I’m Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact

Simon and Schuster, 2002

Over the past five decades, Star Trek has become a global phenomenon. Its celebration of mankind's technical achievements and positive view of the future have earned it an enduring place in the world's psyche. It has inspired countless viewers to become scientists, inventors, and astronauts. And they, in turn, have wondered if they could make even a little piece of Star Trek real in their own lifetime. As the great phycist Stephen Hawking put it when he saw a plywood, plaster and plastic set that represented the ship's warp engines, "I'm working on that."

As in his missions aboard the fictional Starship Enterprise, William Shatner, the actor who is Captain James T. Kirk, and his co-author, Chip Walter, take us on an adventure to discover the people who are working on the future we will all share. Whether its exploring warp drive, robots, immortality or being “beamed up,” some of the world’s top scientists investigate the realms of what was once considered improbable and show how it just might be possible (or already exists).

PURCHASE BELOW … A very limited supply of this book is available at the Vagabond Adventure store here for $9.99. Free shipping.

Notes from the author:

For several years in the 1990s I created and ran an early learning game company called Digital Alchemy. That was after writing my first book, Space Age (see below). But after a while, I wanted to return to writing and got a remarkable opportunity when I met William Shatner. He had a general idea about writing a book about the imagined technologies of Star Trek. It turned out that Shatner’s agent and my agent worked at the same agency, and because I had written Space Age, the two of them thought maybe I would be the sort of writer who could handle the technological stuff and still have fun with the sci-if.

Meeting and working with Bill Shatner was one of the best experiences of my career. We immediately hit it off in our first conversation on the phone (even though I had the flu). I wrote a proposal based on the idea that many of the technologies imagined for a TV series set in the 23rd century were already coming true as we were entering the 21st century. Simon and Schuster liked the idea and soon Bill and I were gallivanting all over to meet with the scientists who were creating these Trekian advances right now.

It’s been 20 years since we made those journeys and still the technologies of the 21st century are rapidly making there way into and beyond those Treks envisioned in the 1960s, 80s and 2000s. Some of the book is showing its age, but the trips were still a hoot and a lot of the science still holds up!

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