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The Physics of the Buffyverse, a recent book written by Jennifer Ouellette, describes physics through the lens of the mythology of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show.
The Physics of the Buffyverse digs deep into the mythology of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it's spin-off Angel. The book uses anecdotes of the mythology as springboards for parallel or similar ideas in physics. The comparisons aren't completely off-the-wall as both Buffy mythology and physics can get pretty strange. Ouellette, who has also written Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics, has created a lively, if eccentric book. Rather than lambasting pop culture distortions of physics, she uses them to explain even the most exotic of concepts with ease. The text is equation-free and a faster read than most pop physics books. Purists might scoff at using a fictional universe to help explain the nature of our own, but the well-defined transitions allow the reader to digest the explanations. The text never gets dry or tedious. The Buffyverse portions are always entertaining and Ouellette obviously has a diehard fan's encyclopedic knowledge of both TV series. There is one fogged explanation of cosmic expansion rates. The ambiguous footnote on page 278 suggests that physicists generally think the expansion of the universe is stable instead of accelerating (the actual consensus). It's a small point, and whether the footnote is in error is probably irrelevant to the intended reader. The only real shortcoming of the book is it's narrow focus. Readers not familiar with Buffy or Angel might get quickly lost by the complex mythology, slang, and imagery. The book covers, in overview, the following topics in physics among others:
Jennifer Ouellette, 2006, 352 pages ISBN: 0143038621
The copyright of the article The Physics of the Buffyverse in Physics is owned by Katharine M. J. Osborne. Permission to republish The Physics of the Buffyverse in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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