Science and Fiction
audiobook
(7)
The Protos Mandate
A Scientific Novel
by Nick Kanas
read by Alex Boyles
Part of the Science and Fiction series
In the twenty-fifth century, the effects of overpopulation and global warming on Earth have led to the formation of human colonies on the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system, yet the limited number of viable places forces humanity to look to the stars. A crash program has been developed to send Protos 1, a giant multigenerational starship, to a newly discovered Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. The plan is for awake crewmembers to run the ship and for people in suspended animation to be roused before planet fall to use their skills in exploration and colony formation.
To fulfill the goals of the mission and ensure that the in-flight population does not deplete the limited resources, the Protos Mandate is set up to govern a tightly controlled social system for the duration of the journey, which will take several generations. But problems threaten to sabotage the mission during its launch and transit and what finally awaits the crewmembers shocks them in an unpredictable way. This novel chronicles the trials and tribulations of this epic first interstellar mission.
audiobook
(6)
The Unedited
A Novel about Genome and Identity
by Pernille Rørth
read by Kirby Heyborne
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This novel is set in the near future, where human genome editing has become routine. First adopted to fight a lethal virus, it is now widely used to prevent diseases and favor other traits. Ben, Eiko, Celia, Raphael, and Leo have just had their coming-of-age genome reading and are struggling with this new information for each their own reasons. Soon, they are cast into the middle of a crisis that threatens the future of their society and pits it against a parallel, but strictly separated, society where genome manipulation is forbidden on religious grounds.
The book includes an essay on the potential of human genome engineering and related genome-based choices.
audiobook
(6)
The Dark Arrow of Time
by Massimo Villata
read by Lloyd James
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This riveting scientific novel combines adventure, love, suspense, magic, pathos, and mystery in a carefully woven plot that is full of unexpected twists and turns. The author is an astrophysicist who has developed an alternative theory, which holds that traveling in time is possible. Time is, in fact, the real protagonist of the novel and of the intrigue surrounding the attempt to seize the secret of Time's other arrow, the dark arrow normally hidden from us, which points back at our past. The underlying premise is that antimatter is nothing more than common matter moving backwards in time. The justification for this interpretation has been with us for some time, "hiding in plain sight" within Maxwell's equations, the Lorentz transformations, the CPT theorem of relativistic quantum mechanics, and Feynman diagrams. While the science underlying the narrative is explained whenever necessary, sometimes with the aid of simple mathematical formulas, these scientific asides account for only a small part of the book, which will appeal to a wide audience, including listeners who are far from being science buffs.
audiobook
(4)
Incident on Simpac III
by Doug Brugge
read by Alex Boyles
Part of the Science and Fiction series
A few hundred years into the future, a wave of space colonization follows a disastrous earlier attempt to inhabit nearby extrasolar planets. It is guided by a new computational method based on massive data-driven socio-cultural and socio-epidemiological modeling and using novel biological computers, fed with data on Earth's history of successes and failures.
Yet, in the newly settled Simpac system, some unexpected and worrying anomalies begin cropping up, making an urgent expedition to the system necessary: is it the underlying data, the computations, or is some unknown entity tampering with the space colonization program? A race against time ensues as the lives of four strangers begin to converge.
While grounded in the social systems aspect, the author posits that the future is likely to be characterized by more biology-based tools than most contemporary science fiction - which most often relies entirely on non-biological hardware in terms of advanced technologies - predicts. The result is an entertaining and skillful blend of thriller and SF, complemented by a nontechnical appendix describing the underlying science.
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(8)
Lords of the Ice Moons
A Scientific Novel
by Michael Carroll
read by Esther Wane
Part of the Science and Fiction series
What happens when something becomes someone?
In the aftermath of an asteroid impact, Earth's power grid is damaged nearly beyond recovery. The survival of our world may well depend on energy sources collected from an abandoned undersea settlement beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Earth-raised Colonel Carter Rhodes, in charge of Earth's recovery efforts, calls upon Gwen Baré, a Venusian engineer, to regain control of the deserted moon outpost and collect fuel for Earth's collapsing power grids.
However, what Gwen discovers churning in Enceladus's subsurface waters brings her and Colonel Rhodes's straightforward plans to a crashing halt. Soon, Gwen finds herself in the middle of an interplanetary standoff. Win, and give the last humans on Earth a chance to survive. Lose, and risk the permanent dismantling of human society across the Solar System. Forced to take sides in this war for power, resources, and species survival, Gwen must make choices that not only affect her own life, but also force her to question what "life" itself might really mean.
Will the promise of Enceladus energy be enough to salvage what is left of Earth's society?
Are these humans worthy of salvation?
audiobook
(8)
Alien Encounter
A Scientific Novel
by Dirk Schulze-Makuch
read by Eddie Lopez
Part of the Science and Fiction series
It has been nearly one hundred years since the Apollo moon landings, when Jack and Vladimir, two astronauts on a mission to Venus, discover a mysterious void related to indigenous life on the planet. Subsequently more voids are detected on Earth, Mars, Titan, and, quite ominously, inside a planetoid emerging from the Kuiper belt.
Jack is sent to investigate the voids in the Solar System and intercept the planetoid - which, as becomes increasingly clear, is inhabited by alien life forms. Jack and his crew will have little time to understand their alien biochemistry, abilities, behavior patterns, resilience, and technology, but also how these life forms relate to the voids.
Humankind's first encounter with these exotic life forms couldn't be more fateful, becoming a race against time to save life on Earth and to reveal the true nature of the voids, which seem to be intrinsically related to life and the universe itself. In this novel, the author combines many topics related to state-of-the-art research in the field of astrobiology with fictional elements to produce a thrilling audiobook.
audiobook
(4)
Mission Invisible
A Novel about the Science of Light
by Ulf Leonhardt
read by Ralph Lister
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Invisibility has fascinated people since time immemorial, but only a decade ago did invisibility become a serious subject of scientific investigation. This lively novel, authored by an expert in the field, takes the listener on a journey to fascinating places and-en passant-on an intellectual adventure involving some of the most fascinating subjects of optics.
While enjoying the fun and action of a travel story, the listener will gain an accurate notion of the real science of invisibility, of the light and shade of the business of science, as well as glimpses into different cultures. From the first page, you will gradually become immersed in a different world, the world of the science of light. The book includes an appendix providing interested listeners with deeper insights into the fundamental physics of space-time, gravity, and light.
audiobook
(7)
Fake Physics
Spoofs, Hoaxes, and Fictitious Science
by Dr. Andrew May
read by Tim Gerard Reynolds
Part of the Science and Fiction series
People are used to seeing "fake physics" in science fiction-concepts like faster-than-light travel, antigravity, and time travel, to name a few. The fiction label ought to be a giveaway, but some SF writers-especially those with a background in professional science-are so adept at "technobabble" that it can be difficult to work out what is fake and what is real. To confuse matters further, Isaac Asimov's 1948 piece about the fictitious time-traveling substance thiotimoline was written, not as a short story, but in the form of a spoof research paper.
The boundaries between fact and fiction can also be blurred by physicists themselves-sometimes unintentionally, sometimes with tongue-in-cheek, sometimes to satirize perceived weaknesses in research practices. Examples range from hoaxes aimed at exposing poor editorial standards in academic publications, through "thought experiments" that sound like the plot of a sci-fi movie to April Fools' jokes. Even the latter may carry a serious message, whether about the sociology of science or poking fun at legitimate but far-out scientific hypotheses.
This entertaining book is a joyous romp exploring the whole spectrum of fake physics-from science to fiction and back again.
audiobook
(4)
The Caloris Network
A Scientific Novel
by Nick Kanas
read by Steven Crossley, Kate Mulligan
Part of the Science and Fiction series
The year is 2130. The first-ever expedition is sent to Mercury to search for the cause of an unknown source of electromagnetic radiation that can destroy spaceships passing by the planet. Thought to be inhospitable and lifeless, the surface of Mercury provides startling surprises for the crew that endanger their lives and challenge their established notions of what it means to be a sentient being. And some of the crew members have their own separate agendas. The scientific appendix introduces listeners to the wondrous world of Mercury and how it has been portrayed in literary fiction up to the present time. The author then uses scientific literature to present a concept of life that is not based on carbon chemistry or the need for water. There is also a discussion of consciousness based on electromagnetic wave theory.
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(3)
The New Martians
A Scientific Novel
by Nick Kanas
read by Brent Hinkley
Part of the Science and Fiction series
The year is 2035, and the crew from the first expedition to Mars is returning to Earth. The crewmembers are anxious to get home, and ennui pervades the ship. The mood is broken by a series of mysterious events that jeopardize their safety. Someone or something is threatening the crew. Is it an alien being? A psychotic crewmember? A malfunctioning computer? The truth raises questions about the crewmembers' fate and that of the human race.
In this novel, the intent is to show real psychological issues that could affect a crew returning from a long-duration mission to Mars. The storyline presents a mystery that keeps the listener guessing, yet the issues at stake are based on the findings from the author's research and other space-related work over the past forty-plus years. The novel touches on actual plans being discussed for such an expedition as well as notions involving the search for Martian life and panspermia. The underlying science, in particular the psychological, psychiatric, and interpersonal elements, are introduced and discussed by the author.
audiobook
(4)
Hollyweird Science: The Next Generation
From Spaceships to Microchips
by Kevin R. Grazier
read by John Lescault
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Informative, entertaining, and upbeat, this audiobook continues Grazier's and Cass's exploration of how technology, science, and scientists are portrayed in Hollywood productions. Both big and small-screen productions are featured and their science content illuminated - first by the authors and subsequently by a range of experts from science and the film world. Starring roles in this volume are played by, among other things, computers (human and mechanical), artificial intelligences, robots, and spacecraft. Interviews with writers, producers, and directors of acclaimed science-themed films stand side by side with the perspectives of scientists, science fiction authors, and science advisors. The result is a stimulating and informative listening experience for the layperson and professional scientist or engineer alike.
The audiobook begins with a foreword by Zack Stentz, who cowrote X-Men: First Class and Thor and was a writer/producer on CW's The Flash.
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(8)
A Man From Planet Earth
A Scientific Novel
by Giancarlo Genta
read by Steven Crossley, Eddie Lopez
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Sometime in the not-too-distant future... unbeknownst to Earth, the Galaxy is home to a number of spacefaring societies. This confederation enforces a strict protocol forbidding any contact with civilizations that have not yet achieved both a substantial spacefaring capability and sufficient maturity to control the technology explosion before triggering their own extinction.
While this policy is intended to only bring in peaceful new members, matters change entirely when the confederation is threatened by some unknown entity - is the menace real or imagined? The confederation decides to break with the rules and sends a delegate to Earth to hire one of the supposedly belligerent Earthlings to investigate and to revive the confederation's long-unused Starfleet. The Earthman agrees, but demands a high price: should he succeed, the confederation will have to accept Earth as a new member. As the threat becomes ever more acute, the question soon becomes which mission will prove harder saving the confederation or convincing it to accept the deal!
The extensive appendix, written in nontechnical language, reviews the scientific and technological topics underlying the plot - ranging from the Fermi Paradox, space travel, and artificial/collective intelligence to theories on possible universal convergences in technological and biological development.
"Next Stop Mars is one of the best books of its type I have seen, in discussing problems, opportunities, and alternatives for the first human Mars mission."
audiobook
(4)
Pseudoscience and Science Fiction
by Dr. Andrew May
read by Steven Crossley
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Aliens, flying saucers, ESP, the Bermuda Triangle, antigravity... are we talking about science fiction or pseudoscience? Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference.
Both pseudoscience and science fiction (SF) are creative endeavors that have little in common with academic science, beyond the superficial trappings of jargon and subject matter. The most obvious difference between the two is that pseudoscience is presented as fact, not fiction. Yet like SF, and unlike real science, pseudoscience is driven by a desire to please an audience-in this case, people who "want to believe." This has led to significant cross-fertilization between the two disciplines. SF authors often draw on "real" pseudoscientific theories to add verisimilitude to their stories, while on other occasions pseudoscience takes its cue from SF-the symbiotic relationship between ufology and Hollywood being a prime example of this.
This engagingly written and well researched audiobook explores a wide range of intriguing similarities and differences between pseudoscience and the fictional science found in SF.
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(10)
The Hunt for FOXP5
A Genomic Mystery Novel
by Wallace Kaufman
read by Nancy Wu
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Genetics professor Michelle Murphy loses her husband under mysterious circumstances and without warning, while their brilliant eight-year-old daughter Avalon, adopted in Kazakhstan, stubbornly believes she is a mutant.
As if this were not enough, she soon finds herself thrown into the middle of a quickly thickening plot, where the legacy of Genghis Khan meets the hunt for FOXP5, a genetic transcription factor that could herald the dawn of new human species.
Initially caught helplessly between well-meaning fellow scientists, the government, and more sinister agents, Michelle, with the help of a host of unlikely heroes, eventually takes control and finds the courage to confront the decision of whether to save human lives or humanity.
The scientific and technical aspects underlying the plot - in particular aspects of FOX proteins, genetic mutations, viruses, and cancer, as well as the relation between intelligence and cortical complexity - are introduced and discussed by the authors in an extensive nontechnical appendix.
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(17)
Science Fiction and the Moral Imagination
Visions, Minds, Ethics
by Russell Blackford
read by John Lescault
Part of the Science and Fiction series
In this highly original audiobook, Russell Blackford discusses the intersection of science fiction and humanity's moral imagination. With the rise of science and technology in the nineteenth century, and our continually improving understanding of the cosmos, writers and thinkers soon began to imagine futures greatly different from the present. Science fiction was born out of the realization that future technoscientific advances could dramatically change the world.
Along with the developments described in modern science fiction - space societies, conscious machines, and upgraded human bodies, to name but a few - come a new set of ethical challenges and new forms of ethics. Blackford identifies these issues and their reflection in science fiction. This fascinating audiobook will appeal to anyone with an interest in philosophy or science fiction, or in how they interact.
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(9)
Consciousness and Science Fiction
by Damien Broderick
read by Raphael Corkhill
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Science fiction explores the wonderful, baffling, and wildly entertaining aspects of a universe unimaginably old and vast, and with a future even more immense. It reaches into that endless cosmos with the tools of rational investigation and storytelling. At the core of both science and science fiction is the engaged human mind-a consciousness that sees and feels and thinks and loves. But what is this mind, this aware and self-aware consciousness that seems unlike anything else we experience? What makes consciousness the hard problem of philosophy, still unsolved after millennia of probing? This audiobook looks into the heart of this mystery-at the science and philosophy of consciousness and at many inspiring fictional examples-and finds strange, challenging answers.
This audiobook's content and entertaining style will appeal equally to science fiction enthusiasts and scholars, including cognitive and neuroscientists, as well as philosophers of mind. It is a refreshing romp through the science and science fiction of consciousness.
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(1)
All the Wonder That Would Be
Exploring Past Notions of the Future
by Stephen Webb
read by Alex Boyles
Part of the Science and Fiction series
It has been argued that science fiction (SF) gives a kind of weather forecast-not the telling of a fortune but rather the rough feeling of what the future might be like. The intention in this audiobook is to consider some of these bygone forecasts made by SF and to use this as a prism through which to view current developments in science and technology.
In each of the ten main chapters-dealing in turn with antigravity, space travel, aliens, time travel, the nature of reality, invisibility, robots, means of transportation, augmentation of the human body, and, last but not least, mad scientists-common assumptions once made by the SF community about how the future would turn out are compared with our modern understanding of various scientific phenomena and, in some cases, with the industrial scaling of computational and technological breakthroughs.
A further intention is to explain how the predictions and expectations of SF were rooted in the scientific orthodoxy of their day, and use this to explore how our scientific understanding of various topics has developed over time, as well as to demonstrate how the ideas popularized in SF subsequently influenced working scientists.
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(8)
Exploring Science through Science Fiction
by Barry B. Luokkala
read by Keith Sellon-Wright
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This audiobook uses science fiction film as a vehicle for exploring science concepts. Over one hundred references to science fiction films and television episodes are included, spanning more than one hundred years of cinematic history. Includes numerical examples and solutions.
How does Einstein's description of space and time compare with Doctor Who? Can James Bond really escape from an armor-plated railroad car by cutting through the floor with a laser concealed in a wristwatch? What would it take to create a fully intelligent android, such as Star Trek's Commander Data?
Exploring Science Through Science Fiction addresses these and other intriguing questions, using science fiction as a springboard for discussing fundamental science concepts and cutting-edge science research. It includes references to original research papers, landmark scientific publications and technical documents, as well as a broad range of science literature at a more popular level.
The revised second edition includes expanded discussions on topics such as gravitational waves and black holes, machine learning and quantum computing, gene editing, and more. In all, the second edition now features over 220 references to specific scenes in more than 160 sci-fi movies and TV episodes, spanning over one hundred years of cinematic history. Designed as the primary text for a college-level course, this audiobook will appeal to students across the fine arts, humanities, and hard sciences, as well as any reader with an interest in science and science fiction.
audiobook
(3)
Time Machine Tales
The Science Fiction Adventures and Philosophical Puzzles of Time Travel
by Paul J. Nahin
read by John Lescault
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This audiobook contains a broad overview of time travel in science fiction, along with a detailed examination of the philosophical implications of time travel. The emphasis of this book is now on the philosophical and on science fiction, rather than on physics, as in the author's earlier books on the subject. In that spirit there are, for example, no tech notes filled with algebra, integrals, and differential equations, as there are in the first and second editions of Time Machines.
Writing about time travel is, today, a respectable business. It hasn't always been so. After all, time travel, prima facie, appears to violate a fundamental law of nature, every effect has a cause, with the cause occurring before the effect. Time travel to the past, however, seems to allow, indeed to demand, backwards causation, with an effect (the time traveler emerging into the past as he exits from his time machine) occurring before its cause (the time traveler pushing the start button on his machine's control panel to start his trip backward through time).
Time Machine Tales includes new discussions of the advances by physicists and philosophers that have appeared since the publication of Time Machines in 1999, examples of which are the chapters on time travel paradoxes. Those chapters have been brought up to date with the latest philosophical thinking on the paradoxes.
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(2)
The Return of Vaman
A Scientific Novel
by Jayant V. Narlikar
read by Neil Shah
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This collection of science fiction writings by Jayant V. Narlikar offers readers a unique glimpse into the world-famous Indian astrophysicist's vivid and highly imaginative concepts and stories.
The witty short story "The Rare Idol of Ganesha" cleverly explores the possible consequences of a mirror-symmetric individual in the context of cricket test match performances. The fast-paced, gripping science fiction thriller The Return of Vaman explores what happens when an alien container is unearthed by a crew of scientists. The enormous potential technological applications of its contents bring various criminal elements on the scene - but when the real danger becomes apparent it is almost too late to save humanity.
Last but not least, the audiobook provides readers with extensive insights into the genesis and scientific background of the fictional material presented in this volume, along with an autobiographical account of the author's lifelong interest in science fiction and his contributions to the genre.
audiobook
(11)
Holy Sci-Fi!
Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect
by Paul J. Nahin
read by Traber Burns
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Can a computer have a soul? Are religion and science mutually exclusive? Is there really such a thing as free will? If you could time travel to visit Jesus, would you (and should you)? For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists, and science fiction writers have pondered these questions and many more.
In Holy Sci-Fi!, popular writer Paul J. Nahin explores the fertile and sometimes uneasy relationship between science fiction and religion. With a scope spanning the history of religion, philosophy, and literature, Nahin follows religious themes in science fiction from Feynman to Foucault and from Asimov to Aristotle.
An intriguing journey through popular and well-loved books and stories, Holy Sci-Fi! shows how sci-fi has informed humanity's attitudes towards our faiths, our future, and ourselves.
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(12)
If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens … Where Is Everybody?
Seventy-Five Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life
by Stephen Webb
read by Dan Woren
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the fourteen-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials?
audiobook
(1)
On the Shores of Titan's Farthest Sea
A Scientific Novel
by Michael Carroll
read by Lauren Ezzo
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Titan is practically a planet in its own right, with a diameter similar to that of Mercury, methane rainstorms, organic soot, and ethane seas. All of the most detailed knowledge on the moon's geology, volcanology, meteorology, marine sciences, and chemistry are gathered together here to paint a factually accurate hypothetical future of early human colonization on this strange world.
The views from Titan's Mayda outpost are spectacular, but all is not well at the moon's remote science base. On the shore of a methane sea beneath glowering skies, atmospherics researcher Abigail Marco finds herself in the middle of murder, piracy, and colleagues who seem to be seeing sea monsters and dead people from the past. On the Shores of Titan's Farthest Sea provides thrills, excitement, and mystery - couched in the latest science - on one of the Solar System's most bizarre worlds, Saturn's huge moon Titan.
audiobook
(4)
Rockets and Ray Guns
The Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War
by Dr. Andrew May
read by Grover Gardner
Part of the Science and Fiction series
The Cold War saw scientists in East and West racing to create amazing new technologies, the like of which the world had never seen. Yet not everyone was taken by surprise. From super-powerful atomic weapons to rockets and space travel, readers of science fiction (SF) had seen it all before.
Sometimes reality lived up to the SF vision, at other times it didn't. The hydrogen bomb was as terrifyingly destructive as anything in fiction, while real-world lasers didn't come close to the promise of the classic SF ray gun. Nevertheless, when the scientific Cold War culminated in the Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s, it was so science-fictional in its aspirations that the media dubbed it "Star Wars."
This entertaining account, offering a plethora of little known facts and insights from previously classified military projects, shows how the real-world science of the Cold War followed in the footsteps of SF-and how the two together changed our perception of both science and scientists, paving the way for the world we live in today.
audiobook
(4)
Saint Joan of New York
A Novel about God and String Theory
by Mark Alpert
read by Jesse Vilinsky
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Saint Joan of New York is a novel about a math prodigy who becomes obsessed with discovering the Theory of Everything.
Joan Cooper is a seventeen-year-old genius who was traumatized by the death of her older sister and who tries to rebuild her shattered world by studying string theory and the efforts to unify the laws of physics. But as she tackles the complex equations, she falls prey to disturbing visions of a divine being who wants to help her unveil the universe's mathematical design. Joan must enter the battle between science and religion, fighting for her sanity and a new understanding of the cosmos.
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(7)
The Moon Hoax?
Conspiracy Theories on Trial
by Thomas Eversberg
read by Alex Boyles
Part of the Science and Fiction series
This audiobook is about the American moon landings-and about the doubts expressed ever since concerning the reality of these landings. Were the images of men on the moon really just a huge and cleverly executed hoax?
He addresses both the persistent older claims and more recently devised doubts.
The audiobook will inform and entertain a wide range of readers interested in space exploration and tells a gripping story covering physics, politics, and history.
audiobook
(0)
Particle Panic!
How Popular Media and Popularized Science Feed Public Fears of Particle Accelerator Experiments
by Kristine Larsen
read by Jennifer Jill Araya
Part of the Science and Fiction series
From novels and short stories to television and film, popular media has made a cottage industry of predicting that the end of the world will be caused by particle accelerators. Rather than allay such fears, public pronouncements by particle scientists themselves often unwittingly fan the flames of hysteria.
This audiobook surveys media depictions of particle accelerator physics and the perceived dangers these experiments pose. In addition, it describes the role of scientists in propagating such fears and misconceptions, offering as a conclusion way in which the scientific community could successfully allay such misplaced fears through more effective communication strategies.
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Hollyweird Science: From Quantum Quirks to the Multiverse
by Kevin R. Grazier
read by John Lescault
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Lighthearted, quirky, and upbeat, this audiobook explores the portrayal of science and technology on both the big and little screen-and how Hollywood is actually doing a better job of getting it right than ever before. Grounded in the real-word, and often cutting-edge, science and technology that inspires fictional science, the authors survey Hollywood depictions of topics such as quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and alien worlds. Including material from interviews with over two dozen writers, producers, and directors of acclaimed science-themed productions-as well as scientists, science fiction authors, and science advisors-Hollyweird Science examines screen science fiction from the sometimes-conflicting vantage points of storytellers, researchers, and viewers.
Including a foreword by Eureka cocreator and executive producer Jaime Paglia, and an afterword by astronomer and science fiction author Michael Brotherton, PhD, this audiobook is accessible to all listeners from the layperson to the armchair expert to the professional scientist, and will delight all of them equally.
"Hollyweird Science is an entertaining read for those who enjoy science fiction media and want to know more about the reality behind the cinematic magic."
audiobook
(4)
A Code for Carolyn
A Genomic Thriller
by V. Anne Smith
read by Lucy Rayner
Part of the Science and Fiction series
Carolyn's parents did not, after all, make genomics history by synthesizing her genome in a lab. She has known she is the "Human Hoax" ever since a high school genetics exercise revealed she has trisomy X—a chromosomal abnormality—yet no synthetically constructed genome would have such clear traces of natural conception. Many years later, as a molecular biologist, Carolyn hopes her colleagues never learn of her embarrassing origins. But when someone ransacks her office and lab, she finds professional embarrassment is the least of her worries. Someone believes she has the results of her parents' last, secret experiments, and is willing to kill to get them. But all she has from her parents are their genes—can she find what else they may have left her before somebody else does?
In a not-so-distant society, where corporations wield as much power as nations and the line between corporate employee and state authority is blurred, the chase is on. Carolyn may have just too little time at hand to unravel the mystery of her parents' final days and to realize the deep consequences for the future of mankind.
This fast-paced novel is followed by an extensive science chapter where the author provides a nontechnical primer on modern genetics and on the speculative biology behind Carolyn's code.
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The Hunter
by Giancarlo Genta
read by Andrew Fallaize
Part of the Science and Fiction series
The twenty-fourth century: humankind has become a spacefaring civilization, colonizing the solar system and beyond. While no alien forms of life have yet been encountered in this expansion into space, colonists suddenly encounter machines of alien origin - huge robots able to reproduce themselves. Called replicators by the colonists, they seem to have but a single goal: to destroy all organic life they come in contact with.
Since the colonial governments have no means to fight this menace directly, they instead promise huge rewards to whoever destroys a replicator. As a result, the frontier attracts a new kind of adventurer, the Hunters, who work to find and destroy the replicators. Mike Edwards, a skilled young maintenance technician and robotics expert at a faraway outpost, will not only become one of them - but be the very first one to unlock the secret behind the replicators' origin and mission.
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