Beyond Star Trek

Lawrence M. Krauss, a theoretical physicist, returns to the subject of his earlier book, The Physics of Star Trek, which measured the Star Trek universe against the real one. This follow-up was written in response to readers who wanted more, and it draws on recent developments in physics and astronomy.

Krauss does not confine himself to a single franchise. He uses physics to test ideas that popular culture has taken from science, pulling examples from Star Trek, other films and television series, and popular folklore, including Independence Day, Star Wars and The X-Files.

The book asks a series of pointed questions: how a flying saucer differs from a flying pretzel, why the invaders in Independence Day never needed to conquer Earth in order to destroy it, what is new in the study of warp drives, which doomsday scenario is most likely, whether ESP and telekinesis are impossible, what clairvoyance and time travel have in common, and how quantum mechanics might ultimately shape the fate of life in the universe.