Science of Interstellar

I think it is a sign of s great scientific mind that they can impart their work to others less able than themselves, a fundemental Tenet of teaching. Such scientists include Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking and I would add to these Kip Thorne. As a sci-fi fan from childhood I was always interested in physics, astrophysics and astronomy, but lacked the mathematcical ability to pursuse these subjects very far in academia. Howver, I have aways maintained my interest and have a large selection fo 'popular science' books in the field, to which I have now added this volume. As a fan of everything Christopher Nolan has done (spot the reference ealrier in this review?), I enjoyed Interstellar, but was only recently reminded (buy Sheldon, Howard and the gang) of Kip Thorne's central role in bringing cosomology to the big screen. A couple of clicks later and I bought this excellent book, which I read (and yes understood) in a single sitting over the weekend. Though my maths isn't up to the challenge of higher calculus, my interlect does allow me to comprehend and appreciate the concepts involved. If anything these are even more mind blowing than can be captured in film. When I first read A Brief History of Time I was astonished that work colleagues far better qualified than I, could not get through the text. I did and understood it, which has lead to a lifetime of reading on quantum mechanics, cosmology, unified field theory (what we used to call the G.U.T.) and now gravitational waves. I'm crap at Sudoku so my intellectual challenge is to try and understand amazing facts and theories from great books like this by Kip Thorne. Whether you buy it or borrow it from a library, I do recommend you read this book and when you have watch Interstellar again with more informed eyes. I guarantee you'll enjoy the film on a whole new level, and if you like have a Chirstopher Nolan film night and amaze your friends with your dazzling insight. Extraordinay work made accesible by a Nobel Laureat, thank you Professor Thorne for allowing me to stand on your shoulders and see further. This is a superb book, highly recommended. BTG

I'll preface this by saying you really don't need to be a genius to get a lot out of this book, but a decent understanding of physics helps to make this an easier read - I only have a basic education and I loved and understood it all. This book is the perfect combination of story-telling and science; Kip Thorn does an incredible job of breaking up the technical talk with real-life events to do with the movie. He explains things so simply and in an easy-to-read format. The content itself genuinely has the potential to change how you understand the world around you - I loved every page of this book and would jump at any opportunity to talk about it!

Extremely interesting read. A lot of the detail is high level theoretical and astro-physics so to get the most out of it, it'll probably be more helpful if you are at least strongly inquisitive within these topics. I myself have no "academic" background in these areas so found a lot of it confusing but still an excellent read and something to really get your claws into if, like me, the film left you wanting more. It explains the background of the movie, chapter by chapter - and what was going through the mid of Kip during his work on interstellar. It is also exquisitely illustrated. with both photographs and diagrams to explain the theories being explored. It includes explanations of many of the complicated theories behind the movie and how they used science to make it as accurate as possible. There's also a bit of talk at the end about the whole "bookecase tesseract" scene which is actually extremely interesting - bridging the gap between what we do and do not know. In summary, a really good read for anyone left wanting more after the movie.

Not read book yet but did not come wrapped and had very minor folds on the front cover. Bit bigger than expected and paper feels like that of a magazine's. Many clear and nice illustrations in different styles depicting points in a very comprehensible way

As the title suggests this is a must read for anyone that has been to the cinema to see the movie 'Interstellar'. The movie itself is great as you probably know, however it does leave you thinking 'yeah yeah that is a little far fetched in places'. Well this is where this book comes to the rescue; written excellently by Kip Thorne it guides you through the scientific elements of the movie smoothly and efficiently. I'm somewhat scientifically minded but can get easily lost when reading anything too nerdy. I'm glad to say that this book pitched the subject matter at the perfect level. i.e. it wasn't dumbed down too much but it also didn't blow your mind entirely within the first 10 pages. As a nice bonus it provides a lot of insight into how Kip came to work on the movie and gives some indication of how the movie business really works. A worth while read.

Very intriguing

If you liked the film and are remotely interested in current understandings in astronomy, physics and relativity, this book is for you. Kip Thorne originated the screen play of the film and he also happens to be a university professor with many scientific books to his name. So the whole film was intended to be realistic science fact not far fetched science fiction. This book explains why and how. It's immensely readable, explaining all the bits in the film you couldn't figure out - such as why did Gargantua (the immense black hole) have a very bright halo round it and what happened right at the end inside that weird tesseract thing. Read this and save buying yourself about a dozen lengthy and boring text books!! Beware though, if you're like me you'll find yourself rereading a few of the tougher paragraphs again and again until you get it. Then it makes sense. Thoroughly recommended.

Wer d n Film mag, sollte sich unbedingt dieses Buch kaufen. In englischer Sprache, aber trotzdem relativ einfach zu lesen. Man bekommt gute Einblicke hinter die Kulissen.

This book, written by Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, provides an easy to understand explanation of of the science of the movie Interstellar. You don't need to have seen the movie to enjoy the book. Indeed, much of the book provides basic explanations of the science of black holes and wormholes so even if you are not interested in the movie, it provides an easy and accessible introduction to the topic. Of course, if you've seen the movie, what's interesting is that Kip was the scientific advisor for the movie and he made sure that the science of it was either as accurate as possible, or he tries to explain how artistic decision could have been made possible in his estimation. The visualization of a black hole is, as we learn from the book, somewhat simplified, but it was also done in a way that hadn't been quite done before by scientists. So it provides an accessible way to see what a black hole might look like. As you might be able to tell from the photos inuploaded of the book, there is tons of illustrations in this book, and they are very helpful. Does book feels a little bit like a textbook in a sense that it's got glossy pages and most pages have pictures or diagrams to help understand the concepts. As someone who is familiar with science but not necessarily astronomy, I found the book to be very accessible and easy to understand. I wish there was a little bit more detail and depth, but some of those details are provided in the appendices. No math is used. The narrative of the movie serves to organize the book, with chapters on the black hole that is featured in the movie, and ones on each of the planets, and some of the technologies that are shown. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I am glad Thorne is interested in sharing his scientific interests with the world.

Da anni ormai mi interesso a livello non professionale di astrofisica, leggendo autori divulgativi come Brian Greene o Caleb Sharf, e quando ho visto Interstellar sono rimasto a bocca aperta quasi per tutta la durata del film. Ho comprato quindi questo libro senza pensarci due volte, e ciò che ho avuto per le mani ha superato di gran lunga le aspettative. Ho apprezzato moltissimo la capacità di affrontare tutte le tematiche del film, dal viaggio interstellare, all'utilizzo di Wormhole per raggiungere punti remoti dell'universo, a tutti gli altri interrogativi che emergono nella pellicola, specificando all'inizio di ogni sezione se si tratta di una verità scientifica assodata, un'ipotesi "educata" o una semplice speculazione. Ci sono molti aspetti che nel film, dedicato ad un'audience amplissima e non per forza appassionata di astrofisica, vengono sorvolati e si potrebbe pensare che gli autori non vi hanno riflettuto sopra a lungo, ma hanno semplificato senza troppe difficoltà: leggendo questo libro invece si capisce come Kip Thorne, Christopher Nolan e tutto lo staff di Interstellar hanno dedicato giorni se non settimane per capire come spiegare scientificamente, o quantomeno con delle ipotesi plausibili, ciò che accade nel film (ad esempio l'Endurance che sfrutta una fionda gravitazionale di un piccolo buco nero per manovrare attorno all'enorme buco nero Gargantua, non trattato nel film se non con qualche riferimento leggero). Sono narrati fatti che possono accadere con possibilità prossima allo zero, come ammette anche Kip Thorne in alcuni casi, ma sono scientificamente plausibili, non è il classico film fantascientifico tutto campato per aria da come si può vedere dal background presente in questo libro. Guardate il film PRIMA di leggere questo libro, leggetelo e poi riguarderete il film cercando di carpire ogni singolo messaggio "lanciato" da Nolan per darci spunti su queste profonde riflessioni che sono avvenute nel "backstage" del film. Il libro è in lingua inglese ma se la masticate un po' (a livello delle superiori) lo affronterete senza problemi. Concludo con alcuni link a libri che ho letto, sempre di carattere divulgativo, che sapranno farvi sognare come Interstellar e questo libro: - Amedeo Balbi: Cercatori di meraviglia. Storie di grandi scienziati curiosi del mondo , una lettura piacevole e molto scorrevole che tenterà di trasmettervi dall'inizio all fine questo senso di Meraviglia che ha guidato decine di scienziati, le menti più eccelse mai esistite, e che dovrebbe guidare ognuno di noi. - Brian Greene: L'Universo Elegante sulla Teoria delle Stringhe, La trama del cosmo. Spazio, tempo, realtà e La realtà nascosta. Universi paralleli e leggi profonde del cosmo - Caleb Sharf: I Motori della Gravità sui buchi neri e il ruolo fondamentale di creatori e distruttori che hanno rivestito nella creazione del nostro universo. Uno dei libri divulgativi più affascinanti che io abbia mai letto. - Lucia Votano: Il Fantasma dell'Universo. Che Cos'è il Neutrino - Leon Lederman e Christopher Hill: Oltre la particella di Dio: La fisica del XXI secolo sul Bosone di Higgs (ho letto altri libri in merito e questo è uno dei più chiari e piacevoli da leggere) - Richard Feynman: QED. La strana teoria della luce e della materia , una lettura che vi farà affrontare l'elettrodinamica quantistica in modo semplice e coinvolgente, anche se non siete 'addetti ai lavori'. Le capacità divulgative di Feynman sono eccezionali, lui sì che vi farà meravigliare senza alcun dubbio.

Excelente libro, jamas habia visto un libro tan bien explicado, con temas complejos de una forma tan simple!, digno del premio nobel, totalmente recomendable, esta en ingles, pero vale totalmente la pena. Lo compre para mis hijos y es excelente para introducirlos a la ciencia que tanto hace falta!

This such an enjoyable book which unveils many complicated mysterious stuff in such an attractive and fascinating and yet effective way. Highly recommended just as I would highly recommend the movie. A must watch movie and a must read book!