Mark Brake had an interesting idea - explore how science in science fiction stories, movies and television influenced actual science and also culture. The major problem for this title lies in the broad scope of what he wanted to accomplish versus the execution. He divides the book into four parts (Space, Time, Machine, and Monster). Each part then has several short chapters that focus on a particular idea laid out in the chapter title. A couple of examples - "2001: A Space Odyssey: Is There Evidence of Guided Evolution in Human History" and "Is George Orwell's 1984 Becoming a Reality?" Each chapter begins with a series of quotes related to the topic and the a brief essay. Unfortunately, the author does not provide documentation to various claims or provide a list of sources for the reader to investigate further on these topics. Overall, a good idea with a flawed follow-through.

The Science of Science Fiction
The Influence of Film and Fiction on the Science and Culture of Our Times
by Mark Brake

I didn't get to finish the book before my copy timed out but it seemed pretty promising / interesting.

Did you know that man dreamt up space travel before we invented the car? Or that certain things that science fiction creators have influenced real life scientists to discover new realms of science, based off their made up worlds. The Science of Science Fiction attempts to explain how science fiction has often influenced real-life science.

It is broken up into 4 different sections: Space, Time, Machine and Monster.

In Space, Brake discusses all sorts of things from extraterrestrials and making a real life Jurassic Park to why wars in space are wrong and space tourism.

In Time, we look into if time travel will ever be possible (at all the time paradox’s that accompany this discussion), what seven objects sum up science fiction and how science fiction sees the end of the world.

In Machine, will robots replace humans and will we live like Ready Player One are some of the topics discussed here.

And in Monster, genetic engineering is the main focus, with a dash of mutations thrown in.

Whilst I throughly enjoyed seeing how science and science fiction both influence each other, at times it felt like Brake was just showing off his knowledge of science fiction.

A different way to look at science, science fiction, and culture.

There are a lot of excellent books on the science of science fiction (and fantasy) such as “The Physics of the Buffyverse” by Jennifer Ouellette and “The Physics of Superheroes” by James Kakalios, which explain the science behind the stories. This book is different, in that it looks at how science and science fiction have influenced each other and how the science fiction of the past is the science of today. Mark Brake put together an interesting collection of stories about science, science fiction, and culture that was fun to read. There was even considerable history of SF. I recommend it for anyone who likes to read science fiction.

Interestingly shelved by me as literary, nonfiction and sf, at the same time, this book looks at the history, progress and present of science fiction, affecting science in our civilisations. And perhaps at its future. We can't be sure. Things change.

From ancients who looked at the moon and made up stories, to 2001 A Space Odyssey, and various stops in between, we get a lot of namechecks and some revisiting of tales. They are somewhat jumbled, though, apparently random titles of books and films on a particular topic, not necessarily in date order. I am also a bit peeved that every four or five page chapter has one or two pages of quotes at the start. Many of these quotes are from Stanley Kubrick or Joss Whedon.

No mention that I saw of Arthur C Clarke's inventing telecommunication satellites in geosychronous orbits. For that the book loses a star.

In the chapter headed Jacking In, about The Matrix or Ready Player One immersion in an alternate reality, we start with several quotes from Ready Player One (in which the hero does not jack in). No quote from Neuromancer, which invented the term, and no description of what is physically involved in that book; it was namechecked in an earlier section on cyberpunk. This leads me to suspect that the author hasn't read Neuromancer. Nor Snow Crash.

Proofreaders, please correct the spelling of the woefully underused Ursula K Le Guin. Apart from herself and Mary Shelley, I just plain didn't see many women authors. Anne McCaffrey had genetically modified the native fire lizards of Pern into fire-breathing dragons to aid human partners as telepathic fighters; no mention. Nor is she in the section on cyborgs and bionics; The Ship Who Sang gave a person born with severe disability the chance to live in control of a spacecraft, published in short stories 1961 - 1969 and as a book in 1969. While we are not there yet, space travel gave us telemetrics, and the late Prof Stephen Hawking controlled far more from his wheelchair than people did in 1969. JK Rowling gets a glance with one quote about long life and her magic flying car.

The author has assembled a lot of material on various SF and philosophical topics including alternate reality, time travel, the world's end, space travel. He sounds enthusiastic and leans more on philosophy than action. No Warlords of Mars, more about The War of the Worlds reflecting the barbarity of colonisation. SF fans will be interested; but then, they'll have read the books and seen the films. So I am not sure at whom this work is aimed. Maybe at a new generation turning away from the internet for a moment to discover how we got to here.

The book is crying out for an index, and there may be one in the final version. Lacking this in my ARC, I was unable to count easily how many women's names featured. I counted the quotes instead: 40 chapters, each prefaced by three to five quotes from anyone from HG Wells to Carl Sagan to Tim Goodman to Robert Oppenheimer to Kiera Knightley. Five women were quoted.

I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

The tone of this book is revealed early when the author describes his childhood fascination with what he considers science and science fiction. He wants a drink to give him superpowers, and his friend convinces him that he has one.

Now everyone (yes, including me) has believe foolish things at times without thinking them through, what's significant is this is the author's starting point. I would have expected tales of building crystal radios and reading classic science fiction, sending up rockets, learning chemistry, observing nature; and of using observation and theory to come to deeper understanding of speculative fiction.

Instead, this book discusses almost all popular comic book and space opera stories, rarely anything without pictures; the kind of thing that many people call "science fiction." I happen to like comic books and well-made space operas, but I never confuse them with serious science fiction.

The problem with trying to explain the science behind, say, Spiderman or Guardians of the Galaxy, is there is no consistent fictional phenomena to explain. The writers of these entertainments made stuff up as they go along for the convenience of the plot, not within a coherent or even possible context.

Despite this problem, a competent scientist could extract some entertaining lessons from comic books and comic book movies. However, this author is not a scientists. He bases his explanations on popular science writing only a level or two above the comic book. Those explanations are often entertaining, if seldom enlightening, but the summaries in this book are stilted and boring.

If you are looking for interesting science or speculation inspired by real science fiction, look elsewhere. If you want your comic books explained to you by someone who reads Gizmodo but lacks its flair, be my guest.

A fast-paced and interesting read, although it is more an introduction than a book going deep into details. If you’re looking for an entrance door into this kind of topic (= how movies, series, and science fiction in general relate to science, either by bouncing from discoveries or by even coming first), it will be great. If this isn’t your first book about this, if you’ve already dived deeper into the exact science behind fiction ideas and concepts, you’ll probably feel that it’s too light. It’s not meant to teach you science through SF, if you get my drift.

The book is divided into short chapters, each exploring a specific theme and relating it to works of science fiction, like human cloning, cyborgs, aliens, and so on. It is a gold mine for movies you may want to see or more books to read (I’ve definitely noted down a few names!), and it introduces the science in those in a very easy way: you don’t need to be a scientist to approach these, and whether you want to then research them on your own or leave it at that, it’ll be fine.

The questions it raises are also valid, and here, too, they easily give pointers as to what topic one may want to research more afterwards, such as whether the singularity is going to spell our doom, or what our lives and psyches would be like if we could upload ourselves into new “meat bags” when the previous one dies.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars. Not the deeply science-oriented book I thought it’d be at first, and nevertheless interesting and pleasant in other ways.

This was an absolutely fascinating book! Sci-fi is my second favorite genre and while I haven't read many of the books or watched many of the movies and TV shows that this book talked about, I still thoroughly enjoyed it (and have since put a hold on '2001: A Space Odyssey' at my library). The author dives into the sci-fi genre and the effect it's had on history, religion, politics and, of course, science in supremely readable short chapters. Highly recommended to all fans of the genre.

Thank you NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for this ARC.

"The Science of Science Fiction is the story of how science fiction shaped our world. No longer a subculture, science fiction has moved into the mainstream with the advent of the information age it helped realize.
This book will open your eyes to the way science fiction helped us dream of things to come, forced us to explore the nature and limits of our own reality, and aided us in building the future we now inhabit."

I think this is mostly why I felt a bit let down by the content. From the description I thought this would be about the progression of science through the influence of science fiction. It does have some of that in there, but a large portion felt disorganized and off topic.

I expected he would be bringing his professional training as a science professor and his passion for science fiction into a wonderful mashup love story of how the two mediums connect and influence each other.
Maybe my own expectations hindered me in that respect.
I think it was too vast a topic and may have been better served in a segmented series of smaller books by era.
There were a lot of interesting tidbits to be had in this book and I would still recommend it, I would just be advising them beforehand what the actual content is so they have the right mindset going in.

Fun fact:
Sections of 2001: A Space Odyssey were used in training NASA astronauts.

This was a brilliantly interesting book, highly readable and educational without being preachy or dry. There are different sections that break down monsters, time, space, and machines. The author demonstrates how science and science fiction are intertwined with many references to pop culture.
Overall, this is a fascinating, enjoyable fun read that I can't wait to buy and read again!

Mark Brake’s “The Science of Science Fiction” is a book chockful of thoughts and ideas. Many of the author’s chapter titles are in the form of questions, to which he responds with ideas based upon books and movies.

While the discussions are interesting, this book feels more like the start of a journey rather than a series of destinations. Just as each thought teetered on the edge of deep thinking, the chapter would end and I would be pulled onward, willing or not, into a different network of ideas.

Not that there is anything wrong with this. Mr. Brake approaches the subject from an intelligent viewpoint, and backs up his points with references to the aforementioned books and movies. I liked the splitting of this book into four parts: Space, Time, Machine, and Monster. This worked well in separating four major topics and then breaking down each into manageable bites. I also enjoyed the multiple quotes that introduced each chapter, related thoughts that opened the doors to a new discussion.

Bottom line: This is an inventive book, filled with rational and at times humorous thinking. Recommended to sci-fi fans and to those who simply have a curiosity about the subject. The short chapters, while limiting deeper analysis, allow the book’s pacing to flow easily (in other words, if one chapter isn’t your cup of tea, don’t worry, it will end soon). Satisfying, illuminating, and fun. Four stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy of the book for review.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was able to read it in a short period of time without getting bored. In fact as a Science Fiction novice I quite enjoyed the introduction to a number of vintage works of the genre which the author used to showcase the symbiotic relationship between science and science fiction and how this relationship has molded our perception of the world around us!

The book is divided into 4 sections, with each section divided into essays detailing a particular concept. Quotations, from famous works of science fiction (literature & movies), preceding each essay section are a fun and interactive technique for which the author must be commended.

Space discusses our fascination with the existence of extra-terrestrial life and how the knowledge of our own biology and social morals effects our perception of any such species.

Time deals with the subject as the fourth dimension of our world and how this concept has shaped countless ideologies in the science fiction genre as well as what it means for our evolution as a species.

Machine discusses the technological advancements mankind has made under the influence of both fictitious thinking and progressive science and how these leaps of information are shaping our social and political climates.

Monster deals with the ethics concerning genetic manipulation and the reality of developing procedures such as cloning, how it could alter the morality of our race and may result in our own extinction.

The only let down for me was that the science fiction titles suggested were based largely off Western or even solely American works which was disappointingly limiting.

However if you're looking for a brief, in depth non-fiction analysis based off the impact of science fiction on human lives through what is largely regarded as pop culture these days, I'd suggest picking this book up!

Les livres mélangeant science réelle et science-fiction ne manquent pas. Que ce soit la série des « Georges et… » de Stephen et Lucy Hawking ou la future collection Parallaxe de Le Belial’ expliquant scientifiquement des concepts utilisés par la science-fiction, ils racontent souvent comment tel ou tel aspect de la science-fiction est ou n’est pas possible en l’état actuel de la science. Avec The Science of Science-fiction, Mark Brake fait l’exercice inverse. Il regarde comment la science elle-même a nourri la science-fiction et comment celle-ci inspire en retour les scientifiques. Plus qu’un livre de science, The Science of Science-Fiction est un livre d’histoire explorant la façon dont fonctionne l’imaginaire humain et un livre de prospective sur l’évolution de nos sociétés, tant au point de vue technologique qu’au point de vue politique et comportemental. Le tout étant découpé en quatre grandes thématiques : l’espace, le temps, la machine et les monstres (les superhéros Marvel et DC étant classés dans cette catégorie). Écrit très récemment, et peut être parfois un peu trop vite, The Science of Science-Fiction a quelques chapitres au contenu assez léger comme Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: Why Are Wars in Space so Wrong? Ou Dr. Strangelove: From Reagan’s Star Wars to Trump’s Space Force. Mais le plus souvent, il reste très intéressant et truffé d’informations. Saviez-vous que Johannes Kepler en plus d’être un astronome avait écrit un proto-livre de science-fiction ? Ou quelle était la relation entre Charles Darwin et Aldous Huxley, l’auteur du Meilleur des mondes ? Non seulement The Science of Science-Fiction se lit aussi facilement qu’un bon roman, mais en plus il risque de vous donner envie de vous replonger dans de nombreux livres, comics, anime ou films de science-fiction.

In "The Science of Science Fiction", Mark Brake explores how science fiction has driven science and ultimately shaped the world we live in, and how it may possibly shape the future. The book is formatted into numerous short chapters that attempt to answer questions suggested by a variety of science fiction novels and movies, in terms of current scientific knowledge. This makes it a great book for dipping in and out or when you only have short periods to squash a reading session into.

The book is separated into 4 categories: Space; Time; Machine; and Monster. Topics covered in the book include various astrobiology questions involving aliens, parallel worlds, time travel, life in the universe, wormholes, quantum physics, space exploration, colonising Mars and the Moon, space travel, space tourism, cybernetics, flying cars, cyberspace, robots and artificial intelligence, the internet, state surveillence as described in 1984 by George Orwell, genetic engineering, superpowers (X-men, spiderman), supersoldiers, cloning, androids, and a whole lot more.

I found this an entertaining and well-written book, but rather superficial in terms of the science covered. I really would have liked more science, but then this is a book exploring how science fiction influenced science and not a science book. However, the book did provide several interesting factoids such as "[Johannes] Kepler, who also wrote science fiction, used the power of imagination to conjure spaceships over 350 years before men landed on the Moon." Who knew that the 17th century mathematician and astonomer also wrote science fiction?

NOTE: This book refers heavily to science fiction novels and movies, so those not interested at all in science fiction might feel a bit lost. But it is a great introduction to other science-fiction novels/movies and how science fiction encourages scientific research and our modern world.

NOTE: I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion of the book.