The Science of Stephen King: From Carrie to Cell, the Terrifying Truth Behind the Horror Master's Fiction

by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg

(Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2007)
Trade Paperback, 264 Pages, Nonfiction

ISBN: 9780471782476, US$15.95

ABCD Rating: DITCH

From the Cover: Human characters, not science, are the heart of King’s fiction, but Gresh and Weinberg (The Science of James Bond) use these tales as a jumping-off point in their latest pop-sci tie-in. In Carrie, Firestarter and The Dead Zone, mayhem arises from the use of psychic abilities, so the authors explore not only the history of such powers in fiction, but also human consciousness and modern neuroscience. The killer vehicles of King’s story “Trucks” are compared to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, rounded out with a short discussion of artificial intelligence. Dreamcatcher and The Tommyknockers lead to a look at the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere, from flying-saucer paranoia to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Discussion of The Stand includes a look at fictional and real plagues, while the parallel worlds and alternate histories at the heart of The Dark Tower bring up theoretical physics from relativity to wormholes.

My Review: Even after reading Gresh and Weinberg’s Why Did it Have to be Snakes?: From Science to the Supernatural, the Many Mysteries of Indiana Jones, and being generally disappointed by what was on the page there, I had high hopes for this book (after all, I do like to consider myself a budding Stephen King scholar and have written a handful of papers on King and his books). They were not met.

I won’t waste too much of your time with this book, but suffice it to know that it had many of the problems that the Indiana Jones book did (Wikipedia as a source, unfocused information dump, random information, etc.) but even more than that … if you cannot even get the basic details of the plots of King’s novels correct, how in the name of Holy Hell do you expect me to believe that you have gotten the basic details of string theory, or bird flu pandemics, or artificial intelligence correct?

And we’re not talking about the details of an obscure short story or novel like “My Pretty Pony” or Gerald’s Game … I’m talking about the big ones: IT, Dreamcatcher, The Talisman and The Stand, to name just a few of the novels discussed wherein pretty key details of the books are presented by Gresh and Weinberg … AND ARE COMPLETELY WRONG! I have to wonder if they have actually read the books in preparation for writing The Science of Stephen King, or if they just Wiki-ed the books. It is especially bad when the error they make invalidates the entire point they are making. For example, in Gresh and Weinberg’s discussion of obsession and evil, they bring up IT and say “They [The Losers’ Club] wound the monster but must return years later as adults to kill It. During the interim years, from the time they are children fighting bullies to adulthood, they remain afraid of and obsessed with It” (229). What’s wrong with those sentences, you ask? Just the simple fact that the kids from the Losers’ Club do not remain “afraid of and obsessed with It” in the “interim years” between defeating Pennywise in 1958 and coming back in 1985, and since they don’t (with the exception of Mike Hanlon, the Losers’ completely forget Pennywise and the climactic events of their childhood in relation to Pennywise) these eight words completely undermine and undo the point Gresh and Weinberg about obsession and fear and evil. It is sloppy research and writing.

When I first started this book I thought, You know, I think I’m going to put this on my wish list and buy in the future, it’d be a nice book to have on the shelf as a reference. Now, after having slogged through all 264 pages … not so much. This is not to say that some of the information is not interesting, in fact if (and that is a big IF) Gresh and Weinberg have it right, I now get Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and have a general working knowledge of what Unified Field Theory and String Theory are. However, if Gresh and Weinberg can’t be trusted to get the small stuff right (Jonesy does not shoot the infected hunter in the beginning of Dreamcatcher) how can I trust them with the big stuff like Unified Field Theory or String Theory?

It’s best to not, and just skip this book altogether; and probably the rest of the books Gresh and Weinberg have penned together.

Why Did It Have to be Snakes?: From Science to the Supernatural, the Many Mysteries of Indiana Jones

by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg

(Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2008)
Trade Paperback, 264 Pages, Nonfiction

ISBN: 9780470225561, US$15.95

ABCD Rating: CHECK OUT

From the Cover: The Ultimate Indiana Jones Companion—The true history, supernatural wonders, and mysteries of Indiana Jones! Could you really bullwhip to swing across a chasm? Or rip out a man’s heart without killing him? Was there a Shanghai mob in the 1930s—and did the Nazis have a real-life connection to the occult? At last, here is the book that finally answers the Indiana Jones-related questions that have troubled you for years. It tells you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the history, culture, and science behind your favorite Indy scenes and settings. You’ll find out the truth about the Thuggees and their deadly practices, ancient death traps, the Well of Souls, Kali worship in India, the infamous bizarre banquet that included chilled monkey brains, the Sankara Stones, the Cross of Coronado, the Holy Grail, and more. Get ready for adventure—and more than a few snakes—as you explore the secrets and stories of Indiana Jones and his world. The journey will take you around the globe and through history as you move from ancient Egypt to India, China and the United States, and from Biblical times to the Spanish Conquest to World War II. You’ll also learn about Indiana himself, including the origins of his trademark fedora, leather jacket, and bullwhip. So why did it have to be snakes? Read the book and find out.

My Review: As we were exploring our new libraries recently (we have access to both the local city public libraries and the county libraries … score!) this book was on the shelf and kind of jumped out at me as I went by. Of course, I had to throw it into the library bag and put it in my TBR pile. After all, I have read a similar book in the past, and enjoyed it, and having recently read one of Indy’s novelized adventures, I thought Why not?

Unfortunately, this is not a book that lived up to the expectations that I had for it. In fact, the only thing that made me rate it as CHECK OUT instead of DITCH was that there were a few gems of information in and amongst the general dross and tangential information that Gresh and Weinberg toss out there.

I have two main beefs with the book and its authors:

First, all too often Gresh and Weinberg describe a scenario from one of the movies (or the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series (remember that one?)) and then proceed to give all sorts of information about the person or event or thing but not address the central conceit of the book: Could or could not have Indiana Jones interacted with this person or participated in this event? An involved history of the Utah Territory or the Boy Scouts of America or Pablo Picasso is great, but I could get that in a history book or a biography. What I want to know is how does this fit into the Indiana Jones canon, which Gresh and Weinberg fail to do in all too many of the entries in the book.

Second, WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A VALID SOURCE TO CITE! It is a great website and one that can give you quick information, or simple tidbits of knowledge that are, on the whole, correct, such as who played Satipo in Raiders of the Lost Ark (Alfred Molina … who knew?) or who was Heinrich Himmler’s personal occultist (Karl Maria Gutberlet) but to use it again and again and then CITE the various web pages again and again in a book that is presented in a somewhat professional way is just lazy research, especially when many of the topics which Gresh and Weinberg are researching have numerous more valid sources to consult. I mean, honestly, is it that hard to find a book on the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail or Sigmund Freud? It’s not as if the authors are trading in esoteric subject matter here. These are established myths and legends and archeological subjects and people of great notoriety that Indy encounters. When I discovered, quite by accident—I was wondering what one of the sources for a claim Gresh and Weinberg made—that Wikipedia was being cited in their bibliography, 90% of their credibility flew out the window. Especially since they should know better, after all, if the authors’ claim is to be believed, they are college professors!

As I have said, on the whole most of this book can be ignored or skipped, but there are a few topics that the authors address that are quite fascinating and go beyond middle school history class-style knowledge (such as the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is what sparked WWI) … for example, the section on Nazis and the Occult is absolutely fascinating, and even though there are absolutely no sources whatsoever for any of the claims Gresh and Weinberg make, it was eye-opening to me the extent with which the Nazi High Command was obsessed with the occult. For example, if Gresh and Weinberg are to be believed, the Nazis did, in fact, send an expedition in search of such religious artifacts as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail, and Nazi SS troops were sent to Tibet and South America in search of mystical knowledge and learning; the SS even had an occult branch of their service, very similar, in fact, to what is presented in the Indiana Jones films (as well as the first Hellboy film, come right down to it).

So, it is with mixed feelings that I give this book a half-hearted endorsement. It is not a book that I would want in my library (or to have paid money for) but it is definitely worth checking out of your local library … just make sure you return it on time. I’m not even sure it is worth paying late fees for.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion (Audio)

by Daniel H. Wilson

read by Stefan Rudnicki

(Ashland: Blackstone Audio, 2006)

MP3 Audiobook, 42.2 MB, 3 Hours, Survival Guide

ISBN: 9780786171484, US$27.00

ABCD Rating: BACKLIST

“You probably found How to Survive a Robot Uprising in the humor section. Let us hope that that is where it belongs.”

From the Cover: How do you spot a robot mimicking a human? How do you recognize and deactivate a rebel servant robot? How do you escape a murderous “smart” house, or evade a swarm of marauding robotic flies? In this dryly hilarious survival guide, roboticist Daniel H. Wilson teaches worried humans the secrets to quashing a robot mutiny. From treating laser wounds to fooling face and speech recognition, outwitting robot logic to engaging in hand-to-pincer combat, How to Survive a Robot Uprising covers every possible doomsday scenario facing the newest endangered species: humans. Based on extensive interviews with prominent scientists and including a thorough overview of cutting edge robot prototypes like humanoid walkers, insect, gecko, and snake robots, this one-of-a-kind audiobook makes a witty yet legitimate introduction to contemporary robotics.

The book’s official website can be found HERE.

My Review: You know those books that you pick up on a whim because it looks like it’ll be a lark, and then when you’re done with it you’ve not only had a good laugh, but it has been informative as well? How to Survive a Robot Uprising is one of those books. I got it for no other reason than it looked like it would be a fun read. After all, I had enjoyed Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide and this looked like it would be in the same vein.

It was, and I learned quite a bit about robotics in the process. Wilson (who received his PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University) walks the reader through what is possible, what is being developed, and what is theoretical in the field of robotics today. It is very informative and quite fascinating, the things that robots can and will be able to do. Sure, he gives some survival tips in the process like learn to hide your heat signature from an IR robot’s sensors, and what to do in case your smart home turns against you (make sure you have a “safe” room with no electronics, and plenty of supplies) but really, the star of the first two-thirds of the book is the robotic theories that Wilson expounds upon.

That, then, brings us to the final third of the book in which Wilson lays out how robots could, theoretically, take over the world and what you should do about it: establish a safe location away from the robots, find other survivors and then bend together and fight back. Of course, that’s not all there is to it, but if I were to give you any more information, then you would have just as good a chance at surviving as I and my family would, and we can’t have that now, can we? After all, there will be a limited number of resources available in the event of such a rebellion and if you’re around, that means less for us. (Plus, this review is going out on the internet, and in the event of an uprising, we don’t want to robots to have access to too much information on how we plan on fighting back … though it just occurred to me that Wilson’s book is available for electronic download from such places as iTunes and Audible.com, so it may already be too late.)

As for Rudnicki, his basso profundo voice is perfect for narrating Wilson’s book, though, thinking back on it, how are we to really know that Rudnicki is Rudnicki? After all, one of the signs of a robot posing as a human—according to Wilson—is a lack of emotion, and Rudnicki is fairly emotionless in his delivery, adding only a certain wryness to his reading from time to time, so … maybe the robots have already begun their rebellion. Or is that paranoid talk?

This book is a great addition to any library, audio or in print … though you may want to pick up the print copy, just in case the robots do rebel…