Paranormal claims tantalize the investigator with too much substance to dismiss them entirely, and too little evidence to accept them as fact. Wherever claims of fact mingle with fiction and new beliefs entangle with the old, the researcher enters dangerous territory. Science and Science Fiction. The three authors include two practicing physical scientists and a lecturer in the history and philosophy of science. Movies are especially important in studies of paranormal phenomena as seedbeds of imagery and ideas with a potential to influence millions of viewers.
Movies are the leading exponents of the science fiction message, for better or worse.
Any insights into the drift of that message are welcome, though this book offers only limited glimpses of how science fiction shapes and is shaped by cultural beliefs. The book begins with a history of science fiction and its scientific roots, hitting such high spots as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, Hugo Gernsback and Amazing Stories, the golden age of the 1940s-1950s and subsequent directions. This story has been better told, but the chapter serves as a useful summary to prepare for the chapters to come. A second chapter treats the scientific content of science fiction, and bemoans the relative poverty of good science throughout the genre. The science ranges from rigorous application of known or hypothetical principles throughout the plot to jargon or patter thrown in as a backdrop to conventional adventures or romances, with the balance tilted heavily toward the latter.