Science(ish): The Peculiar Science Behind the Movies

A fairly run-of-the-mill pop-science book. Science(ish), commissioned off the back of a successful podcast, takes ten sci-fi movies and goes into the scientific plausibility behind them. As a history buff who enjoys comparable discussions regarding historical accuracy in movies, I was looking forward to Science(ish), particularly as I had seen nine of the ten movies being discussed (Gattaca being the exception).

However, the discussion of the movies themselves is rather limited; each title being only a jumping-off point for a wider scientific discussion. This was disappointing, but would've been fine if the science had been particularly engaging or original. Unfortunately, it isn't; it's mostly Science 101 and not delivered with any especial flair or erudition. (That said, reading the book in 2020, the discussion of a possible global viral pandemic in the 28 Days Later chapter was curious, to say the least.) There's also some hackneyed banter between the two authors in between the scientific passages (most likely a carry-over from their podcast), which only reinforces the contrived nature of the book. Though not bad, Science(ish) is only competent and there are much better examples of agreeable pop-science out there. ( )