Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe - The True Science Behind the Starship Voyages

by Andrew Fazekas, William Shatner (Foreword)

As Star Trek celebrates its 50th anniversary, this book reveals the real science behind its fantastic and beloved fictions, inviting readers to step outside, gaze up at the night sky, and observe some of the destinations the Starfleet has visited. Many of the galactic destinations featured in Star Trek over the years—multiple star systems, alien worlds, supernova explosions, emission nebulae, voracious black holes—are scientifically valid, so much so that one can step out and view them in the night sky. In this book astronomy educator Andrew Fazekas, “The Night Sky Guy,” takes you on that journey, starting with specific Star Trek voyages, explaining the science behind them, and guiding you in observing and learning more about the real-universe corollaries of planets and places in the Star Trek universe.
 
With a foreword from William Shatner and stunningly illustrated with hundreds of full-color images—some artists’ interpretations and some real images generated by the most recent NASA missions—plus stills of favorite Star Trek scenes and characters, Star Trek The Official Guide to Our Universe uses Star Trek to teach astronomy, taking every reader on a voyage of discovery. From Altair to Vega, from red giants to white dwarfs, from our solar system to exoplanets we are only beginning to imagine, the book visits dozens of celestial objects, spotlighting some 20 in careful scientific detail and offering easy-to-follow star-gazing instructions to find them in the night sky.

No warp-driven starship, not even a telescope is required to go on these voyages: Most destinations are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. For Star Trek fans and budding stargazers who are ready to launch their own space mission, this inventive book blends science and fiction, making learning fun and making Star Trek’s 50th all the more worthy of celebration.

Genres: Star Trek, Science, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Reference

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2016

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celebrating STAR TREK’s fiftieth anniversary, National Geographic looks at the real science from the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Photographs from the show as well as diagrams, illustrations, and photographs of the real science of the universe supplement the informative narrative. Readers will learn how the science of the show aligns with real science as they explore the solar system, stars, nebulae, exoplanets, and much, much more.

In the pages of this book, readers will explore the solar system, deep space, aliens, the birth and death of stars, the distances between galaxies, and much, much more. Full-color illustrations and photographs supplement the narrative in each section and each chapter includes a stargazing component. Night Sky Charts are included as are episode guides for the STAR TREK series.

Stargazers, science fiction fans, fans of the series, and those interested in exploring the universe will find it difficult to set this book aside.

Highly recommended.

[ArwendeLuhtiene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and engaging book exploring how the Star Trek series and movies tackle science and Astrophysics. The science is well explained in a pretty divulgative fashion, so it can be enjoyed by scientists and non-scientists alike. As a physicist working on an Astrophysics thesis, I enjoyed rereading some basic Astrophysics facts and exploring the geeky comparisons with Trek's sci-fi world.

The book is divided in various sections with topics about the Solar System, exoplanets, stars, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. Each chapter includes references to Trek stories and explores the science behind them, also comparing Trek's technology to our own and discussing how close we are to completing some of the sci-fi tech seen in the Star Trek universe. The book also includes stargazing guides and maps in each chapter, and it's filled with beautiful pics of the universe, stills from the Trek universe (see *feminist nitpicks* for some comments on those) and other scienc-y images.

Feminist nitpicks: The level of sexualization/sexist content in this book is reasonably low, fortunately, but there are a couple of examples present -
-The most jarring is probably an unnecessary gratuitous pic of Gaila (Uhura's Orion roommate from Star Trek 2009) in her underwear (the description says 'one of the film's costumes for Gaila', but how is lingerie a costume and didn't you have a better pic of a Trek alien to show?? 0% for subtlety there :/).
-There's also a promo pic of T'Pol from Enterprise (chosen in order to represent the Vulcan race in a double page about Trek aliens) which is so clearly phoshopped in order to highlight her chest and make her waist thinner it looks extremely unrealistic and quite a bit sexualized, even though she's wearing a non-objectifying Vulcan-style uniform with pants. If one compares the promo pic (http://ent.trekcore.com/gallery/album...) with one which hasn't been tampered with (https://i1.wp.com/www.cifihub.com/wp-...) one can clearly see how deformed and unrealistic her body is made to look in the first one, for the sake of promoting an unattainable, sexualized female body.
-There are also a couple of quotes which include problematic content (such as 'I'd be delighted to offer any advice I can on understanding women. When I have some, I'll let you know'). These have nothing to do with science, really, so I don't get why they're even there :/
-And, to finish, I deeply resent the fact that the author refers to the origin of the names of Jupiter's moons as 'Jupiter's mythological lovers' - 'Lovers'? More like the women (and some young men, such as Ganymedes) assaulted and raped by Jupiter! A 'lover' involves at least a reasonable degree of consent, which is something the god Jupiter didn't even think about when assaulting people :/

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a beautiful coffee table/encyclopedia-style volume, and it's an informative look at astronomy for all those unfamiliar with our big old universe. However, its "Star Trek" connections are a bit tenuous; there are far greater & more effective examples that could have been used for certain topics. There are also some surprising Trek-universe artefacts left out of this book, and certain descriptions are irritatingly vague. The volume is slick, but for even mildly knowledgeable fanboys and fangirls, this will be a slightly disappointing read that will leave many asking themselves questions such as "why did they pick that" or "why did they leave (something) out".

[Nicol · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love stargazing and Star Trek this is the book for you. Fazekas looks at all incarnations of Star Trek and explores how science fiction is grounded in science. It is a beautiful book with stargazing maps, episode guides that explain the science behind them and how close we are to completing some of the sci-fi ideas created in the series. There are gorgeous pictures of the solar system as well as stills of technology, characters, and spaceships from the show. An interesting and quick read, perfect for any Star Trek fan.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting Star Trek trivia and some interesting facts out our universe... but it really didn't hold my attention. I started skipping parts after the first few chapters, and I eventually only read about half the book.

[Richard Archambault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly interesting. Started skimming halfway through. Definitely not for folks who have a prior interest in astronomy as there was really nothing new or in depth here.

[Stan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introductory book on astronomy, astrophysics and tech in general. The sections start by introducing a broad concept, relate it to one or more Star Trek episodes, then proceed to the actual science behind the concept and how it may compare to the ST episodes and finally provide star maps for the background - for example, the first section is on the solar system, so first there are the episodes, then the actual science (astronomy) relating to the solar system and then star maps on where to find the planets along with an explanation of the map. Each section then proceeds outward, discussing additional concepts.

[Chels Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guide helps anyone, either those who just like Star Trek, those that are interested in understanding science in pop culture, or those that would like a practical fun guide to the wonders above. The guide has driven me to explore the night sky with a basic telescope or just the naked eye. There are detailed sky charts for most amazing sights and chances are given to explore more and more.

[Christopher Lutz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read that combines the real science of our universe with the fictional adventures of Star Trek. It’s a great book to read to introduce a Trek fan to astronomy, or vice versa. While little was published or produced for Trek’s 50th Anniversary, this book was a worthwhile creation.

[Dale Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely worthy to be on the coffee table of any self professing geek.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fellow Star Trek fans and Space enthusiasts read this book.

[Sarah Yasin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the only book I've found that actually cites episodes for cross reference.

[Mark Clarkson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, after having read the copy from of the the public library, will endeavour to get a copy for my reference library

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attractive presentation of concepts of astronomy. Nice illustrations. However, I was disappointed at how few star trek references or parallels were aside from photos taken from some episodes.

[Santino Ortiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es Star Trek, me gustó mucho.

[Roksana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and engaging read! I would love to see an updated edition of this book, as there have been many advancements in the field since 2016

[Celina Trick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fascinating, it will be nice to see what gets updated in 10-20 years on making Star Trek tech reality

[Andy Janes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, good mix of Star Trek and actual science.

[Mrklingon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice balance between science and fiction.

Fazekas does a great job interlacing material from the whole range of Trek history with a wealth of astronomy. Along the way he points out all the ways we have (or haven't) achieved Trek technology.

Even better, amid the wealth of beautiful astronomical images, there are many tutorials on how to discover the wonders of the stars, with careful instruction on how, when and where to look into the glories of the night sky.

[Richard Lawrence]

This is a great book if you are a Star Trek fan and love Observational Astronomy. Most of the planets in the original series are viewable so incorporating this into a tour of the night sky is a great idea. Well worth picking up......

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my full review:

http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2016/09/08...

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thumbed/skimmed through it. Very nice book, well put together. I just don't have the time and deep interest in the topic to do more.

Nmkt library.

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book too a scientific perspective on exploring the Star Trek universe. It approached each planet in our solar system, discussed it scientifically, then related it to incidents within the Star Trek Universe. Other topics beyond the planets were discussed, but all followed a similar vein. The photographs, infographics and more were very comprehensive, and eye catching.