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ayavandenbussche's review
4.0
From its inception Doctor Who was intended as an educational show and have put educators, science teacher Ian Chesterton and history teacher Barbara Wright at its centre. However, while there was some science thrown in here and there, it often felt as if history was the main interest of Doctor Who creators and science was mostly neglected. With time it seems that the show moved away from science and more and more towards magic with problems from recent years’ stories solved by storytelling, singing, love and worst of all the power of motherhood. There are fans who would say “never apply logic to Doctor Who”. Writers Simon Guerrier and Dr Marek Kukula say no to that and in their collaboration, The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who they not only show that you can, but also show why it is “fantastic!”
Inspired by the four volumes of The Science of Discworld, by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, say the writers, the book is structured as a collection of short Doctor Who stories, featuring all twelve Doctors, slightly favouring the twelfth Doctor, by noted writers including Jenny T Coogan, Una McCormack, Justin Richards, James Goss and many others, intertwined with articles exploring scientific ideas in Doctor Who. It is divided into three parts, space, time and humanity and explores each part in depth and in an accessible and engaging way with examples from Doctor Who episodes throughout the years.
If there is a slight problem with the book it is that the fifth Doctor, who is in my opinion the most scientific of Doctors, gets only one story, The Constant Doctor by Andrew Smith, in which he is not but an observer, which is a shame because it is a good story and I think would have been made better with the help of the fifth Doctor.
Nevertheless, The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who is full of fascinating articles and fun stories, some, especially the second Doctor story by James Goss, The Room with all the Doors, are actually quite brilliant. While it is structured in a way that allows to skip either the science-y stuff of the fiction should you choose, skipping either would make this book redundant, the structure works well and flows, the combination of science and fiction is very satisfying.
Inspired by the four volumes of The Science of Discworld, by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, say the writers, the book is structured as a collection of short Doctor Who stories, featuring all twelve Doctors, slightly favouring the twelfth Doctor, by noted writers including Jenny T Coogan, Una McCormack, Justin Richards, James Goss and many others, intertwined with articles exploring scientific ideas in Doctor Who. It is divided into three parts, space, time and humanity and explores each part in depth and in an accessible and engaging way with examples from Doctor Who episodes throughout the years.
If there is a slight problem with the book it is that the fifth Doctor, who is in my opinion the most scientific of Doctors, gets only one story, The Constant Doctor by Andrew Smith, in which he is not but an observer, which is a shame because it is a good story and I think would have been made better with the help of the fifth Doctor.
Nevertheless, The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who is full of fascinating articles and fun stories, some, especially the second Doctor story by James Goss, The Room with all the Doors, are actually quite brilliant. While it is structured in a way that allows to skip either the science-y stuff of the fiction should you choose, skipping either would make this book redundant, the structure works well and flows, the combination of science and fiction is very satisfying.
reginacattus's review
3.0
Some pretty fun and interesting short stories in there (and always fun seeing what methods they use to hint at which Doctor they're writing about), but the science side wasn't really what I was expecting from the title. It does try to tie in with Doctor Who but I feel it simply has too broad a scope and it ended up rather disappointing me I'm afraid.
eatingfiction's review
4.0
I've been having a Doctor Who moment for the last couple months, with a lockdown-fuelled rewatch, and I've had this book on my shelf for years now, so the time finally came to read through it.
This book was a brilliant mix of fun Doctor Who stories followed by informative chapters explaining the real-world science behind those story concepts. I love learning about sciencey things, however I also do NOT have the intelligence to actually grasp most of it---but the way this uses Doctor Who, which is sciencey in the silliest of ways, as it's framework for teaching these things was perfect.
Lots of interesting facts now filed away in my brain. Most of the short stories were fun, some exceptional, some a bit dull. All round a very enjoyable read.
This book was a brilliant mix of fun Doctor Who stories followed by informative chapters explaining the real-world science behind those story concepts. I love learning about sciencey things, however I also do NOT have the intelligence to actually grasp most of it---but the way this uses Doctor Who, which is sciencey in the silliest of ways, as it's framework for teaching these things was perfect.
Lots of interesting facts now filed away in my brain. Most of the short stories were fun, some exceptional, some a bit dull. All round a very enjoyable read.
dmsullivan's review
4.0
This was really interesting! It mixed Doctor Who stories with the science behind the story and all of the Doctor Who episodes. For someone who isn't super science-savvy, this book gave a lot of interesting information without going over my head. The only reason this took so long to read was that I had taken a break from my kindle to read some physical books.
jwood112's review
4.0
This anthology of stories sprinkled with updated scientific theories was entertaining both for an engineer and a Whovian.
An enjoyable read.
An enjoyable read.
hannahsmanyhobbies's review
2.0
I thought when I bought this it was just going to be short stories :( I don't like science.Sorry wallet!
pinkstarpainter's review
5.0
Wifey got me this book for Christmas a few years ago. Just now read it. SO much magic (science, really). The stories are fantastic. The scientific explanations are accessible and good.