesis. I especially enjoyed the chapter on 'The Force.' Here I found it incredibly interesting. For there is not only a physical scientific look at this phenomenon but also a parapsychological view, fusing physics, psychology, metaphysics and even quantum mechanics together. In conclusion, this book is an asset to anyone who has pondered the many what ifs... in life. A great read as well as a perfect look at the blending of "Star Wars" with science, the human experience and the human mind. Great Work.

A great starting point!

This book is written in a readable way that touches on many of the major topics brought up by physics. I think it is a great starting point for those of us that wan't to leap into physics. Being thirteen I have to give her credit for making the book understandable, quantum mechanics is pretty hard to explain and it takes someone who knows what she's talking about to do so. It has brought me to the point where my mind begins to understand things, and starts asking questions! It has furthered my desire to be an astrophysicist and is quite a good book!

WOW!

This has been the most interesting and well written book that I have ever read. It explains complex and very abstract concepts in a way that ordinary people can understand. I am very impressed with her and cannot wait for her to write another book like this.