The Science of Doctor Who

There are quite a number of books explaining the scientific basis of science fiction books and TV programmes. The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons is one of the best of this type of books which I have come across. Parsons not only is aware of plenty of current science, he is also clearly a fan of the series he is writing about. Hence he is able to find plenty of links between what happens in the program and research that is going on in world of scientific research, without it seeming artificial. The book is ideal as a little light reading, and you may learn some new science along the way as a bonus.

One part of the book examines the aliens featuring in the series - the Daleks, Cybermen and so on. Another looks at the various gadgets which appear. The book also explains how the Tardis might work. It seems a shell of negative mass matter next to an equal and opposite shell of positive matter might achieve a lot - travel in time and space as well as dimensional transcendentalism. Not something we're likely to have soon, but I liked the fact that the book took a positive approach to such questions, rather than highlighting the difficulties.