I’ve read a bit more than my fair share of comic books in my time. Though in the last decade I’ve been reading titles that are just a bit outside the standard spandex-and-supervillian context, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be occasionally found with my nose in something closer to that long-established standard.

Ever since Watchmen was published, superhero deconstruction has been all the rage, but it’s usually delivered as a gritty, humanistic retelling of traditional storylines. Until I read The Physics of Superheroes, I’d never heard of anybody actually tackling the pseudoscientific backstories behind superhero powers. This book made for a very entertaining read, (though I have to admit I skipped over some of the discussions of actual math).

Could Ant Man really shrink himself down that small? (No, not, at least, until Marvel recently came up with an explanation that attributed for where all his resultant excess mass goes.) How could Shadowcat possibly have walked through walls? (Quantum tunneling.)

There are other interesting tidbits to be found in the book as well (Superman, for instance, used to go after corrupt industrialists and Washington lobbyists; would that we had that iteration around in real life today). It’s a good read for the geek on your Christmas list.