Michael White

A teaspoon and an open mind

Science fiction suggests that the future will bring many new possibilities, from travelling throught the galaxy to extending our lives indefinintely, but it's hard to be sure which of these will remain fiction. In this book Michael White examines how some of these ideas might be achieved in practice. It has to be said that most of the book doesn't reflect the unique nature of the Dr Who programs, rather it is a look at science fictional ideas in general, which might irritate fans of the series. However it contains many interesting and entertaining ideas and can be recommended as a bit of light reading for anyone with an interest in what new possibilities await us in the future.

The book starts with that special ability of the Doctor, time travel. It goes on to consider whether there is life elsewhere in the universe and what it would look like. White also examines the possibilities for interstellar travel, both in starships and using teleportation. Moving away from the physical sciences, there are chapters on telepathy and a look at whether there have been advanced civilisations on Earth before us, such as Atlantis. The chapter on robots doesn't relate much to the Dr Who programs, but the final chapter does get back to on of the Doctor's characteristic abilities - regeneration.

Confusingly there is an unrelated Dr Who fan fiction archive with the same title as this book.

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Hardcover 192 pages
ISBN: 0713999055
Salesrank: 2787484
Weight:0.79 lbs

Published: 2005 ALLEN LANE (PENG)

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Amazon.co.uk info

Hardcover 192 pages
ISBN: 0713999055
Salesrank: 443347
Weight:0.79 lbs

Published: 2005 Allen Lane

Amazon price £9.99

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Amazon.ca info

Hardcover 192 pages
ISBN: 0713999055
Salesrank: 1123501
Weight:0.79 lbs

Published: 2005 Allen Lane

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I'd like to know what Romana thinks of this *
Unfortunately (for I like the title) this book hasn't got much to do with Doctor Who and doesn't explain science very well. I think the problem is that it's simply much too short to talk about any of its topics in great depth, and so the author often just tells us things without explaining why they are so, or how scientists came to think this or that. Then again, when he does explain something, I often feel talked down to, as when he says: "Now, you might wonder, if the consequences of relativity are true facts, then why don't we experience them every day of our lives?" Because we're incredibly slow compared to the speed of light, I thought, so they're incredibly small and we don't notice them. Two rhetorical questions later (in one of which he appeared to confuse mass and weight) he finally says just that. As for Doctor Who, it's just the hook for the scientific topics: 'Doctor Who is about time travel, so let me tell you all I know about time travel. There are aliens in Doctor Who, so let me tell you all I know about aliens.' Apart from putting the time travel chapter first, it could have been called The Science of Star Trek without changing much of the content; especially when, at the beginning of the chapter on interstellar travel, he admits that this doesn't play a big role in Doctor Who, but adds that it does in other scifi series, films and books, so he's going to talk about it anyway. When he does mention Doctor Who, he makes mistakes that are to the fan what confusing weight and mass is to the physicist: "... the malevolent aliens ... who regularly clash with Doctor Who and many other science-fiction heroes" (... but the name is italicised anyway just to be confusing.) He claims that Tom Baker was one of his two favourite Doctors, and that "'Time Ladies' are never mentioned in Doctor Who." I wish to return my copy of City of Death on the grounds that it must be some sort of complex illusion and doesn't really exist. It's only in the epilogue (8 pages) that he finally goes into some Who-specific things - but even there he quickly gets from chameleon circuits to stealth vessels, after having dismissed transdimensionality as almost certainly impossible, in one short paragraph, without explaining why. In short, I was disappointed both as a fan of Doctor Who and as someone interested in what the author calls "pretty far-out physics".

I'd like to know what Romana thinks of this *

Unfortunately (for I like the title) this book hasn't got much to do with Doctor Who and doesn't explain science very well.
I think the problem is that it's simply much too short to talk about any of its topics in great depth, and so the author often just tells us things without explaining why they are so, or how scientists came to think this or that. Then again, when he does explain something, I often feel talked down to, as when he says: "Now, you might wonder, if the consequences of relativity are true facts, then why don't we experience them every day of our lives?" Because we're incredibly slow compared to the speed of light, I thought, so they're incredibly small and we don't notice them. Two rhetorical questions later (in one of which he appeared to confuse mass and weight) he finally says just that.
As for Doctor Who, it's just the hook for the scientific topics: 'Doctor Who is about time travel, so let me tell you all I know about time travel. There are aliens in Doctor Who, so let me tell you all I know about aliens.' Apart from putting the time travel chapter first, it could have been called The Science of Star Trek without changing much of the content; especially when, at the beginning of the chapter on interstellar travel, he admits that this doesn't play a big role in Doctor Who, but adds that it does in other scifi series, films and books, so he's going to talk about it anyway. When he does mention Doctor Who, he makes mistakes that are to the fan what confusing weight and mass is to the physicist: "... the malevolent aliens ... who regularly clash with Doctor Who and many other science-fiction heroes" (... but the name is italicised anyway just to be confusing.) He claims that Tom Baker was one of his two favourite Doctors, and that "'Time Ladies' are never mentioned in Doctor Who." I wish to return my copy of City of Death on the grounds that it must be some sort of complex illusion and doesn't really exist.
It's only in the epilogue (8 pages) that he finally goes into some Who-specific things - but even there he quickly gets from chameleon circuits to stealth vessels, after having dismissed transdimensionality as almost certainly impossible, in one short paragraph, without explaining why.
In short, I was disappointed both as a fan of Doctor Who and as someone interested in what the author calls "pretty far-out physics".

an interesting book thats simple ****
i received this book as a Christmas present and was amazed at how easy it was to just pick up and read. the book itself is a decent size and has lots of information and is packed with interesting facts that is a plus compared to any other type of book the book itself is loosely based around some of the concepts in the television show doctor who which is alright and does not take away from the reading experience i would recommend this book for readers aged 12 and up seeing as they do have some rather difficult words inside it plus some of the scientific pieces can be confusing

an interesting book thats simple ****

i received this book as a Christmas present and was amazed at how easy it was to just pick up and read. the book itself is a decent size and has lots of information and is packed with interesting facts that is a plus compared to any other type of book

the book itself is loosely based around some of the concepts in the television show doctor who which is alright and does not take away from the reading experience

i would recommend this book for readers aged 12 and up seeing as they do have some rather difficult words inside it plus some of the scientific pieces can be confusing

A thought provoking book ****
Michael White has simply taken some of his previous research from superscience and the x-files and combined them in this book and incorporated new scientific research. His descriptions of gene and nano technology, robotics and cloning were the clearest explanations thus far of these very controversial subjects.

A thought provoking book ****

Michael White has simply taken some of his previous research from superscience and the x-files and combined them in this book and incorporated new scientific research. His descriptions of gene and nano technology, robotics and cloning were the clearest explanations thus far of these very controversial subjects.

I'd have given it zero stars if I could *
Oh dear. I hope that sufficient people will pick this up in the bookshop, spot the spelling mistake on the first page (what Dr Who tie-in can't even spell Jon Pertwee right?) and put it straight back on the shelf. This is a really shameless attempt to capitalise on the current success of the series and it is hard to avoid the impression that Michael White knows nothing at all about Dr Who - and why should he, he's a jobbing writer just trying to earn an honest buck. But if his research into science is as shoddy as his research into Dr Who then I wouldn't trust anything in this book. To be fair I only spotted two errors to do with the TV series, but as there were only around two facts this was a disappointing hit rate. For the record, the other error was to do with the naming of the first ever episode - obviously something that there is a lot of controversy about - which Mike clears up by assuring us that it was simply called 'Episode One'! Oh dear, oh dear. And the only other basis on which Mike accounts for his writing of this book is that...he used to live near Tom Baker and would occasionally bump into him down the shops. Please don't buy this book.

I'd have given it zero stars if I could *

Oh dear. I hope that sufficient people will pick this up in the bookshop, spot the spelling mistake on the first page (what Dr Who tie-in can't even spell Jon Pertwee right?) and put it straight back on the shelf. This is a really shameless attempt to capitalise on the current success of the series and it is hard to avoid the impression that Michael White knows nothing at all about Dr Who - and why should he, he's a jobbing writer just trying to earn an honest buck. But if his research into science is as shoddy as his research into Dr Who then I wouldn't trust anything in this book. To be fair I only spotted two errors to do with the TV series, but as there were only around two facts this was a disappointing hit rate. For the record, the other error was to do with the naming of the first ever episode - obviously something that there is a lot of controversy about - which Mike clears up by assuring us that it was simply called 'Episode One'! Oh dear, oh dear. And the only other basis on which Mike accounts for his writing of this book is that...he used to live near Tom Baker and would occasionally bump into him down the shops. Please don't buy this book.