What's Science Ever Done for Us: What the Simpsons Can Teach Us about Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe

by Paul Halpern

Book Overview

A playful and entertaining look at science on The Simpsons

This amusing book explores science as presented on the longest-running and most popular animated TV series ever made: The Simpsons. Over the years, the show has examined such issues as genetic mutation, time travel, artificial intelligence, and even aliens. What's Science Ever Done for Us? examines these and many other topics through the lens of America's favorite cartoon...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470114606
• ISBN13: 9780470114605
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Simpsons Simplified Science

Over the course of nearly 20 years, it's easier to ask what the Simpsons have NOT touched upon. It's the witty, wide ranging and educated way the writers take on the world that has kept the show on the air, and allowed the show to become the basis for studies of religion, philosophy and now science. When working with an animated show you are luckily outside the realm of the real world, so everything is back to normal at the beginning of the next episode. At the same time you can take science and have some fun with it, shrinking people, entering the third dimension and have comets disintegrate in pollution laden air. However, thanks to brainy Lisa, there usually is a baseline of true science even when we enter the realm of science fiction. Paul Halpern takes this baseline truth as a launching point to discuss varied scientific topics. While never delving too deep into the science or causing the reader's eyes to glaze over, he does a competent job in explaining a wide variety of science topics using examples from the show to help illustrate his point. He will often attribute the storyline points on science the subject of artistic license or exaggeration (as exampled by the Cartoon Laws of Physics he references) but he never calls the writers dumb, nor does he call the reader dumb because he or she comes to the book believing that toilets swirl the opposite direction depending on whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere. Rather he instead approaches the topics with a "well popular culture may have you think this is true because of A, B or C, but the fact is that is incorrect, and here's why." Nothing he writes about goes too deeply into the science topics - you probably would get deeper science in some Wikipedia articles, but for the layman that is good. He feeds you spoon sized lessons for the average reader to digest. You laugh with the Simpsons, and you also learn a little. Even Homer might enjoy this book.

fun and educational

This book talks about an episode of The Simpsons and then goes into the science behind it. There are 26 chapters that each mention a different scientific topic mentioned in The Simpsons. It is a fun read and you learn scientific information. You only learn basic information however, but it is still a good read. The most surprising thing was that in the introduction, the author mentions the educational background of the writers and creators of The Simpsons. Many of them have master's degrees and/or Ph.D.'s in math or science.

Plenty of fun, and you come away edumacated...

If you're a fan of The Simpsons, then you know that they've had plenty of episodes that involve fairly scientific topics and a few well-known guest stars from the scientific community. Paul Halpern digs a little deeper into these mysteries of science in the book What's Science Ever Done For Us: What the Simpsons Can Teach Us About Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe. By the time you get done with the book, you'll be better edumacated about a lot of things, and you'll have an enjoyable time getting there... Contents: Part 1 - It's Alive!: The Simpson Gene; You Say Tomato, I Say Tomacco; Blinky, the Three-Eyed Fish; Burns's Radiant Glow; We All Live in a Cell-Sized Submarine; Lisa's Recipe for Life; Look Homer-Ward, Angel Part 2 - Mechanical Plots: D'ohs ex Machina; Perpetual Commotion; Dude, I'm an Android; Rules for Robots; Chaos in Cartoonland; Fly in the Ointment Part 3 - No Time to D'ohs: Clockstopping; A Toast to the Past; Frinking about the Future Part 4 - Springfield, the Universe, and Beyond: Lisa's Scoping Skills; Diverting Rays; The Plunge Down Under; If Astrolabes Could Talk; Cometary Cowabunga; Homer's Space Odyssey; Could This Really Be the End?; Foolish Earthlings; Is the Universe a Donut?; The Third Dimension of Homer Inconclusion: The Journey Continues Acknowledgments; The Simpsons Movie Handy Science Checklist; Scientifically Relevant Episodes Discussed in This Book; Notes; Further Information; Index I'll admit I was expecting far less from this book when I first heard of it. I've seen too many "intellectuals" dissect a cartoon or story and add layers of complexity and academic baggage to the point that they've created their own fantasy world about what things "really" mean. Fortunately, that doesn't happen here. Halpern treats the Simpsons series with respect in terms of enjoying the episodes and understanding that they are primarily entertainment. But he goes deeper into some of the episodes to examine the science behind the storyline. For instance, he discusses the "fact" that water drains counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere due to the Coriolis effect. This is tied back to an episode where Bart and Lisa were trying to prove that fact and ended up having to travel to Australia to avoid an international incident. By the time you're done with the chapter, you know exactly what the Coriolis effect is, and whether water really *does* behave that way. Or there's the discussion about perpetual motion machines and whether it would ever be possible to build one like Lisa did in one episode. Again, by the end of the chapter, you know why the laws of thermodynamics mean that it's impossible to do that. Add in a few guest appearance by people like Stephen Hawkings, and you end up with an entertaining read about solid science, along with a few "I remember that episode!" moments... This is a definite "should read" for Simpson fans, and perhaps a really good resource for teac

Fun for Simpsons fans, written by a Simpsons fan

If we judge a TV show by its intelligence, creativity and longevity, The Simpsons may be the most successful series of all time, and the scientific questions it seems to raise in most episodes are among its most endearing attributes. We realize, of course, that cartoon characters are not subject to the usual physical laws. However, that doesn't mean that their unlikely exploits cannot be plausible. Most of us are not sure whether three-eyed fish, microscopic people, lifelike robots, time travel and other staples of science fiction are theoretically possible, so Dr. Halpern has written a delightful book that is at once whimsical, entertaining and informative. Looking to understand Einstein's general theory of relativity? Check out Maggie sitting on a hammock vs. Homer doing so, and watch how differently spacetime curves. Want to check out how time travel affects the future? In Homer's mind, the presence or lack of donuts is the critical determinant of success. Newtonian physics? Consider Marge pushing Maggie's frictionless stroller on a roller rink. The origins of life? Lisa's accidental encounter with genesis. Quantum mechanics? Professor Frink mixing Bart's genetic makeup with that of a fly. If you're interested in travelling through higher dimensions, the Simpsons dealt with that, too. And if you were up nights wondering about the famous Australian toilet flush phenomenon, the mystery is solved here. When I first picked up this book, I thought the author would use the language of science to explain Simpsons plot twists, but it was actually the other way around. He uses the experiences of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Moe, Principal Skinner and all the other denizens of Springfield we know and love to elucidate basic scientific principles in the fields of physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, anthropology and cosmology, which is at once a testament to the imaginations of both Dr. Halpern and the show's writers. If you like The Simpsons, you'll love this book.

The New Asimov has arrived

With his special gift of teaching complex science in an entertaining fashion, Paul Halpern has reached into our collective consciousness and pulled out - the Bard of Springfield (of the State of Vermont, according to The Simpsons movie premiere.) Homer Simpson provides the perfect foil for Halpern's easygoing, sensible rapport. After reading this book, I feel like I've known Halpern for years. Every chapter has a few precious chestnuts that kept me going. In Chapter 8, called "D'ohs ex Machina," which is all about Thomas Alva Edison, he cracks: "Some think of Homer as just a dim bulb, and therefore would rule out any connection between him and Edison." Later he discusses robots and their potential for humanness, as measured by the venerated Turing Test. Maybe they could be bartenders: "If a robot is not quite ready for the Turing Test, at least it might master the pouring test." First with "The Great Beyond" and now with "What's Science Ever Done for Us," Paul Halpern has cemented his reputation as the New Asimov, a scientist who can translate advanced research and theory into its worldly implications.