Just Finished Reading: The Science of Battlestar Galactica by Patrick Di Justo and Kevin R Grazier

How could I resist? - after all I’m trying to read more science based books! So this seemed an ideal way to break back in without reading yet another VSI book. Those of you who have watched the re-imaged (and IMHO much superior) version of BSG will already know that, as much as possible, the science fiction elements of the story relied very much on real science. OK they threw in FTL ‘jump’ technology but that’s at least theoretically possible with a bit of imagination and a pinch of salt. Just about everything else is either within our present technology or understanding given enough time and effort.

The book itself – which contains many shots from the series as well as publicity shots – runs through the whole gamut of science from definitions of life (are the Cylons alive as we understand the term for example), to the possibility of ‘hive minds’, the ability (or possibility) of downloading memories, an interesting diversion into discussions about Cylon brain structures (and why the differences are so difficult to detect), how we could get from Colonial plus Cylon plus native to existing humanity (which will only make sense if you saw the end of the last series), the drugs used in the Colonial fleet, quite a bit of basic physics all the way up to Einsteinian Relativity, the problem with Gravity (both dealing with it in space and generating it on a ship), the basics of radiation, and the effects of nuclear weapons, explorations of the galaxy and the possibility of habitable worlds, the formation of planets, stars and black holes, various propulsion systems both sub-light and FTL (complete with equations), the problems of navigating across vast distances within our galaxy and much else besides. Subjects are discussed in enough depth to give you a good taste of things without getting too technical (OK, I skipped over the math) or too boring. Also throughout the book the link to the show itself is constantly referenced – helped by the fact that Grazier was the scientific advisor on BSG and works for NASA so knows his stuff.

This was a breeze of a read and informative both from the point of straight science and from the perspective of BSG so I found that I learnt stuff about both aspects which was nice. It’s an easy book to get into (though it helps being a fan or at least familiar with the show) and easy to pick up lots of information without too much effort. All in all a very enjoyable weekend reading experience. Recommended.