The Science of Science Fiction, by Matthew Brenden Wood

The Science of Science Fiction, by Matthew Brenden Wood, from Nomad Press' Inquire and Investigate series (Feb. 2017) is a really fascinating and well-done look at the science that lies behind science fiction stories, and in front of us in the real world.  It covers six main topics--cloning, robotics, living on Mars, alien, faster than light travel, and time travel. 

The real life science of each topic makes up the bulk of the book, and I found it very interesting, even though I was familiar with some of the material. It was good, clear explanation and description of some pretty complicated concepts.   Lots of little side bar note, pictures, and QR codes dot the pages, adding to the material presented (although I could not check out the QR codes because I have not embraced today's technology*). Basically the sci fi tie-in is fun lead into actually science, and it's done very well--explaining without patronizing.

The part of the book that makes it really stand out, though, are the experiments.  I am not a hands on person myself, but I find myself strangely tempted to do some of them myself; there's one about putting a bar of chocolate in the microwave to measure the speed of light, for instance, which looks really cool (and the chocolate is not horribly harmed, and can be eaten afterwards).

So if you have a STEM loving kid around, or a twelve year old who read the Martian, and liked the first part of it lots, give them this book!  It's also good for classroom use; there are, for instance, thought-provoking questions to pose for discussion and writing prompts, which would work better in the classroom than swinging a bucket of water around your head to gain familiarity with centrifugal force, or the lack thereof....

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

*I had to ask my kid what those little boxes are called. He says everyone with a phone (except me) is able to use them, so perhaps my feeling that including this tech. reliant part of the book excludes kids who don't have all the resources is misplaced....