Rate this book

The Science Of Interstellar (2014)

by Kip S. Thorne(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0393351378 (ISBN13: 9780393351378)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: Blinded by The Science of InterstellarAfter seeing Interstellar, I was interested to know how realistic some of the scenarios in the film were. For example, why did the black hole ("Gargantua") look as it did in the film? Or, could someone survive travel through a wormhole? Or, why would planets orbiting a black hole be a good option for colonization? This book goes into excruciating detail about those scenarios. The author, Kip Thorne, was a scientific advisor on the film, and consulted Christopher Nolan and his brother on the science behind the story. The explanations are deep but short, and so I gave this book a favorable rating. But at the end of reading this book, I couldn't help thinking that all the scientific realism that Thorne tried so hard to convey was not real... morely necessary in what I felt was more of a human story. In science fiction, just give me something realistic enough to advance the plot; it doesn't have to be spot-on, and more realism may actually make things more confusing. For example, I may not know or care about the scientific details about gravitational waves, but I can relate to a man who wants to communicate with his daughter using them.To me, the best instance of this in the book was when Thorne explained that to achieve the desired deceleration close to Miller's planet, Cooper should slingshot the Ranger around a small black hole. Christopher Nolan changed this to a neutron star in the film, since more than one black hole would be confusing to the audience. From anecdotes like this, I gained a greater respect for Christopher Nolan as a director (although I already admired his work).In closing, this book is a great explanation of the scientific realism that may or may not have been necessary in the film. It would make a great foundation for a college physics course or a MOOC.
review 2: This book is not a very good book of science, although it might be a decent work of merchandising We should not forget that Kip Thorne is one of the executive producers of the film, and he is very interested in the economic success of Interstellar.Thorne continuously praises Interstellar and its scientific accuracy in spite of being one of the worst science fiction films ever made, and probably, the most pretentious. Nonetheless, there are some very good chapters in the book. The chapters where Thorne describes Gargantua and the wormhole are really worth the effort. The rest are a mixture of wild speculation and trying to find some scientific basis of some ridiculous events that are showed in the film such as the frozen clouds or the colossal waves in shallow waters in Miller's planet.There are too much: 'In my extrapolation of Interstellar' or 'In my interpretation of Interstellar'. Sometimes, it seems that Thorne saw a completely different film because of his 'interpretations'. For example, he even describes events that don’t appears in the film, such as the manipulation of the gravitational constant G around the Earth to help the exodus spacecraft to take off.Interstellar will not be remembered as a great science fiction film. It is plenty of plot holes and its scientific accuracy leaves much to be desired. I would have prefered that Thorne has been much more critical with the science depicted in the film. It would be a much more interesting book. less

Download links for: The Science of Interstellar

Advertising