Adding to an already packed list of James Bond novels and books set for release in 2006 is The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology behind 007’s Fabulous Films by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg. Initially set for release in April of this year, the book will be released 25 August 2006. It is published by Wiley Publishers, 224 pages in length, and can be pre-ordered from amazon.com for $24.95. No Amazon UK release is currently scheduled.

The book, which features an introduction by past literary 007 author Raymond Benson, covers the science of James Bond: the gadgets, cars, and technology. Trivia lists and questions of ‘possible or impossible,’ according to Wiley Publishers are asked throughout. The full description follows:

While many people dream about Bond’s sartorial, gambling, and sexual skills, they also dream about his gadgets: the Walther PPK gun, golden guns, ray guns, and rocket-firing cigarettes; spy shaving kit, poisonous shoes, homing device buttons; Geiger counter wrist watch, television wrist watch, buzz saw wrist watch; decoders, voice synthesizers, cameras, decapitating tea trays, killer hookahs, moonbuggies, underwater propulsion devices, mini-jets, and cars cars cars. And that’s just a small glimpse at the vast array of super-science gadgets issued by Q Division to Agent 007. This book is about the gadgets, the science, the cars, and the technology. How realistic are James Bond’s adventures and all the equipment that goes with them? How believable is Jaws, who chews through metal? Just how easy is it to crack into all those top-secret facilities to save the world? Is James Bond rooted in science, or are his adventures and the technology that fills them science fiction?

This book answers the question that moviegoers find themselves asking after watching the newest Bond movies — possible or impossible? Most chapters are wrapped around a Bond gadget — whether it’s his cars, his explosives, or his super secret messages. Other chapters delve into the origins of Mr. Bond - the world of real spies - or the plausibility of a memorable villains’ psychopathic plans. (Could you, in fact, build a headquarter inside a volcano?) Whether Bond’s adventures are in the air or under sea, our authors discover if there’s fact behind the fiction.

There are plenty of movie trivia lists (“Who was the best James Bond?”, “The Bond Cars,” “The 00 Secret Agents”), as well as an introduction by Raymond Benson, the author of several 007 novels. Benson is a Bond addict who, like this book’s reader, wonders if a gondola can turn into a hydrofoil. Additionally, simple diagrams explain several difficult concepts, such as lift (on a chapter about flying cars).

Wiley Publishers

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Pre-order the U.S. hardback edition of ‘The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology behind 007’s Fabulous Films’ from Amazon.com (25 August 2006)

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