There is a whole range of media here: we begin with university classes on science fiction writing, move onto movies and TV, planetariums, museums, 'The Science of X' books and finally games and the future of the approach. Some sections worked better than others. The movies and TV part was probably most enjoyable, while the planetariums parted seemed somewhat excessive, dedicating a whole chapter to a very niche means of doing science education.
One mixed section was 'The Science of X'. This dealt with the books that cover the science of a particular franchise. It all started with The Physics of Star Trek which spawned other titles like The Science of Dr Who, and got as far as The Science of Middle Earth. In itself this was interesting (though Determann spent way too long on Laurence Kraus, the Physics of Star Trek author, who was not one of the better science writing academics). It would have been useful to have had more of a look at the way that popular science makes use of references to science fiction to illustrate points, as this is a much more frequent example of science fiction being used in educational literature.
As a science writer and SF enthusiast I was really looking forward to this book, but came away with mixed feelings. There is sometimes way too much detail - particularly when looking at university classes, we really don't need to know so much of the ins and outs. But, oddly, this is combined with very few examples. For example, there's far too much Isaac Asimov - I've always been a fan, if his work does now feel largely dated, but he's mentioned so often his name ought to be in the title. It is of real interest to see how various media have been used. But I wanted Determann to deduce more - to give me more feeling for what really had an impact and what flopped, and crucially why this was the case.
The Science and Fiction series from publisher Springer, of which this is part, has seen one attempt at teaching science through SF in publishing books that are SF novels but then have a section on the real science that is behind the storyline. Some work reasonably well - for example Plato's Labyrinth - others, such as Murder on the Einstein Express really don't. Oddly given it's the same series, it's surprising these books weren't mentioned by Determann, as the novels and short stories published in this series provide a very specific attempt to do what is being covered here.
The wider Science and Fiction series has included some really interesting titles, such as Pseudoscience and Science Fiction. Throughout, though, Springer has demonstrated they don't know how to do books for the general public. Each chapter is treated as if it's a separate published paper, while the editing leaves a lot to be desired. One obvious point: Determann clearly intended his introduction not to be a first chapter. But Springer has made it chapter 1, so that when he refers to, say, chapter 4, it's actually chapter 5 in the book. Yet no editor seems to have spotted this. There are also rather too many little errors that should have been caught. For instance, we are told '1997 was thirty years after the release of the first Star Wars' - that would be twenty years.
Overall an interesting topic that could have been made more interesting by including more narrative and analysis, and fewer parades of facts on a limited sample of examples - but a useful addition to the series nonetheless.
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Review by Brian Clegg - See all Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly email free here
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