Reading Between the Lines: The science of science-fiction

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How To Clone The Perfect Blonde isn't your average popular science book. Rather than simply discussing some key scientific concepts, it creates an interesting premise and runs with it.

Written by BBC science journalists Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham, the book uses its presentation format of scientifically dissecting topics that are sci-fi staples (and this book, being a British publication, with some nice, snarky wit) to its advantage. Aside from the eponymous idea of cloning your own perfect blonde, the book also covers building robotic servants, time travel, teleportation and even bravely dips into advanced prosthetics and bioaugmentation, examining the newly emerging real-life version of cyberpunk culture, all while staying scientific despite a nearcomplete avoidance of over-thetop science jargon.

Most popular-science books are generally targeted towards a nonprofessional audience that still has an interest in science, and with that comes an inaccessibility for those not particularly well-versed in most matters of science. How to Clone the Perfect Blonde, on the contrary, serves as the perfect springboard for the audience that's new to science outside of the highschool lab without dumbing down and compromising any scientific validity and information. The book presents each sci-fi topic in its own chapter, diving into a history of the conception of the topic in its fictional as well as real-life form, and along the way presenting some easy-to-understand Bob-and-Alice examples (not to mention making some handy pop-culture references for the sake of explanation). The reader will also find a lot of interesting real-life science stories, such as the double-slit light experiments conducted by 19th-century British genius Thomas Young, or how the 1936 Berlin Olympics will be one of the first human transmissions potentially picked up by alien life-forms, having been the first TV-broadcasted sports event (and its signal being sent into space as a result).

So who can get the most from reading How to Clone the Perfect Blonde? Outside of the general science- interested audience, sciencefiction nerds are sure to benefit the most. Aside from catching the interest of someone who wants to know the science of teleportation, the book gleefully spends its time discussing the real-life application and consequences of technology by comparing their equivalent in science-fiction works like Star Trek and Blade Runner, allowing any nerd to gain deeper understanding of the concepts presented. How to Clone the Perfect Blonde is science for the science-fiction nerd.

But don't mistake How to Clone the Perfect Blonde for some hackneyed science-fiction-cum-popsci book. Non-fiction readers will find more than plenty of well-explained hard science to learn. This book is a lot of fun to read and will easily pique your interests with its broad spectrum of science topics. You will be kept occupied for a while.

Reading Between The Lines explores books that you may have missed out on that are worth your while. If you have a book to suggest, email Eshaan at e_gupta@fanshaweonline.ca.