Teaspoon and an Open Mind: The Science Of Doctor Who

by Michael White

How do you build a Tardis? What are the secrets of teleportation? Could Cybermen take over the world? Is telepathy possible - even for an alien? Will extra-terrestrials one day visit planet earth on their travels through the galaxy? Can a robotic dog catch a cold ...?Take a journey with the Time Lords as Michael White guides us through the real science behind Doctor Who. Here he shows us how one of the world's best-loved science-fiction programmes is actually based on genuine theories - some of which could soon become a reality. Drawing on the latest discoveries, on shows from Star Trek to The X-Files and films like Twelve Monkeys and Contact, he asks (among other things): is time travel possible through a wormhole? What are the dangers? Could we make contact with life on other planets? How could aliens get here? And how soon until creatures like the Daleks become a reality? He also looks at areas as varied as crystal power, robotics, shape-shifting and multi-dimensions, not to mention the mysterious science of 'chameleon technology' currently under study by major military research organizations. We even discover how, with the use of cybernetics to replace body parts - or maybe regenerate whole bodies - Doctor Who could hold the key to eternal life.A book for avid fans and the merely curious, A Teaspoon and an Open Mind reveals that reality is even stranger than science fiction ...

Genres: Doctor Who, Nonfiction, Science, Popular Science, Physics

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2005

About the author

Michael White was a British writer who was based in Perth, Australia. He studied at King's College London (1977–1982) and was a chemistry lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College, Oxford (1984–1991).
He was a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, 'in a previous incarnation', he was a member of Colour Me Pop. Colour Me Pop featured on the "Europe in the Year Zero" EP in 1982 with Yazoo and Sudeten Creche and he was then a member of the group The Thompson Twins (1982). He moved to Australia in 2002 and was made an Honorary Research Fellow at Curtin University in 2005.
He was the author of thirty-five books: these include Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science; Leonardo: The First Scientist; Tolkien: A Biography; and C. S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia. His first novel Equinox – thriller, an occult mystery reached the Top Ten in the bestseller list in the UK and has been translated into 35 languages. His non-fiction production included the biography Galileo: Antichrist. Novels following Equinox include The Medici Secret, The Borgia Ring and The Art of Murder.
White wrote under two further names, Tom West and Sam Fisher. He used the latter pseudonym to publish the E-Force trilogy, State of Emergency, Aftershock, and Nano.
A further novel by White, The Venetian Detective, features characters including Galileo and Elizabeth.
White wrote a biography of Isaac Newton, The Last Sorcerer. He was both short-listed and long-listed for the Aventis prize. Rivals was short-listed in 2002, and The Fruits of War long-listed in 2006. He was also nominated for the Ned Kelly Prize for First Novel (for Equinox in 2007).

Reviews

[Almustafa Couch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, with Dr Who playing an unimportant side role, it explained the scientific basis for all of the assertions made by the BBC during the Doctor Who series. Science was the central focus of this book, the book explained well the scientific, mainly physics, behind most of the creation of Doctor Who. It did end with a throwing up of the hands in a surrender to technological advances, even though, during the course of the book it made clear that certain things were impossible under whatever circumstances, whereas things may be physically possible but technologically impossible at this moment.

[Sanna Rauhala · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should and could have been so good! I expected something akin to Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible, but maybe even better - this one has Doctor Who, ancient civilizations and robots after all. Unfortunately this book and the comparisons it makes feel really forced (and weirdly boring, which should not be possible given the subject matter).

[Sesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️

Points deducted for not mentioning the importance of Ada Lovelace when talking of Charles Babbage, but otherwise a wonderful and understandable book.

[Jane I’m not giving my name to a machine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Who is but a pretext for exploring various fields of pseudoscience. I liked it.

[Anome · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having found Michael White's biographies somewhat readable, I was looking forward to reading this. The title is more interesting than the other book on the same topic ([The Science of Doctor Who]).

Unfortunately, it's rather insubstantial, and contains a fair bit of mysticism dressed up as scientific fact. It reads as if White has read a bunch of articles in New Scientist and not understood them, but rather used them to back up his own rather strange beliefs.

[Kristina Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book to introduce the curious to such developing technologies as interstellar travel and cybernetics. The level of detail is enough to explain for those with a basic understanding.
The author is quite clear in his introduction that this isn't a "Dr Who" fan book. The cover also doesn't cash in on the iconic image. It is a book that looks at the general science behind such premises as time travel and never promises anything else.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mind wasn't nearly open enough for this, and I was always relieved when the chapters concluded with the scientific consensus: "no."

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars = Okay. I liked the book. It was worth reading.