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

by Lois H. Gresh

Advance Praise

""What a treasure house is this book! Robots, space aliens, Einstein, black holes, time travel--these themes, and much more, from Stephen King's amazing books are opened up like toy chests. It's tremendous fun, entirely educational, and a great tribute to King.""
--Peter Straub

""A fun, fun read.""
--F. Paul Wilson

""The Science of Stephen King appeals to both the scientist and the longtimereader of Stephen King in me. Gresh and Weinberg use concepts from King's fiction as launching pads for in-depth explorations of concepts as diverse as ESP, pyrokinesis, time travel, artificial intelligence, quantum chemistry, alternate realities, string theory, and the possibility that we'll be visited by aliens or that we'll face a global pandemic. Much of what Stephen King writes about in his novels is closer to reality than you might think.""
--Bev Vincent, Ph.D., author of The Road to the Dark Tower

""A superb overview of King's use of scientific concepts in his stories. And considering all the scary talk lately about pandemic flu, their chapter on The Stand is timely as hell.""
--Stephen Spignesi, author of The Complete Stephen King Encyclopedia

""Just as Sagan and Asimov popularized science to the masses by making itentertaining and informative, so too do Gresh and Weinberg.Compulsively readable and thought-provoking.""
--George Beahm, author of The Stephen King Companion

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Horror

264 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

LOIS H. GRESH is the New York Times Bestselling Author (6 times) and USA Today Bestselling Author (thrillers) of 30 books and more than 65 short stories. Look for SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. CTHULHU #1: THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEADLY DIMENSIONS (Titan Books, April 2017), the first in a new trilogy of Sherlock Holmes thrillers from England's premier publisher of all things Holmes, with Random House distribution in the USA. Lois’ books have been published in 22 languages. For five years, Lois was a staff book reviewer at scifi.com (now SYFY.com, the Science Fiction Cable Channel), and her work has been on national/international award ballots eight times. She is a frequent Guest of Honor Author at large fan conventions and has appeared on television series such as The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and Batman Tech.

Reviews

[Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. This contains a recommended reading list of sci-fi across the 20th century, provided in the context of the author's analysis of different kinds of pseudoscience-of-the-day, futurism, and outright imagination (telekinesis, teleportation, pod people, for example). This is fun and educational. There is little about real science and not much depth into the work of Stephen King. The book seems mistitled, then, but is worth a look for what it says about sci-fi/horror as an overall genre.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen King regards himself as the literary equivalent of Bic Mac and fries. We all love his mix of the ordinary with the horrific. But what about science? The author shows in a convincing manner here in her book that most of his stories are based on science. She analyzes most of his works in the last century to point out references to Mesmerism and super races (Carrie), the concept of artificial intelligence, cybernetics and artificial life in Trucks, aliens in pulp fiction, Apocalypse in The Stand, King going up the dimensions in Dark Tower (Clint Eastwood meets Roland). With the Langoliers we see travelling in time, parallel world and glimpse into the Multiverse. Besides she collects the background information on issues like longevity, evil, obsession and fear. In my opinion it is quite interesting to link all kind of scientific theories with Kings works. It leads to a better understanding as she's broadening your base of knowledge. Really recommended!

[Rachel Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. I love Stephen King, so it was interesting to read something about his books. I also have an interest in science, so the combination was something irrestible to read. I wish that some topics had been covered in more depth,but that's probbaly my personal interest. The authors did a good job of covering a lot of the major topics that King uses for his plots and then delving into the science fiction and science behind them. It was interesting to read about some of the early science fiction books that provided a base for the books of today. Sometimes the science seemed too basic and at others too in depth - so I guess if the authors were looking to strike a midpoint, they probably did. Gives me some ideas for future reading interests. Now on to other Stephen King books, and other books in various science areas. And maybe some science fiction titles too!

[Jennifer Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Calling Stephen King's subject matter science is pushing it. The 10 page detailed explanation of neurological make up of your brain, explaining Carrie's psychokenetic powers was a bit much. I never thought SK's work was real, it's pure fantasy and there in lies it's appeal. The section on "The Stand" and biological warfare was interesting. And how a pandemic functions was good to know what with that swine flu kicking around. I picked this book up because I had read others in this series such as "The Science of Michael Chriton". That one was good, because it was about an author who wrote scientific based novels!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. A primer on a wide spectrum of scientific principles using King's stories as backdrop. Time travel, paranormal psychological powers, the aging process, parallel worlds, diseases, all are reviewed pretty well, giving historical background and current research. Not a "UFO" book, but more like "The Science of Star Trek" by former Case Western professor Lawrence Krauss. I could see this book being helpful to promote an interest in Science. The weakest part is at the end, trying to discuss the concept of evil; but they rebound and have an interesting section on causes of Obsession, in King's stories and in real life, like with the killer of John Lennon.

[Gouty · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amusing book, that looks at Stephen King’s works and talks about the science behind the ideas. While there is little of scientific value in Stephen King’s works the book uses his works as an opportunity to discuss such things as time travel, physics, theories about other dimensions. The writing is very good in that it explains very complex scientific ideas and makes them understandable to a chowder head like me. I would defiantly recommend this for some one who likes Stephen King’s work or just want to further educate themselves (rather painlessly) about science.

[Elizabeth Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of this book was very interesting as in the discussions surrounding what might be possible as far as time travel, string theory and Immortality. Some subjects got the short shrift like the paragraph devoted to St. Francis. There were many book and story descriptions and not all of them were from Stephen King works. Some of the comments that were meant to be serious made me laugh. I just can't think that this is a serious book, it seems more darkly humorous.

[Corielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, eh. It's a really cool idea executed by two people with no writing style whatsoever. I wish King would have written it himself. I love his reflections on his own writing. This seems more like an eighth grade book report than the kind of sophistication I was hoping for/expecting.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Science of Stephen King: From Carrie to Cell, the Terrifying Truth Behind the Horror Masters Fiction by Lois H. Gresh (Wiley 2007) (823 +/-). The science behind Stephen King's novels is unearthed and demystified in this volume. My rating: 7/10, finished 10/7/2014.

[POLIPOLIK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Czasami może za dużo naukowego bełkotu (chociaż pewnie ma to sens), ale generalnie OK. Poza tym za 6 złotych ciężko byłoby dorwać coś lepszego. :)

[Lou Rera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the potential science behind King's work.