Borderlands of Science:
How to Think Like a Scientist
and Write Science Fiction

WELCOME TO THE FARTHEST
FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE...

Present-day science, as Carl Sagan observed, is more like science fiction than most science fiction.Where does the dividing line lie today?

Charles Sheffield, an internationally respected scientist and an equally renowned science fiction writer, whom The Washington Post and others have compared to Arthur C. Clarke, surveys with an expert eye the current state of physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, computers, and other fields, and brings the reader up to date on just how strange the universe is turning out to be.

When exploring strange territory, a knowledgeable guide is a necessity. Fortunately, Dr. Sheffield is eminently qualified to explain the nature of the new mysteries which science is just beginning to explore. The readers will be in good hands as they are taken on an expertly guided tour of the

Borderlands
of
Science.

How to Think Like a Scientist
(and Write Science Fiction)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Sheffield, a mathematician and physicist, is a past president of both the American Astronautical Society and the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the chief scientist of the Earth Satellite Corporation. He has published over a hundred technical papers and monographs on such subjects as nuclear physics, gravitational field analysis, and general relativity, and an equally large body of popular science articles for the layman. He serves as a science reviewer for several prominent publications. In science fiction, he has received the coveted Nebula and Hugo Awards, as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel for Baen, Brother to Dragons. His other SF novels for Baen include Between the Strokes of Night, The Mind Pool, Convergent Series, and its sequel, Transvergence. Dr. Sheffield's scientific and literary credentials make him the ideal writer to reveal the exciting breakthroughs of modern science to the reader while losing none of the science and none of the excitement.

Cover art by Patrick Turner

Hardcover
Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, November 2000

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-671-31953-1

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Typeset by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

Borderlands of Science: How to Think Like a Scientist and Write Science Fiction

WELCOME TO THE FARTHEST FRONTIERS OF KNOWLEDGE...