Science, History, and Fiction in Everyday Life
Post number five in the exoplanet series, covering this time the important aspect of size. (In case you are interested to other variables examined so far, here they are: habitability, age, distance, temperature). After that in April 2014 a Earth-size planet…
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The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman is a military science fiction novel, telling the story of William Mandella, a soldier of the United Nations Exploratory Force that fights an interstellar war against the alien Taurans. Widely believed to be…
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I have been an avid manga reader (and anime fan) since childhood, and what I loved the most was to pick my hero and follow him (her) during the story. Or a villain, that sometimes is far more charming than any…
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Steel Beach (1993) by John Varley, is a sci-fi novel where humans now live on the Moon after an alien invasion. Steel Beach, this is the name of the colony, is a sort of utopian, free-love society run by a…
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That SF has anticipated and/or even come out in first instance with some of the most creative ideas now seriously considered for scientific research is nothing new. Just think about the Ringworld concept, or hypersleep (with or without cryogenic components). Or the amazing Dyson sphere, which is one…
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Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell is a novel that needs no introduction. Difficult to imagine a dark, dystopian book that had a stronger impact on our culture, or that got right in a surprising way many aspects of our…
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Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven, is the first of a series of stories – including prequels and sequels – set in a version of the universe called the Known Space. It features as backdrop an artificial structure of 600 million miles in…
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The Player of Games (1988) by Iain M. Banks is a SF novel belonging to the Culture series. It features the most skilful and celebrate player in the Culture society, Jernau Morat Gurgeh, who travels from his world to a far-away…
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Astrophysics has to make sense, especially in a SF book. When designing your fictional worlds you need to make sure things can survive on their own, short of creating an alternate physical universe – and I won’t even start imagining how difficult…
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Helliconia Summer (1983) by Brian W. Aldiss is the second instalment of the Helliconia Trilogy, set on the Earth-like Helliconia. The planet, orbiting a binary star, experiences seasons that last eons. This is the the rise and fall of a…
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