Readers know that today’s science fiction often becomes tomorrow’s science fact. But how does “Star Trek” stack up against the real universe? As readers explore the concepts, they will discover what science the creators of the series got right . . . and not so right . . . in the “Star Trek” future. Written by a theoretical physicist, readers will find much to ponder in the discussion of physics as it is known today and the suggestions of what it might one day become.

For fans of the series as well as for those with an interest in physics, this is a voyage filled with fascination.

Recommended.

I was interested in reading this book to see real-world applications of "fictional" physics. There were times I was lost. Overall though s good read.

Good Book. If gives you exactly what the title of the book says it will do. The book took complicated physic problems and made them easy to understand in relation to how the Star Trek series uses them. The book also gave what it would take for things to happen the way that they did in the series/movies and how that plays into both the writing of the series and the way that the movies/series showed things in a certain order. If you are "sciency" and like to learn how the things in the show are done and if they were realistic then read this book.

Fun little pop science book the main drawback of which is it does not require you to watch any Star Trek. Superficially mentioning couple of names and episodes it delves mainly in standard stuff of black holes, anthropic principle, alien life, time travel, string theory etc making it just another popular physics book.

As a Star Trek fan, this book fulfilled both sides of my knowledge quest about Star Trek; it is both legitimate and impossible, given that it is a dream creation. Krauss provides clear and understandable evidence for both and that balanced portrayal made reading this book a pleasure for a non-physicist, Trek fan. I liked his tone and style of writing as well. Concepts were easy to grasp and it was fun to read.

This is an interesting read. Krauss hits on a lot of the main science from the shows and whether those are plausible at all. It's refreshing to know that a lot of it isn't that far from possibility. Our technology is just not there yet and may not be for a long time, but it's interesting to know how these things may be put into effect. He touches on subjects like transporters, food replicators, warp-drive, anti-matter, phasers, alien life, and more. The only thing about this book is that it is over 20 years old now, so some of the physics theories may be more developed now or maybe even rebuked. Also, much of the book talks about semi-general cosmological ideas, so if you've read other pop-physics books like I have, some I had read many times before. Still worth reading, though.

Trekkers will enjoy the scientific point of view about how the ships can/might/won't fly, transporter technology, time travel, neutron stars, dark matter, the holodecks, phasers, and assorted other Trek technobabble and props that makes science fiction fun. It's a deep read, and delves into, well, physics, and is not to be consumed in one sitting or even one weekend by the average human. Heavy in details, formulas, and facts, it's sure to change your perspective on which ever franchise you like - from TOS, TNG, VOY, ENT, or even DS9.

Nice fun book. Updated edition of course very quickly out-of-date. Nice ways of thinking about some things and a nice reminder of previous trips through the Star Trek universe.

A fun and interesting book about how Star Trek physics might work. Or not work. Or require a black hole's worth of matter and energy to implement. Most interesting are perhaps the things one takes for granted: such as the crew not being crushed to strawberry jam when the Enterprise accelerates; or being able to scan someone on the planet surface with sufficient resolution to beam them back up again - as if sending them down in the first place were not hard enough. It also brings home just how big the galaxy is, when you discover how long the Enterprise, even at warp 9, would actually take to reach the galactic centre.

One could almost believe this book is contemporary, with the recent Star Trek reboot movie bringing Trek back into popular culture, but alas, this book is from 1995. (It would have been really interesting to see what Krauss would have done with all that black hole sloppiness in J.J. Abram's movie.) But I finally got around to reading this, partially thanks to the TBR pile and Science reading challenges. It's not good to let books sit ignored for so long!

Reading this book, as with most popular science books, was an interesting experience. At one time, not so far distant, I had a really good grasp on most of the concepts explored in this book. But really, it's been years since I've thought of most of it in any sort of sustained way. So on one level, it was a light and interesting romp through some of the most profound concepts of physics, using the storytelling of the Trek universe to illustrate the implications. But on another level, I kept getting stuck, demanding my brain return to an earlier condition in which all of this was as native and easy to understand as my frivolous Facebook game strategies are now. But that state is hard to achieve when you're only getting to read the book in two-minute snatches, having to reread as much to remember where you were as you read new in any given sitting.

Sigh.

This book is dated and yet not. Engaging and easy one moment and mind-twisting the next. It would be very interesting to see an updated edition -- to bring into account the new movie as well as the detectors that Krauss mentions being built as he is writing that now have recently started producing interesting results. Amazon suggests there is a Kindle version revised in 2007, but the movie came out in 2009. I say another edition is due!

Interesting, but I will probably be releasing into the wilds of paperbackswap, as I have plenty of other reference physics texts.

This is a short, enjoyable read for anybody who loves the Star Trek series, as I do. The book describes how most of the concepts and technologies in Star Trek are possible but quite implausible. My favorite chapter was actually the last one, describing the things that are absolutely impossible, that one might call "bloopers".

Krauss really does get to the heart of each issue related to Star Trek concepts and technologies. But, do not read this book with the intention of learning about physics. You won't learn much, because of the lop-sided approach taken in this book. There is no systematic coverage of topics in physics, leading up to the point where a reader might understand the issues. Instead, the reader is simply plumped down beside the relevant issue, which is then explained at a layman's level. It's sort of like skipping the high school and undergraduate-level physics courses, and trying to learn graduate-level concepts in a junior-high school level class.

I did like this book, and find that the physics is defiantly over my head, but I did get the point. I wish perhaps that some of the tech we have now even better that on Star Trek might also have been included. However, This was a good read.