The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology Behind 007's Fabulous Films

Having been a James Bond fan for sometime now, I was intrigued when I first saw and then bought a copy of The Science Of James Bond. The Bond films are famous for their fantastic gadgets, villains and plots so the idea of someone looking at exactly how plausible they really are is an intriguing notion to say the least. The execution of that idea, as the book shows, is mostly an well written, tongue in cheek reality check for 007. As you might expect the book is mostly about the science and technology used in the long running film series (or at least its first twenty films from 1962's Doctor No to 2002's Die Another Day). Here the book excels. Writers Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg seem to have done their homework as they present the scientific, technical and even historical reality of a whole multitude of gadgets, villains and plots. The results can be utterly surprising at times such as the reality of the background of A View To A Kill's Max Zorin or exactly how plausible is the Goldeneye EMP weapon from the film of that name. Other examples include the writers also look at two of the urban legends born out of 1964's Goldfinger, how plausible Goldfinger's plot really is and taking many of the plot points of 1967's You Only Live Twice to task (including the Volcano Base itself). All the while the writers manage to stay both technical and readable, especially with their tongue in cheek prose style. The result, on this side of things anyway, is a readable reality check of the James Bond films. The book does have issues though. While the writers have done their homework on the science and technology, their knowledge of the films themselves seems to be utterly lacking at times. There are numerous goofs such as, for example, listing Bond creator Ian Fleming with writing the film version of A View To A Kill, despite it having been written twenty years after his death, the writers literally missing whole plot points for Goldeneye or listing the novel Fleming was working on at the time of his death as On Her Majesty's Secret Service (when it was really The Man With The Golden Gun). The writers also take several importunity's to plug their previous books in The Science Of series such as into the section on the Little Nellie auto-gyro for example. There's also a whole list of other gadgets including the "bowler hats", "boat jumps" and "the ever-popular rocket firing cigarette" that the book mentions on its cover that aren't covered in any size, shape or form within the book itself. Considering how well written the rest of the book is these things all come as rather disappointing. Overall The Science Of James Bond an enjoyable and at times even surprising accounting of the reality of quite a few of the gadgets, villains and plots seen in the first twenty James Bond films. Yet the numerous factual errors on the Bond films, the unnecessary plugs of other The Science Of books and the lack of items included on the book's own cover do show that the bo

This is an excellent book for James Bond lovers and Gadget Lovers. The Appendix on the Martini was fun to read.

If you loved the James Bond movies, this is the book for you. It explains a lot of the gadgets that James Bond used. It is very entertaining. I enjoyed it.

Reading a book like this can give one the urge to watch the Bond movies yet again. Although the authors review the James Bond movies with a critical scientific eye, it is obvious that they are genuine 007 fans. Some of the technology, big and small, portrayed in the Bond movies are discussed in very accessible and engaging prose. Some scientific ideas are discussed form basic principles, but in a clear and completely painless way. Thus readers can learn a bit of science along the way. However, I did stumble upon an error. On pages 99-100, Geiger counter readings are discussed with the intention of establishing the total radiation dose received by Bond due to radioactive contamination on the surface of his body. The one essential element that is missing from this otherwise quite accurate and illuminating discussion is the time factor. A Geiger counter measures a count rate which is a measure of the number of radiation particles impinging upon it per unit time. If the Geiger indicates a reading of 72.8 (no dimensions given in the movie), it is clear that this reading must include time in its units. Thus, in keeping with the units given in the book, the reading could have been 72.8 mSv/hour. Consequently, assuming that this figure also represents the rate at which Bond's whole body is absorbing the radiation dose (which, by the way, is not usually the same as the Geiger counter reading), the total dose received by Bond would be the dose rate multiplied by the time during which he was contaminated. So, for example, if his body surface was contaminated for, say, 10 minutes, then his total dose would only be about 12 mSv. This minor point aside, this is a wonderful book that could be enjoyed by anyone - especially Bond fans.