The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss

Trekkers and Trekkies know that Star Trek is a wonderful series. It changed the way television was viewed forever, and many people who were fans in the 60's, when the series first appeared, are the scientists of today, pushing towards a future that they have dreamed about when they were young.

But what is right in Star Trek, and what is wrong? Are any of those wonderful creations of the series possible in reality? Is there really life on other planets, and is something like Warp Drive going to get us there? How do wormholes work and what are they? How does the transporter work and is it possible that we could do something like that?

Each of these questions is explored with real physics to provide answers. In some cases, Krauss shows us that the Star Trek writers and story creators were ahead of their time... and in some cases, just plain wrong. Warp Drive, for instance, is wrong in the way it is explained to work, but if you take the name, and assume the ship is actually Warping space both in front of and behind it to push it along... well, that, at least, is possible, and would allow faster than light travel. The problem is, we don't know exactly how to accomplish this.

Krauss writes the book with the playful spirit of a true Trekkie and shows us the things gotten right and wrong by the show. His chapter on people out of phase with the dimension we are in points out the humorous nature of his book, that while their hands will pass through other people when they are out of phase, so should their butts when they attempt to sit in a chair, or when they attempt to walk or stand on the deck. If their bodies are out of phase, it should work on their *whole* bodies. Butts and feet are no less in or out of phase than hands!

The book ends with a single chapter on ten things that Star Trek got very wrong, and one thing it got very right, Each is a fascinating look into a world of physics that most people who aren't physicists or Astronomers rarely think about, and does it through the medium of Star Trek, allowing us to understand what he's talking about in concepts that are at least semi-real. Any Trek fan should read this book to learn what's right and wrong in the books and movies we love so much, and which has done so much to bring science to the popular consciousness.