The movie “Interstellar” has not only fascinated moviegoers: it also has created a discussion among scientists whether any and all of the science discussed in the movie is accurate. To be sure, this is not the fate that befalls your average Sci-Fi movie where the laws of physics are routinely (and often egregiously) broken over …
The interviewer is Willis E. McNelly, a professor of English (specializing in science fiction). Herbert discusses artistic as well as conceptual decisions made in the writing and background world building for Dune. Highly recommended for any fan of the book. See also Dune and The Butlerian Jihad and Darwin Among the Machines. The Bene Gesserit program had as …
The novella Gulf predates almost all of Heinlein’s novels. Online version. The book Friday (1982) is a loose sequel. Wikipedia: Gulf is a novella by Robert A. Heinlein, originally published as a serial in the November and December 1949 issues of Astounding Science Fiction and later collected in Assignment in Eternity. It concerns a secret society …
My kids have been reading lots of books over the break, including an adventure series that involves time travel. Knowing vaguely that dad is a theoretical physicist, they asked me how time travel works. 1. Can one change history by influencing past events? OR 2. Is there only one timeline that cannot be altered, even …
Philip K. Dick’s first science fiction story 15 year old Philip K. Dick’s short story The Slave Race (his first published science fiction) appeared in the Young Authors’ Club column of The Berkeley Gazette (1944). From Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick by Lawrence Sutin. In the future, androids created to ease humans’ …
A discussion at the 92nd street Y in NYC, Nov. 24 2014. Moderator Jamie Metzl is joined by George Church, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Columbia University bioethicist Robert Klitzman, New York Stem Cell Foundation Co-Founder and CEO Susan Solomon, and Princeton Professor of Molecular Biology and Public Policy Lee Silver to discuss …
I recently finished two books that really stood out in my memory of recent reading. Lighter fare than I have recommended in the past, but more representative of what I read day to day :) The first book, The Martian, is a near-future book about an astronaut who wakes up on Mars, having been left …