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Julie Beck writes in The Atlantic that though science and fantasy seem to be polar opposites, a Venn diagram of “scientists” and “Lord of the Rings fans” have a large overlap which could (lovingly!) be labeled “nerds.” Several animal species have been named after characters from the books including wasps, crocodiles, and even a dinosaur named after Sauron, “Given Tolkien’s passion for nomenclature, his coinage, over decades, of enormous numbers of euphonious names—not to mention scientists’ fondness for Tolkien—it is perhaps inevitable that Tolkien has been accorded formal taxonomic commemoration like no other author,” writes Henry Gee. Other disciplines aren’t left out of the fun—there’s a geologically interesting region in Australia called the “Mordor Alkaline Igneous Complex,” a pair of asteroids named “Tolkien” and “Bilbo,” and a crater on Mercury also named “Tolkien.”
“It has been documented that Middle-Earth caught the attention of students and practitioners of science from the early days of Tolkien fandom. For example, in the 1960s, the Tolkien Society members were said to mainly consist of ‘students, teachers, scientists, or psychologists,’” writes Kristine Larsen, an astronomy professor at Central Connecticut State University, in her paper “SAURON, Mount Doom, and Elvish Moths: The Influence of Tolkien on Modern Science.” “When you have scientists who are fans of pop culture, they’re going to see the science in it,” says Larson. “It’s just such an intricate universe. It’s so geeky. You can delve into it. There’s the languages of it, the geography of it, and the lineages. It’s very detail oriented, and scientists in general like things that have depth and detail.” Larson has also written papers on using Tolkien as a teaching tool, and discusses with her astronomy students, for example, the likelihood that the heavenly body Borgil, which appears in the first book of the trilogy, can be identified as the star Aldebaran. “I use this as a hook to get students interested in science,” says Larson. “I’m also interested in recovering all the science that Tolkien quietly wove into Middle Earth because there’s science in there that the casual reader has not recognized."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday May 04 2015, @10:07PM
What I find most flawed about Narnia is that Aslan (Jesus) is playing games, and no one seems to get that. Aslan is obviously so powerful that He could have killed the White Witch in an instant, before she did any harm. Why didn't He? If it's because He doesn't want to interfere, then why is He always popping in and interfering? So... He's using the White Witch to test the peoples of Narnia? But the tests are softball tests, and He will step in when one isn't going the way He wants?
Fantasy is a very nice break from having to prove every little detail. It can also be an interesting trip into historic and wrong thinking. If you want your fantasy world to be flat, you can of course do that. However, most fantasy worlds begin to unravel when anyone actually applies some logic and thinking. We have to suspend disbelief, and any good story helps us do that. Narnia is weak on that front, but it still works.
Harry Potter has lots of glaring logic problems. Like, that it is impossible to cause love with magic. Why?! Harry Potter security is also pretty silly. Gringotts uncrackable vaults are always being cracked, polyjuice potion works far too well, the Order of the Phoenix can't keep their headquarters secure, the Ministry of Magic can't secure their offices either, Voldemort's Horcruxes which may be protected by the best security of all, Dumbledore's criticisms notwithstanding, are nevertheless still found and taken, and of course Hogwarts security is routinely broken by children. The Magic of Harry Potter is much more mechanized and detailed than in Lord of the Rings, and that can't help but run into problems. Middle Earth holds up better than most under the assault of logic, but it too has problems.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 05 2015, @05:43PM
What I find most flawed about Narnia is that Aslan (Jesus) is playing games, and no one seems to get that.
So, exactly like the bible, then?