Weird Science

[syzygy_dw]

Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku.

The cover of this book caught my eye today. Look at the little TARDIS, flying in and out of that wormhole! 

I love books that try to explain the science behind sci-fi, and this one explores whether or not it will ever be possible to have phasers, force fields, teleportation and time travel. I flipped through it for a while, and it looks like a really interesting read. But the cover is kind of misleading. Nowhere in index is there any mention of Doctor Who or the TARDIS! There is a whole section on time travel, citing Back to the Future, Star Trek, The Time Machine by HG Wells, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, but not word one about a police box that's bigger on the inside. 

I feel a little cheated! I wanted to see how Kaku would address the TARDIS and the way Doctor Who handles time travel. Why would they put the TARDIS on the cover of a book that doesn't mention it?*

*I know: to sell books to geeks like me, but come on, not even one mention?

Comments

[nonelvis]

The art department and editorial must not have been talking to each other. Frankly, the cover isn't all that great anyway -- the type is kind of clunky, and the rest of it has that "OH HAI I KNOWS HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP LAYERS" look to it. My guess is someone in the design department is a DW fan, and no one from editorial bothered to vet the final cover other than to say it looked moderately scientific and was therefore okay to go to press.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

Well, Who references or not, I am now extremely tempted to go trolling my usual used bookstore-type haunts for this one! Looks very interesting.

[syzygy-lj.livejournal.com]

It does look interesting-- I flipped through it quite extensively and think I'd like to read it when I have the time.

I have The Science of Doctor Who, and I've really enjoyed that one. Of course, I can't read it for more than 10 minutes at a time, because it make my brain asplode.