Trope-Ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction

"Edward M. Lerner has produced the best-ever guide to putting thescience in science fiction, and he's done it with clarity, wit, andpanache." --Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Quantum NightThe essential resource for anyone who reads, writes, watches, or studies science fiction.Men have walked on the Moon. Siri and Alexa manage -- at least often enough to be helpful -- to make sense of the things we say. Biologists havedecoded DNA, and doctors have begun to tailor treatments to suit ourindividual genetic make-ups. In short: science and tech happen.But faster-than-light travel? Time travel? Telepathy? A six million dollar-- as adjusted, of course, for inflation -- man? Starfaring aliens?Super-intelligent computers? Those, surely, are mere fodder forstorytelling. Or wild extrapolations. Just so many "sci fi" tropes.Sometimes, yes. But not necessarily.In Trope-ing the Light Fantastic, physicist, computer engineer, science popularizer, and award-winningscience-fiction author Edward M. Lerner entertainingly examines theseand many other SF tropes. The science behind the fiction.Eachchapter, along with its eminently accessible scientific discussion,surveys science fiction -- foundational and modern, in short and longwritten form, on TV and the big screen -- that illustrates a particulartrope. The good, the bad, and occasionally the cringe-worthy. Allimparted with wit (and ample references to learn more).So forget what the Wizard of Oz advised. Let's pull back the curtain...."I am entertained and enlightened." --Larry Niven, author of Ringworld"This is a book which covers a huge number of topics well and provides greatscientific and science fictional stimulation." --Dave Truesdale, Tangent Online"A great source book for SF writers." --Bud Sparhawk, author of Distant Seas