Science embraces science fiction

Ironically, the older science fiction is, the less likely it is to have been tainted by modern preconceptions about alien life, and therefore the more accurate it may be.

Arik Kershenbaum, The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy

Arik Kershenbaum

Science fiction — including both novels and movies — gets mentioned surprisingly often in Arik Kershenbaum's The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy, a book about what alien life, if it exists, might be like. I found this interesting for three reasons.

1. A scientist actually enjoys reading science fiction stories and watching science fiction films and TV shows. It is sort of like gangsters watching The Godfather or baseball players reading Bernard Malamud's The Natural. Those who know the facts can enjoy the fiction created by those who mainly use their imaginations.

2. He takes this fiction seriously. He doesn't make fun of sci-fi, but instead makes use of it. Of course, it could be argued that Kershenbaum's book is itself a form of science fiction, because like sci-fi it amounts to speculation based on facts.

3. He finds older science fiction more useful than newer science fiction, as the line quoted above suggests.

He often mentions Fred Hoyle's novel The Black Cloud, a book I read as a teenager. He also makes mention of such old-time sci-fi writers as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. There are numerous references to Star Trek and even The Planet of the Apes.