Similar in ambition to The Science of Superheroes (reviewed elsewhere on this site), The Science of Superman delves deeply into the mythos of the last son of Krypton and examines just how plausible all those crazy powers of his really are. Surprisingly, most of it ends up being at least faintly believable, given a few basic assumptions regarding the environment on Krypton and the Kryptonian physique. I always enjoy stuff like this — especially when the author is looking to prove, rather than disprove, the possibility that someone like Superman could exist.
However, this book focuses a bit too much on the “science” and not quite so much on the “Superman.” While the scientific background and examples are helpful, they end up comprising about 75% of the text. I found myself skimming past complex explanations of physics, chemistry and biology just to get to the point: how, exactly, do these things apply to the son of Jor-El? Nevertheless, a fascinating read for any geek.