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A review by ayavandenbussche
The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who by Marek Kukula, Simon Guerrier
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.