

Making Progress on Star Trek Physics - waterlesscloud
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/589200967/book-making-progress-on-star-trek-physics?

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cgs1019
I am struck by the dissonance of the video. The low-budget feel makes me
expect "crackpot" more at every moment, yet at every moment I love and trust
the guy more and want to support him more.

I really love the basic concept of wanting to reign in challenging, complex,
"fringe" ideas and bind them to the public interest. This is such a simple and
fundamental idea that, while manifested to some extent in popular science, is
often done inadequately, overly sensationally or both.

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ZoFreX
If you like this sort of thing, you might enjoy the book "Physics of the
Impossible", which examines the feasibility of various science fiction
technologies (such as FTL) from a pop-sci level.

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jonnathanson
+1.

All of Michio Kaku's physics books are pretty solid, even if there's a bit of
overlap among them. "Physics of the Future," for instance, is a decent
examination of what he believes will actually be realized in 10, 20, 100,
1000, etc., years. It's a good companion piece to "Impossible."

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dsr_
I can't see it. Does he actually explain what the $56K will be used for? Are
the publishing costs so high? With a book appearing at the $100 level, that
implies a >$100 retail price -- is this a huge coffee table book, a textbook,
or is he just overconfident in sales ability?

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noblethrasher
> Does he actually explain what the $56K will be used for?

Yes, explains what needs to be done in the video:

    
    
        1. Visit colleagues to get more material
    
        2. Commission graphics and artwork
    
        3. Prepare a good book proposal for publishers
    

Regarding (1), I suppose the biggest objection is that he can just talk to
people using some kind of telecommunications tech, but 'face time'[1] offers
so much higher bandwidth for stuff like this.

[1] not FaceTime

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sspiff
Also, the man has to eat while he works on this. I don't think the goal is
that much of a stretch. I'm rather disappointed that this will fail.

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johnchristopher
I wonder if the kickstarter model can disrupt the publishing books model.

Anyway, I'd recommend the already published [http://www.amazon.com/Physics-
Star-Trek-Lawrence-Krauss/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Star-Trek-
Lawrence-
Krauss/dp/0465002048/ref=la_B000AP7AZS_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348130653&sr=1-2) for
anyone interested in both topics.

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gbraad
As mentioned on the Kickstarter campaign page: """Given the success of
Krauss's The Physics of Star Trek (Harper, 1996), – which only touched on the
issues, not the possibilities – I am confident that such a companion book
would be well received."""

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johnchristopher
I confess I only read the first paragraph, the second and third I only glanced
through them and barely laid my eyes on the others :]

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pc86
Your laziness is not something to be lauded, and it is not cute or quirky
(which I believe you think it is based on that emoticon).

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mewmoo
Is that star trek music? I wonder how quickly this video will be taken down.

I swear I've heard that music in star trek!

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damncabbage
It's "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEro8pG0hiE>

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mansoor-s
thank you

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k-mcgrady
What happens if he doesn't get a publisher for it? Would it not make more
sense to use the money from the Kickstarter campaign to allow him to work
full-time on the book for 6 months and then self-publish?

Edit: It sounds like a really interesting subject, I hope he succeeds as I'd
love to read it.

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plusbryan
It would make more sense to me if he put a PDF/kindle copy of the book on that
USB stick.

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andrewf
But the book will probably cost more and (more importantly, assuming "people
respond better when they'll get a physical gift" is the reason for offering
the USB stick) the book won't be ready until late 2014.

It would be nice if he could offer up a copy of the existing graduate level
text as a reward, but the publisher's list price is $100+ and there's probably
not much room for him to move inside that.

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error54
I think the pledges should be adjusted. I understand that he's trying to raise
for funding for this project but for $50 you should at least get a copy of the
ebook.

