This is a fun book if you love Star Trek and want to know how everything goes. The author has a funny, relaxed style which is really helpful considering the complex stuff discussed. Definitely an interesting and worthwhile read if you have the time.

Nice, basic, informative overview of many of the most compelling issues in theoretical physics, as well as a refresher on established concepts, told through the lens of the greatest science fiction franchise of all time. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, of course, but fun to read if you are interested in the possibilities of warp drive, transporters, phasers, and all sorts of Trek gadgets and devices.

I really enjoyed getting this book for Christmas. I learned a lot about physics and what is possible in the Star Trek universe.

Target audience: Mainly, people passionate about the Star Trek universe, and secondarily people passionate about sci-fi and science.

About the author: According to Wikipedia, Lawrence Krauss is an American-Canadian theoretical physicist and cosmologist who is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and a former professor at Yale University and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU’s Origins Project to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and served as its director until July 2018. He is an advocate of the public understanding of science, of public policy based on sound empirical data, of scientific skepticism and of science education. Krauss, who is an atheist, works to reduce the influence of what he regards as superstition and religious dogma in popular culture.


Structure of the book: The book has around 208 pages, which are divided into 10 chapters. About 5 hours of reading.

Overview: I like Lawrence Krauss as a scientist and, recently, as an author as well. This book is not my first contact with him. I watched him many times on YouTube and he was mentioned with various occasions on different books I read about science. If you are familiar with Lawrence Krauss, imagine putting him at one place with Stephen Hawking (even though he wrote only the Introduction), and you know you have in front of you a good piece of work.
tIn essence, this book is about making peace between science and fantasy. At a high level, Krauss answers many scientific questions regarding strictly the Star Trek universe. I’m sure that many people from the old generations watched the Start Trek series and asked themselves questions about what were they watching: Is teleportation possible? When can we use laser beams as weapons? What is actually Warp technology? Can we time-travel through a wormhole? And so on…
At a deeper level, however, Krauss answers questions that transcend the Star Trek universe, are part of many/all sci-fi stories, and ultimately are a reflection of our dreams as a group. Even better, the author also teaches us about science, its standing at the moment and how it might be the future, a future that might resemble the one portrayed by the Start Trek universe. Some of the ideas and facts related here might be very familiar if you watched/read Neil deGrasse Tyson’s work (for example).
tIs this book obsolete? Maybe. I was a Star Trek fan in the 1990s, but we are now in 2019. I must say that the book brought back many memories, and I often stopped reading and searched on YouTube for various Stat Trek scenes in order to enjoy them once again or simply to refresh my memory. Unfortunately, the book makes references regarding scenes and ideas from the entire Star Trek universe, not just one series; of course there were mentions I did not know. That being said, someone who wants to learn more about science but it has not any idea about Star Trek must expect to encounter passages he cannot or little understand. But that does not make the book less informative from a scientific point of view.
tAnd last but not least, we, reads and fans, have to keep in mind that Star Trek was sci-fi. Krauss dismantles some (quite serious) aspects from this universe, which for some might break the aura of magic surrounding it. Nevertheless, you cannot but admire the genius and imagination behind the creators of Star Trek and how they influenced generations of people and made them dreaming. What is even more interesting is that the influence of sci-fi is not reduced only to dressing like Picard at conventions or naming your dog “La Forge”, but it also influences science itself. When we dream at something, we want to make that something real; we work to materialize our dreams. Moreover, many names in science (entities or mechanisms) are given by seeking inspiration in the sci-fi universe.


Quote: The date here is very interesting, because, as far as I can determine, the first Star Trek episode to refer to a black hole, which it called a "black star," was aired in 1967 before Wheeler ever used the term in public.

Strong points: The book is quite entertaining, it is written in common language, while scientific terms are reduced to minimum. Moreover, you can only admire the finesse with which the author interweaved facts with fiction.

Weak points: In order to fully understand the book, you have to be familiar with the Star Trek universe, which reduced the target audience by quite a lot. Moreover, the Star Trek universe is not what it was used to be, even with the new productions. Even Star Trek fans like me have difficulties understanding/remembering some aspects from this universe now, in 2019.

What - according to physics - is and isn't possible in the worlds of Star Trek? Lawrence Krauss attempts to explain some of the intricacies involved. It's an entertaining book, though I'm sure I couldn't follow all of the physics involved!

I love Star Trek and I liked, but didn't love, this book. The physics concepts are not always explained clearly, so a prior knowledge of physics will help you get the most out of this book. Nevertheless, it's a fun read for Trekkies.

I like Star Trek, much more than I like Star Wars on this scientifical its basis, as Trek is clearly science fiction and Wars is pure fantasy. I also like Lawrence Krauss, he's very good as a scientific communicator, so all was well with this, and this was done 20 years ago, so the way LC talks about data seems so naive and outdated that it might as well have been written 40 years ago.

”The Expanse” m-a făcut să conștientizez nenumăratele primejdii care există cu adevărat în călătoriile spațiale, iar după citirea acesteia, am văzut Star Trek cu alți ochi: ca un serial idealizat care se concentrează mai mult pe aspectele morale și filosofice ale călătoriilor spațiale și mai puțin pe partea de acuratețe științifică. De aceea sunt foarte rare cazurile când echipajul întâmpină dificultăți când naveta accelerează sau se oprește, în ciuda imensei presiuni de nenumărate G-uri la care Enterprise trebuie să fi fost supusă, de aceea nu prea apar întârzieri în timpul comunicării dintre căpitani și admiralii de pe Pământ etc.

Majoritatea prejudecăților mi-au fost, însă înlăturate de către Lawrence M.Krauss, și m-au făcut să realizez că multe dintre ”technobabble”, așa cum le numește autorul, nu sunt fără fundament. Dimpotrivă: autorii Star Trek chiar s-au gândit la multe dintre aspectele tehnice ale călătoriilor spațiale, ale transporter-ului, ale holodeck-ului etc., dar au inventat concepte noi care să contracareze neajunsurile, ceea ce este demn de orice operă de SF. Mi-a plăcut faptul că Lawrence M. Krauss a argumentat care dintre aceste idei sunt plauzibile și care mai puțin, subliniind chiar și câteva concepte noi care au primit nume foarte inspirate din punct de vedere științific.

Pentru mine ”The physics of Star Trek” a fost punctul de intersecție a două pasiuni: Star Trek și știința, ceea ce m-a făcut să sorb întreaga carte cu multă aviditate. Însă o pot recomanda oricui a vizionat cel puțin una din serialele Star Trek, deoarece este destul de ușor de citit, iar conceptele fizice prezentate sunt explicate pe înțelesul tuturor.

Questo libro è stato scritto da un fisico per gli appassionati di fisica, meglio se trekker ma non è strettamente necessario. I trekker "normali" (io fra questi), ovvero gli appassionati di Star Trek che non badano troppo all'aspetto strettamente scientifico, troveranno la lettura gradevole ma non memorabile, con molte pagine piuttosto astruse. A tutti gli altri sconsiglio la lettura. Il mio voto: 2,5 stelle.

Fantastic! But if you don't want to read a whole book on the physics of Star Trek, find a copy of this book just to read the chapter about the (un)reality and (im)possibility of transporters. #mindblown

I've never seen before reading this book! I chose to watch two episodes whe I began to read it! Now I want to watch them all. Very well written and clear

Not as interesting as it sounds.