"Physics of the Impossible" by Michio Kaku

Publisher:New York : Doubleday, [2008]

Edition:First edition.

Copyright Date:2008

ISBN:9780385520690

This book was an extremely interesting read, and one I wish I had read sometime ago. I believe it would be very useful for any budding science-fiction writers as it it explains in general terms whether certain topics commonly found in science-fiction stories are actually possible based on real world physics. 

Dr. Kaku divides things that are typically considered impossible into three categories. In Class I are things that are impossible today but don't violate the known laws of physics. Surprisingly some of these items are force fields, invisibility, phasers and death stars, starships, antimatter.

Class II are those at the very edge of our understanding of physics, but still conceivably possible if we gain further knowledge of the physical world. These are such things as faster than light travel, time travel, and parallel universes.

Finally in Class III are things that violate the known laws of physics, such as perpetual motion machines, and precognition, so it's unlikely we'll have to worry about these, nor are they likely to be of much use to writers as they are on the edge of science-fantasy.

Dr. Kaku goes into a lot of detail to explain each of these items and why he is placed them in the categories he has. In addition he examines the history of physics as well as where it is currently headed to back up his classifications.

Even though there is a lot of detail in this book, it is easy to read and there are only one or two formulas to deal with. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is writing science-fiction and wants to get a good handle on the science as we know it today, and how they could change things to fit their stories.

"Red Planet" by Robert A. Heinlein (1908-1988)

Publisher: Ballentine Del Rey Books
Copyright:1949
ISBN: 0345260694

Red planet is the third in what are known as the "Heinlein Juveniles", and was written in 1949. It takes place after Space Cadet, but there is no actual year specified in the text. The story revolves around colonists on Mars, who because they live relatively near the polar regions are required to migrate from one pole to another on a yearly basis.

The protagonist in the story is one James Marlowe, a teenager who along with a friend (Frank) are being sent away to a boarding school which is located nearer to the equator. Their time at the boarding school, is fine until the headmaster retires and is replaced by someone who plan to run the school like a military academy.

The science of Red Planet, is consistent with what was known of the planet in the late 1940s. It draws a lot on the speculations of Dr. Percival Lowell (1855-1916), and though now we know that the vast majority of his hypotheses were incorrect, it still makes for a good story. Some of these ideas he put forth were things such as Mars being covered with a network of canals carrying water, and large areas of vegetation, etc.

Jim's adventures include meeting and interacting with the native population of Martians. The Martians in this book are not the same as the ones described in "Double Star" which was written in 1956, and which I reviewed a while back. These Martians are much more consistent with the ones that will be learned about in Heinlein famous novel "Stranger in a Strange Land". When looking at the events as described in this novel, Stranger in a Strange Land must take place a fairly long time prior to Red Planet.

"Sexual Intelligence" by Kim Cattrall

Publisher: Greystone / Madison Press Books, New Video Group (DVD)
Copyright: 2005 (Book), 2006 (DVD)
ISBN: 1-55365-105-7 (Book), 0-7670-8772-0 (DVD)

Ms. Cattrall first wrote the book and this inspired the documentary. According to her the reason for writing the book: "For me, it was a desire to define myself beyond an iconic character I played for over seven years - a character I love and fully embraced. Samantha Jones captured people's imaginations and earned a place in our collective culture."

The book and documentary interviewed a number of professionals with regard to their work in the areas of sex education, their thoughts, and feelings, etc. Three of the professionals consulted: Thomas Moore "The Scale of Sex", Michael J. Bader "Arousal", & Maggie Paley "The Book of the Penis" have each published on the topic and are considered authorities in the field. In addition the renowned sex therapist Betty Dodson gives her input from a medical point of view. Six non-professionals are also featured in the documentary and a seventh is included in the book, and all candidly tell their stories and give their opinions on how they feel about sex in general and with regard to specific topics.

Comprehensive and accurate sex education is something that is severely lacking in North American society, and unfortunately even more so in other cultures. The vast majority of today's youth have a very lopsided view of what sex actually is, as they are getting their information from a number of sources such as religious institutions, the internet, pornographic videos, etc. The vast majority of these are less than credible, after all how are religious practitioners - that supposedly practise abstention - supposed to give accurate information about something they shouldn't even know anything about? As for the internet, well that is likely the worst place to get accurate information as on there every male is so well endowed that he should probably invest in training wheels, those who aren't are told they should be and tons of ridiculous potions, pills, and other concoctions promise that he will be in a matter of days. For women, they are all supposedly ready for intercourse at the drop of a hat, have to be cleanly shaven, and have enormous breasts.

The book and DVD give a very good introduction to the history of sex, its representation in the arts (both historically and contemporarily), how it is seen in other cultures (primarily historically - in such places as Pompeii), and in basic sex education. Hopefully this inspires readers and viewers to investigate the topic further. The book contains an extensive bibliography, and this alone is worth the price of the book.

As the book asks "Is it possible to develop a kind of sexual intelligence, one that can deepen our pleasure and give us a greater awareness of ourselves?" If a reader takes this to heart and continues to read from reputable sources on the subject then I would say it is possible, but it is something that a person will have to work at.

"Rocket Ship Galileo" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Ballantine / Del Rey
Year: 1947

An Brief Introduction to the Heinlein Juveniles

The thirteen books in the Juveniles series (although some say there are only twelve, as the first twelve were published by Scribners, but they rejected the thirteenth) take the reader on a journey to the stars as they are chronologically laid out, over a fairly long time span. The first deals with the first moon landing. The next five concentrate on interplanetary travel, the following four look at the early stages of interstellar travel, in number eleven interstellar travel is easy, the twelfth has humans venturing outside the galaxy to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, and the thirteenth looks at interstellar war.

No characters are shared between the novels due to the great time spans involved. However, some of Heinlein's other later books do reference events that take place in this series and well as in his Future History short stories.

Rocket Ship Galileo

Rocket Ship Galileo is the first book in "The Heinlein Juveniles". It was written in 1947, and as such the fact that World War II had just ended influences the plot, but more about that in a few minutes.

The world as we know it from history is quite different from the one portrayed in this book, and the influence of World War II can definitely be seen, especially the success of the use of rockets. In the novel's world rockets are now used for the delivery of the mail, and other cargo. They are being built by a Detroit company, and commercially available. In addition these rockets are able to accomplish such things as take-offs and landings from pretty much anywhere, something that we are now just achieving.

The story revolves around three boys who are recent high-school graduates, that are also into rocketry, and are in the process of building their own rocket motors (they are also quite accomplished at electronics, flying, etc). When the story opens their latest experiment had just ended, in failure but not without producing very promising results. They are then recruited by one boy's uncle, a physicist, who had previously worked on the Manhattan Project. The uncle Dr. Cargraves, proposes that they refit a surplus mail rocket with atomic engines and make the first trip to the moon. The boys agree and work begins in a military range that previously been used to test nuclear bombs. Their efforts however are disrupted by what they determine as prowlers, but who turn out to be unknown agents.

The story progresses, and when they reach the moon they establish a base by constructing a quonset-hut like shelter, and covering it with regolith to protect it. When they set up their communications equipment to attempt to contact Earth, they pick up a transmission which they determine is local, and who proceeds to bomb their ship "The Galileo". After investigating further the crew of the former rocket ship Galileo determine that their is a Nazi base on the moon, and they are planning on taking revenge for the loss of the war.

When you consider when this book was written, what the world had just accomplished (end of WWII), and the promise that nuclear power brought to the future it is conceivable from a late 1940's viewpoint that things such as this might be possible. While the plot of this story is somewhat fantastic, as it doesn't take into account all the tremendous number of details (time, money, expertise, etc.) that would be required to send a credit to the moon it is still a good read, and should entertain anyone who reads it.

"The Storytelling Animal: How Stores Make Us Human" by Jonathan Gottschall

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 9780547391403

The Storytelling Animal provides readers with a good overview of how stories and important to humans. It examines how stories are such a major part of our lives that we routinely ignore them as such, and simply assume that's the way life is. It also examines the way television, video games, and other activities are both part of our life's story, and in fact the story itself.

The author goes on to examine the realms of stories that are not exactly fiction, but that aren't true either such as reality television, commercials, etc. He also looks at the play both for children and adults can shape our worlds. Play in the children's sense is make-believe, pretend worlds, and how when you put a group of small children into a room they will pretty much spontaneously create a world in which they are both the writer, actors, protagonists, antagonists, directors, and virtually all other roles you can imagine.

Play in the adult sense is examined by looking a movies, theatre, live action role playing, Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and such. The latter two of these could easily be translated into books on their own as there is so much to consider.

I found this book to be quite informative, and I think it would be a good suggested read especially for anybody who is interested in creative writing, or who is studying psychology.

"The Green Hills of Earth" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Signet
Copyright: 1950

The Green Hills of Earth Is Robett Heinlein's third collection of short stories that form the backbone of his Future History. This volume includes the classics "Delilah and the Space-Rigger", "Space Jockey", "The Long Watch", "Gentlemen, Bd Seated", "The Black Pits of Luna", "It's Great to be Back", "-We Also Walk Dogs", "Ordeal in Space", "The Green Hills of Earth", and "Logic of Empire".

As in the other two volumes readers will meet relatively important characters that appear in Heinlein's later works primarily his novels. It is my opinion though, that at least one of the stories in this book should have been included in the first volume, and that is "Logic of Empire" which mentions the character Nehemiah Scudder, who later becomes the First Prophet. The actual story of Scudder was never written by Mr. Heinlein, because (as he explained in the second book) he began to hate the character so much that he decided to never write it. In any case the story of Scudder is what leads to stories such as "Revolt in 2100", "Coventry" and a few others.

Being a dedicated fan of Mr. Heinlein I highly recommend these books, as they do form the basis of his universe and you will understand where he's coming from (and where you are headed) a lot better if you have read them.

"The Man Who Sold the Moon" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Signet
Copyright: 1950

The man who sold the moon is the first of the three volume collection of short stories by Robert Heinlein that begins his future history series (I reviewed the second "Revolt in 2100" a couple of weeks ago). This volume includes the stories "Let There Be Light", "The Roads Must Roll", "The Man Who Sold the Moon", "Requiem ", "Life-line ", and "Blowups Happen".

All of these stories are set in what is now our recent past, but as they were written in the early 1950s a possible future as far as the author was concerned.

The stories themselves deal with topics such as power generation / renewable energy, the first spaceship to the moon, the dangers of nuclear energy, and mortality - quite a mix.

It is interesting to note that "Life-line" was the first story Robert A. Heinlein sold, and which was published in the August1939 edition of Astounding, which was then edited by John W. Campbell Jr. who is responsible for discovering many of what are now considered to be the classic science fiction authors.

"Double Star" by Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)

Publisher: Doubleday, Garden City, New York

Date: 1956

The novel Double Star is a classic Heinlein science-fiction story, that tells the tale of an out of a work actor who is hired rather clandestinely to impersonate a very famous and important  person.

In actuality the story is primarily about political events that surround and are a result of the expansion of the human race to the other planets. It deals with other touchy topics such as race relations, and racism as well.

Being written in the 1950s, readers of current science fiction will note many discrepancies with regard to life on Venus and Mars etc. but this is really what gives the story both it's background and its flavour. Back then we didn't know, but it was postulated that Mars and Venus could possibly be inhabited, as well as some of the other planets. After all American astronomer Percival Lowell was sure that there were canals on Mars (and published three books on it between 1895 and 1908), and Venus was so shrouded in clouds (and still is), we didn't know.

A very good read, that used to be considered juvenile science fiction, but now-a-days is simply a classic.

In the next few weeks I am going to concentrate on reviewing a number of the classic science fiction stories, that for some unknown reason a lot of people have never heard about.