The Science of Sci-Fi by Erin Macdonald

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel by Erin Macdonald, The Great Courses

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

This collection of 10 lectures about science commonly found in science fiction is great for any fan of classic and current sci-fi media, especially movies, television shows, and video games.

Scientific concepts discussed include, but are not limited to:
– warp speed, interstellar travel, time travel, black holes, gravitational waves, solar sails, space and time dilations, and quantum physics.

Science fiction references include, but are not limited to, examples from:
– Interstellar, Star Trek: Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Discovery, X-Files, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Bioshock, and Portal.

Professor Erin Macdonald, astrophysicist and science communicator, is the speaker of this series of The Great Courses lectures. She does a good job of explaining scientific topics, both general and more complicated. Her joy at these interesting topics and sci-fi examples is a pleasure to listen to.

The only thing I didn’t like was that Macdonald kind of talks down to her audience in the first one or two lessons. She says, “Don’t worry, hang in there, I’m getting to the sci-fi part soon” multiple times, as though she’s addressing a bunch of idiots who can’t follow a 30min scientific discussion. Someone who listens to this should WANT to know about the science behind their favorite sci-fi franchises. Macdonald speaks mostly to people who spend more time at COMICCON than reading a book, which I found annoying, but oh well.

Overall, though, this was fun to listen to. Kind of like a long form podcast. Macdonald speaks well and carries audiences through her lectures. I was pleasantly surprised that more recently released examples, such as those from “Star Trek: Discovery”, were mentioned. I would recommend to all those interested. I would have personally enjoyed more science and less sci-fi discussion, but maybe that’s just me.

The Space Race by Colin Brake et al.

The Space Race by Colin Brake, Patrick Chapman, Richard Hollingham, Richard Kurti, Sue Nelson, Helen Quigley, and Andrew Mark Sewell

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

The Space Race is an audio documentary-drama series production of the era during which twelve American astronauts went to the moon (1969 – 1972), released in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first human moon landing. This includes narration of some historical facts, excerpts of command recordings or interviews from the time period, as well as speculative scenes acted out to try and give this production more flavor and originality.

This is fun to listen to, does not take too long, and I definitely recommend to lifelong fans of space exploration.

As advertised in the book description, this work “features conversations with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cernan, Sergei Krikalev, Tim Peake, and numerous key players at mission control. This Audible Original takes you behind the scenes to see how these exciting adventures in outer space came to be.” The strongest parts are when this work explains the history of the Space Race and includes sections of interviews with people who were really there, especially never-before-heard audio and inputs from important, yet underrepresented, figures.

The weakest parts of this audio production are when the content deviates from the facts of what really occurred during this crucial period in man’s history. The scenes within aircraft where actors portray conversations between astronauts etc., for which we have no official record of, are so fake and unbelievable. The writing and acting of these scenes are so bad. I just do not see what they bring to the table other than to just take up airtime and give Audible Originals copyright permissions for the “original content” of this documentary-drama piece.

All of the “drama” bits should have been cut, and this would have been much better served as a straight no-nonsense nonfiction discussion of history, science, and technology. As it has been released, I can only give this 4 stars. I expected better.

OVERALL:
This is a great listen for super space exploration fans, especially those excited for plans for new operations to the moon and Mars. I really liked the interviews with people who lived during the Space Race and were either astronauts themselves or worked on the ground crew team. Having real recordings from the COMS were also really powerful in explaining key moments of this important and inspiring history. However, I did not like the narrator’s voice and some of the reenactments were significantly overacted and therefore silly. I thought this would have been stronger if it stuck to what had actually happened, though the final chapter about possible futures was thought provoking. This is fun to listen to, but not the best product about the Space Race.

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Lady Astronaut Series #1: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

REVIEW: 3 / 5 stars

The Calculating Stars is the first in Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut Series, which is an alternative history science fiction narrative. In this version of the early 1950s, a giant meteorite crashes into the Atlantic Ocean which blows away most of the East Coast of the United States, including Washington, DC. The US Capitol is moved to Kansas City, Kansas, and scientists discover that the climate change greenhouse effect resulting from the meteorite strike will render the Earth difficult to support human life in a couple of decades, similar to the extinction event that wiped out most of the dinosaurs. This puts the space missions on an expedited timeline and more for the purpose of establishing manned mission and lunar colonies than beating the Soviets.

This is definitely a fun read for anyone who enjoys sci-fi, historical fiction, and stories either about or inspired by the Space Race. The main characters are women computers, lead engineers, literal rocket scientists, and astronauts working on these missions, so I enjoyed all of the discussions about developing technologies and solving problems.

The main protagonist Elma is a woman computer but also served as a WASP in World War II, so she is key to advancing female candidacy for the astronaut program. Hence, the “Lady Astronaut” series. There are some good moments of women being tough, intelligent, resilient badasses in this story, so I think those who enjoy strong female leads will like this. Those elements reminded me of Disney Marvel’s “Captain Marvel”, the Hidden Figures book and movie, and the movie “The Right Stuff”.

Growing up and learning about all the great space missions NASA and other space agencies have accomplished, I never fully realized how important the United States Air Force and test pilots are to the development of these programs. The Calculating Stars does a great job of highlighting the value woman computers and test pilots bring to space missions.

My favorite moments from this book are when the women computers are actively solving complicated equations, the astronauts are going through intense training, or when the test pilots are logging flight time on new planes. These action scenes are so satisfying and engaging. This world is cool! I wish there were MORE of these types of things, and maybe there will be a higher percentage of action scenes in other books in the series, but there aren’t a ton in here so some readers might find this book a bit boring at times.

I think the author does a good job of introducing us to Elma’s anxiety through her reactions to certain difficult situations. I appreciate Kowal demonstrating an anxiety disorder, which I don’t usually see in fiction, and I am really glad that Elma opens up about her condition and gets treatment. This representation is important. That being SAID, this side story does go on for a while and I think at times distracts from the primary narrative. Some of the middle chunk of the book could have been tightened up and focused a bit.

I loved all of the private moments between Elma and her husband Nathaniel, and all of the ways Nathaniel is a good spouse reminds me of my own husband. Nonetheless, their relationship is a bit too perfect to be believable. They both have highly stressful jobs and deal with difficult social issues. The book takes place over a couple years, and their marriage is ALWAYS perfect? Nathaniel seems like total fan service. I still loved listening to every sentence in which Nathaniel is mentioned, but it wasn’t really deep writing.

Overall, this is a fun read and I would recommend it to many. It isn’t perfect, and I’ll have to see where the second book goes before saying whether this is a good series or not. The voice is too modern and “woke” to be believable as alternative 1950s history, so I would categorize this more as a soft science fiction book. I trusted Kowal to get the science right, so I welcome a review by an engineer or Space Race historian to fact check her on the technology and equations utilized here.

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich

The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon by Todd Zwillich, Audible Originals

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

This 3.5 hour Audible Original production is about the NASA engineer John Houbolt, who was the earliest advocate for lunar orbital rendezvous. While he did not invent the concept, he was a champion for getting the idea considered by upper level NASA decision-making management personnel. Houbolt distributed memos, sent off frustrated letters, gave pitching proposal presentations, and was on a team that wrote a 100+ page report detailing how to pull off the engineering and funding for the strategy.

A lot of space exploration fans are aware of different missions and astronauts, and many are aware that JFK’s charismatic speech about getting an American man on the moon by the end of the decade came as a shock to the NASA community. While many were studying theories behind how to get men on the moon, accomplishing the feat within a specific time-frame (even with a large budget) was extremely challenging. This work is important because not everyone is aware of how we decided to get to the moon in the way that we did.

This audio performance is put together in a scientific journalism style with discussions from people who knew Houbolt (including his now 92 year old wife) and clips from Houbolt’s interviews with the news media. This is good at telling a story that kids aren’t really taught in school when learning about the space race. This focuses on the politics happening within NASA and the people skills needed that lead to deciding the strategy for getting USA astronauts on the moon.

Houbolt is a complicated hero. He was dogmatic, stubborn, and he stepped out of line because he believed in lunar orbital rendezvous so much. His proposal was really good and ended up being the strategy that we used to get to the moon. His story wouldn’t be as important if his proposal wasn’t approved, and he wouldn’t be celebrated at all if it hadn’t worked. Houbolt’s proposal is estimated to have saved the government billions of dollars in program costs, and every other plan on the table probably would have gotten us there later than when JFK wanted.

However, I wish that this had focused a bit more on the science. Also, during his years at NASA advocating for this before anyone listened to him, what else was he working on? And while he wasn’t the only one to write that 100+ page report on how to actually accomplish this idea, no one else on his team is mentioned. Did any lower level engineers he managed stay at NASA after he quit to help see his ideas through to completion?

This was really interesting and a great read for the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. I just wish it was a little tighter on the technical logistics of how stuff got done, and less about random human relation impressions.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History)

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

Neil deGrasse Tyson has a clear goal for this work and sticks to it, giving a wide overview of both important moments in astrophysics history and the up-and-coming hot topics in the field, all in under 4 hours.

However, because there is so much information, I would recommend listening while you are doing something physically mundane like cleaning or folding laundry–perhaps even wrapping Christmas presents–so that your mind can solely focus on what’s being said. If I missed a sentence or two, I felt a little lost and it took a while to get back on track.

Furthermore, Tyson is such a popular spokesman for astrophysics that much of what he says here can probably be found in his other works. Apart from the bits about the newest discoveries in the field, there’s not a lot that’s NEW about the content here. You can listen to StarTalk Radio for free on YouTube, watch “The Cosmos” on Netflix, and there are other Audible options by Tyson from The Great Courses that might have more astrophysics facts for less money.

On the plus side, I think this warrants listening to more than once. Perhaps I shall download and listen the next time I am on an airplane. If this is your first breach into learning about astrophysics, then it’s a great place to start. But if you’re already a Tyson fan, then you might already know a lot of what’s said here.

Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan

REVIEW: 3 / 5 stars

If you are a big astrophysics fan and want to learn more about Carl Sagan’s viewpoints on climate change, religion and our future in space exploration, then you would like this book. If you are such a big Sagan fan that you have already read Pale Blue Dot multiple times, then I think you will enjoy this narrated version of the book.

However, while some parts of this audio book really work, it really frustrated me that this was only narrated by the man himself in one or two chapters even though his narration is a big selling point for this. If most of the original recordings degraded over time so that his wife had to re-narrate 90% of it, then that disclaimer should be in the description of the audio book so buyers can make an informed decision.

….I understand why they got his wife to re-narrate his work, especially since the studio probably needed her permission in order to republish the old recordings anyway. But still, c’mon, her voice just sometimes puts people to sleep and they should at least TELL people who is the primary narrator!

On a personal level, I wish I could just cut out his personal opinions on religion. Religion is not dead, it is not going anywhere, and I think we need to work harder to incorporate science education into religious education instead of futilely trying to squash religion. “Study the stars because God created the stars” kind of thing, as opposed to “If you study the stars scientifically then you can’t believe in God.” I know a lot of people might not agree with me, but Sagan’s anti-religion really affects my perspective of him.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

REVIEW: 3 / 5 stars

I listened to this audio book because I wanted to know more about the Black Women Mathematicians’ contributions to the Space Race & the early days at NASA. As such, I was dismayed when the Space Race didn’t even become a factor in the story until at least three quarters of the way through the book!

There is an interesting chapter on the wind tunnel and how these women helped test different advancements in airplanes, but then there is also only one chapter on the contributions to the Space Race! I know the author was really interested in how these women found housing and how they balanced work & home life, but come on. I think she was just way too close to the source material and lost sight of what the story should have been about in order to make it interesting. These women dedicated most of their lives to their work, and I think they would agree that most of the discussion about their story should be the scientific papers they wrote.

Maybe she didn’t want to get too technical or maybe she didn’t understand the actual science these women were discovering, but she should have done more close reading of the science and trimmed the fat (the side anecdotes about volunteer work & charities) a bit.

Bottom line, I will not be recommending this to anyone. If you really want to learn a bit about these women, save your time and just watch the movie (a statement, as a personal bibliophile, I do not make lightly).

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History) and The Great Courses

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

This is one of the better Great Courses by Neil deGrasse Tyson that I have listened to thus far. Tyson addresses key aspects of astrophysics that either continue to baffle scientists (such as what’s on the other side of black holes) or that there are still lots more to learn (such as exoplanets in other galaxies). I think going in depth into specific issues or avenues of queries was really helpful in understanding each issue, more so than a general history of astrophysics might be able to, for instance.

My only criticism is that this talk was quite short for the price, so I would only recommend it to others if it goes on a <$10 sale or is given away for free to members or something. I wish this was more like 15 hours long. Either way, I enjoyed it, and might re-listen to it someday for fun.

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History)

REVIEW: 4 / 5 stars

Most space exploration initiatives and atmospheric technology has been funded by military departments and budgets. Most of the motivation behind putting monitoring devices and people into space has been driven by the desire to show military prowess. These two realities are the main points made by Tyson’s Accessory to War, but the book goes into tremendous detail as it explains the different discoveries and times during the development of the field of astrophysics.

Technology that we do not necessarily associate with astrophysics, such as the compass or the spyglass, have been extremely valuable to defense as well. Lenses that can be pointed up at the stars to learn more about them can also be put up into orbit to spy down on neighboring countries. Successful missions in space are tied to national pride in a fascinating way that other scientific endeavors are not.

This is such an interesting topic, and Tyson communicates it so well. Be aware if you listen to the Audible audio book, however, for Tyson himself only narrates the Prologue. I wish he had narrated the whole thing, but oh well, Vance does a pretty good job too.

I would recommend this to ANYONE interested in astrophysics, the military, the space race, international cooperation, space exploration, rockets, missiles, military spending, the department of defense, astronauts, and power competitions between nations. An excellent reference for this topic; one that can be revisited again and again.