Really good ( )

Really good ( )

There are two primary audiences for this work. The first is anybody interested in understanding a wide variety of scientific topics. Though not as thorough and wide ranging as Isaac Asimov's science guides, Sheffield writes with the same clarity and and his own style of wit. Even somebody who regularly reads popular science magazines may find some new insight here.

Sheffield delves into the origins of life, subnuclear and quantum physics, possible mechanisms for space travel, physical descriptions of the solar system, superconductivity, viruses and prions, and a lot more including a whole section on "scientific heresies".

The second audience are those interested in writing science fiction, specifically the sort of hard science fiction Sheffield wrote. To suggest story ideas, Sheffield explores some of the borders of modern science where conventional theory gives way to speculation. Along the way, he points out some common traps to avoid when handling topics like near lightspeed travel and suggests specific fiction titles as examples of how a concept has been dealt with. He does not offer any advice on the literary aspects of science fiction or in marketing it. His sole interest is in helping you get your real science right and make your imaginary science plausible.

While the book doesn't have a whole lot about the thought processes of scientists, Sheffield does cover the historical and contemporary objections to some scientific theories, the prejudices that sometimes blind good scientists, and some of the amazing minds that have roamed across several disciplines.

Admirers of Sheffield's fiction will also probably like the asides about its scientific inspiration.

My only objection to the book is that I wish some sections would have had more detail.

The book includes a useful bibliography of fact and fiction titles for further research and an index. ( )

This is a very casually written guide to scientific issues as they related to telling fictional stories -- a guide to what's real and what's possible in a variety of scientific fields as viewed from the prism of a 1999 Speculative Fiction writer's perspective. This book is written for the lay reader -- scientific terms and theories are made easily understandable, and for the science fiction fans in the audience, Sheffield brings up numerous examples of how genre authors have effectively made use of real science in their stories. Topics covered in this book include: Physics, Relativity, Cosmology, Biology, Space Flight, Computers, Robots, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Chaos Theory, Future Warfare, and a wonderful grab-bag chapter about quirky scientific topics that don't fit comfortably anywhere else. I recommend this book particularly to science fiction fans, but anyone with an interest in cutting-edge scientific theories and studies should appreciate it as well. ( )

Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/chapters/0671319531/0671319531.htm