The Science of Stephen King: From Carrie to Cell, The Terrifying Truth Behind the Horror Masters Fiction - Hardcover

Gresh, Lois H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620456575 ISBN 13: 9781620456576

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 2007

Synopsis

Advance Praise

""What a treasure house is this book! Robots, space aliens, Einstein, black holes, time travel--these themes, and much more, from Stephen King's amazing books are opened up like toy chests. It's tremendous fun, entirely educational, and a great tribute to King.""
--Peter Straub

""A fun, fun read.""
--F. Paul Wilson

""The Science of Stephen King appeals to both the scientist and the longtimereader of Stephen King in me. Gresh and Weinberg use concepts from King's fiction as launching pads for in-depth explorations of concepts as diverse as ESP, pyrokinesis, time travel, artificial intelligence, quantum chemistry, alternate realities, string theory, and the possibility that we'll be visited by aliens or that we'll face a global pandemic. Much of what Stephen King writes about in his novels is closer to reality than you might think.""
--Bev Vincent, Ph.D., author of The Road to the Dark Tower

""A superb overview of King's use of scientific concepts in his stories. And considering all the scary talk lately about pandemic flu, their chapter on The Stand is timely as hell.""
--Stephen Spignesi, author of The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia

""Just as Sagan and Asimov popularized science to the masses by making itentertaining and informative, so too do Gresh and Weinberg.Compulsively readable and thought-provoking.""
--George Beahm, author of The Stephen King Companion

About this title

About the Author

Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg have written numerous books together, including The Science of Superheroes, The Science of Supervillains, and The Science of James Bond.

From Publishers Weekly

Human characters, not science, are the heart of King's fiction, but Gresh and Weinberg (The Science of James Bond) use these tales as a jumping-off point in their latest pop-sci tie-in. In Carrie, Firestarter and The Dead Zone, mayhem arises from the use of psychic abilities, so the authors explore not only the history of such powers in fiction, but also human consciousness and modern neuroscience. The killer vehicles of King's story Trucks are compared to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, rounded out with a short discussion of artificial intelligence. Dreamcatcher and The Tommyknockers lead to a look at the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere, from flying-saucer paranoia to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Discussion of The Stand includes a look at fictional and real plagues, while the parallel worlds and alternate histories at the heart of The Dark Tower bring up theoretical physics from relativity to wormholes. The truths revealed are hardly terrifying, but the book is an excellent introduction to both popular science and science fiction themes. (Sept.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1620456575
• ISBN 13: 9781620456576
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276