A New Genre? Gedanken Fictions

[James Marinero]

Gedanken Fictions - I hadn't come across this genre before, although it's clearly science fiction but written with a degree of scientific rigour. Based on 'thought experiments' (arguably the most well-known of which was Einstein's sitting on a light wave), it seems to offer some fascinating fiction possibilities. It's on my 'To Read' shelf. Maybe one for @Brian Clegg's incisive reviews. Gedanken fictions - physicsworld.com

Image Credit: Harald Ritsch/Science Photo Library

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Strange, that the story quoted in the article 'the tiniest atom', by Sarah Schofield, is an adaptation of a well-known tale about Martin Guerre—which has been plundered for novels, plays, musicals and movies.

Your mention of Einstein's light wave experiment reminded me of his brilliant explanation of his Theory of Relativity:

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”

 

[Brian Clegg]

Gedanken Fictions - I hadn't come across this genre before, although it's clearly science fiction but written with a degree of scientific rigour. Based on 'thought experiments' (arguably the most well-known of which was Einstein's sitting on a light wave), it seems to offer some fascinating fiction possibilities. It's on my 'To Read' shelf. Maybe one for @Brian Clegg's incisive reviews. Gedanken fictions - physicsworld.com

Thanks for the pointer, James - I've asked them for a review copy. The biggest examples of this at the moment are in the Science and Science Fiction series from Springer. To my mind, if you try to hard to do the science, it can make for a poor story, but it will be interested to see how they do.