Authors:
- By the author of the popular books "Time Machines" and "The Science of Radio"
- Discusses the opinions and writings of philosophers and scientists (Pascal, Hume, Nietzsche) and science fiction authors (Arthur C. Clark, C. S. Lewis, Isaac Asimov)
- Draws connections between science fact, science fiction, philosophy, and theological debate over the past five centuries
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Science and Fiction (SCIFICT)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
Can a computer have a soul? Are religion and science mutually exclusive? Is there really such a thing as free will? If you could time travel to visit Jesus, would you (and should you)? For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists and science fiction writers have pondered these questions and many more.
In Holy Sci-Fi!, popular writer Paul Nahin explores the fertile and sometimes uneasy relationship between science fiction and religion. With a scope spanning the history of religion, philosophy and literature, Nahin follows religious themes in science fiction from Feynman to Foucault and from Asimov to Aristotle.
An intriguing journey through popular and well-loved books and stories, Holy Sci-Fi! shows how sci-fi has informed humanity's attitudes towards our faiths, our future and ourselves.
Authors and Affiliations
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Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA
Paul J. Nahin
About the author
Paul Nahin was born in California, and did all of his schooling there (Brea-Olinda High 1958, Stanford BS 1962, Caltech MS 1963 and - as a Howard Hughes Staff Doctoral Fellow - UC/Irvine PhD 1972, with all degrees in electrical engineering). He has taught at Harvey Mudd College, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Universities of New Hampshire (where he is now emeritus professor of electrical engineering) and Virginia.
Prof. Nahin has published a couple of dozen short science fiction stories in ANALOG, OMNI, and TWILIGHT ZONE magazines, and has written 14 books on mathematics and physics. He has given invited talks on mathematics at Bowdoin College, the Claremont Graduate School, the University of Tennessee and Caltech, has appeared on National Public Radio's "Science Friday" show (discussing time travel) as well as on New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Front Porch" show (discussing imaginary numbers) and advised Boston's WGBH Public Television's "Nova" program on the scriptfor their time travel episode. He gave the invited Sampson Lectures for 2011 in Mathematics at Bates College (Lewiston, Maine).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Holy Sci-Fi!
Book Subtitle: Where Science Fiction and Religion Intersect
Authors: Paul J. Nahin
Series Title: Science and Fiction
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0618-5
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-0617-8Published: 10 April 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4939-0618-5Published: 09 April 2014
Series ISSN: 2197-1188
Series E-ISSN: 2197-1196
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 224
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 3 illustrations in colour
Topics: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Popular Science, general, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology