The Truth About Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve by Gregory Mone

The Truth About Santa: Wormholes, Robots, and What Really Happens on Christmas Eve Reviews

• 
  Stephen

  Do you have a science loving teen who does not believe in Santa Claus, and not just because s/he is too old? Perhaps they question how it all could happen in one night, all over the world, by just one fat man, and some amazing reindeer?
  
  Then this is the book for you. Do you want to know the real reason there is an Elvis impersonator convention every year in Las Vegas? Santa's behind it.
  
  Do you want to know what really happened at Tunguska, Siberia in 1908? Eight hundred square miles of trees were felled. Scientists, innocents that they are, attributed this event to a meteor exploding before it hit the ground.
  
  No, it was Santa and a little mistake with one of his, well, (you have to promise not to tell) Alien technologies. Shhhhh.
  
  The fact is this is one fun little book that will prove to you, well almost, that Santa is alive and well, and ... I think you should read the book to understand the advanced Alien shhhhh science that went into making Santa Claus who he is today.
  
  Now, for those of you saying, all the science is bogus, that is not entire true. Here is
  Gregory Mone's website. Here is a
  list of articles Mr. Mone has published. So if he says that someone has published an article or done a study, he is serious, but that is where seriousness ends.
  
  Sure, you'll think this book is just a funny way of retelling a favorite old chestnut. Truth is always stranger than fiction. Beware! the Christmas ornaments are listening. Read the book, decide for yourself. By all that is holy do NOT be up at midnight on Christmas Eve unless you want to be responsible for the collapse of the space/time continuum for some poor... oops. I've said too much already.
  
  
• 
  Sam

  This is the perfect book for those non-believers that use science to take on the Claus, setting out the scientific theories behind his magic and mystery. Granted it does help to believe in extra-terrestrial life but Mone gives a well thought out arguement for this, not to mention every other aspect of Santa's world. The only problem is that he insists that reindeer can't fly but I am willing to forgive this for the time being. A fabulously entertaining little read.
• 
  Silverbuttonbooks

  As much as I enjoyed the scientific approach to Santa’s magic the author built up the science to the detriment of the myth. I can buy that Santa uses alien technology but didn’t appreciate that Santa gets drunk on eggnog and spanks the elves (who are clones but Santa doesn’t know because he doesn’t ask questions).
  
  This book would be great for a science loving nonbeliever but it might just as easily convince them to dislike instead of disbelieve in Santa.
• 
  Angela

  Perfect for truthseekers of all ages
  
  I love a solid, scientifically well-researched book on anything, but I had never come across one on Santa. This book is filled with science, humor and answers. My 7 year old son and I highly recommend it.
• 
  Matt

  An enjoyable read, looking at some of the current science and tech (from 2010, and plenty of hypothetical future advancements) as to how Santa could go about doing his yearly rounds.
• 
  Matthew Harwood

  A good book that uses science to explain how Santa can achieve the incredible feets that he does on Christmas Eve. A fun book for fans of science and a nice quick read with a unique style of topic.
• 
  Megan

  The very scientific writing style makes it a little challenging to read at times, but it explains how Santa manages to pull it all off every Christmas Eve…
• 
  Lynnea Taylor

  
  For every true believer, this book not only confirms your beliefs, but it arms you to prove them. How many doubters have you met, spoiling the Christmas spirit during the holidays? How many times have you wanted more fire power than "He's magic"? Now you've got it. Full scientific mapping of the methods of Santa to make all his rounds in one night, including the sleigh's true fire power, Santa's assistants and their use of time travel and wormholes, as well as the true role of the elves. I would take exception to only one thing in this book: the author's portrayal of Mrs. Claus. Disparaging Santa's wife landed well out of place here and makes this reader wonder whether the author has some grudge specifically with her, perhaps she turned him down for a date once. Or maybe he simply has a problem with women in general. Whichever answer, it seems to me that in a book giving scientific fact, the personal lives of Mr. and Mrs. Claus are clearly unnecessary fields for writing material.
  
  I would point out that the science in this book has been well laid out and backed up with interviews and references, giving this author weighty authority. Readers may well trust his research when given names of leading scientists currently working on many of the technologies explained herein. I am grateful for the wealth of information here that gives me the backing I've always longed for when defending the reality of the Jolly Elf. I fully enjoyed this book as a great tour through the real North Pole. Therefore, barring the minor slip from authorial protocol, taking fault with Mrs. Claus, this author has done a bang up job.
  
  I offer one warning though. This book is certainly not for children. Given the defamation of Mrs. Claus character and some other highly revealing science, this book should only be read by adults. The information in this book could easily be filtered through an adult to a child needing stronger explanations than the whole magic theory, however, do it carefully. And on Christmas Eve, take your Santa Claus's life into consideration, stay in bed for Pete's sake. And don't forget the cookies and milk.
• 
  Judy

  Gregory Mone, please do not mess with my head about Santa. Everyone knows that he lives at the North Pole, he is assisted by elves, he has a magical sleigh and flying reindeer, and he visits every house on Christmas Eve to deliver gifts to those who are deserving--and a few who are not. I grew up years and years ago in Washington, D.C. and every Christmas Eve, and I mean every Christmas Eve, the newcasters showed the radar on the DEW Line--yes, that's how old I am--displaying a clear radar image of Santa leaving the North Pole and heading for the United States. Please do not use science to explain that Santa really is a resident of Brooklyn, not as fat as I believed, and that he uses alien technology to accomplish the "midnight miracle". Listening devices in the Christmas ornaments to discover who is naughty and who is nice? Please. Wormholes and cloning to explain how he makes global deliveries in a timely manner? You make me laugh. And I thought that I knew what happened at the Tunguska fire event? Apparently, you want me to believe that 800 square miles of trees were felled by Santa when an experiment with those alien technologies went horribly wrong. What can I say about this sci-fi take on the magic of Santa? I say, "Good day, sir. Again I say good day."
• 
  Meaghan

  This is a cute and amusing sci-fi take on Santa Claus. The author establishes how Santa knows what every child wants and delivers all the gifts in one night, and how he funds his operation. Mone, a science writer, explains the technology necessary for Santa to do what he does -- which is provided by aliens, of course. We humans have nowhere near the capabilities yet. But he also lets us know what humans are capable of doing, and the theories behind things like wormholes and hyperdrive sleigh engines that Santa uses to get his toys delivered on time. And how the reindeer appear to fly when, clearly, they cannot actually do so. And why it's a REALLY bad idea to sneak out of bed and try to catch Santa under your tree on Christmas Eve.
  
  This isn't really a book for children; the science is too complicated and there are some references to sex (Santa's "ho ho ho" initially referred to his promiscuous wife). I would recommend it as a Christmas gag gift for a teen or adult science nut. The short chapters make it especially good for toilet reading.
• 
  Clare

  This wonderfully witty and clever look at Santa is not only fun, but also covers quite a bit of territory. I'm amazed at what the author manages to fit into this look at the jolly old elf's operations. He covers a wide variety of topics, from blackholes and wormholes to hibernation to global warming, and, the Tunguska fireball event. There is quite a bit of science imbedded in this story, albeit briefly. Some of the advances in the scientific community mentioned are the Da Vinci system used for medical operations, Gabor Forgacs' organ printer which makes organs for transplants, and machines that partially build themselves. (Thankfully they still need help from humans, that whole Terminator scenario is too creepy to think about). There's also quite a bit of humor. What does an Elvis convention in Las Vegas and Publisher's Clearinghouse have to do with North Pole operations? Well, you'll just have to read the book to find out.
• 
  Nicole Romine

  This novel initially has a witty, clever construct - using science to explain how Santa does his business. I, however, really struggled to get through the last half of the book. I think this was mostly because the delivery was the same every chapter: the author introduces a "magical" Christmas phenomenon, the author poses an interesting scientific explanation for this magic, then the author sites a bunch of studies from the early to mid 2000's to support his theory, and finally the author makes a humorous observation or some one-liner. For me, it just got derivative. Also, I may be stupid, as the science got boring after a bit. If you love science and Santa, though, you'll probably love this book.
  
• 
  Nicolas Healey

  I can't say I have any complaints about this book. Written as a fake non-fiction book, it is actually very funny, and what's even more crazy is that the guy makes sense. While not a story, per se, Gregory Mone really did his research in explaining how it really is theoretically possible that Santa is real. Yes, some of his reasoning relies on far fetched-theories of the barely possible, and far from plausible, they are still possible. And that's what makes it so enjoyable. This is not just some man spewing nonsense in an attempt to be funny. As a wise man once said, humour lies in truth. Gregory Mone has done well in bringing together wittiness and wackiness in The Truth About Santa.
• 
  Charles JunkChuck

  A valuable addition to my personal library, Mone confirms several of my own long-held suspicions (particularly, The Big Man's employment of an obviously genius-level grasp of quantum physics, singularities, and so on, in completing his rounds both efficiently and secretly. I'd hypothesized some manipulation of space/time, but nothing like this) and explains a lot that I never even thought to ask about. A must-read for all cynics, skeptics, Scrooges and other assorted n'er-do-wells and an excellent companion piece to Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages."
• 
  Betsy

  Mone intersperses cutting edge technology with a what if hypothesis of why it just might be true that Santa is responsible for all (or some) of those gifts under the Christmas tree. The text is engaging and might make some readers google some of the scientists, researchers and technology referred to by the author. I like the way Mone intersperses humor too. Some parts were laugh-out-loud funny. This slight book might be just the thing to engage a reluctant reader who is tech-minded.
• 
  Ownbymom Ownby

  Gregory Mone is a contributing editor at Popular Science Magazine. This book lets people like me [who think that science is very cool but don't really understand it:] know what is new in scientific theory. Mone does this by discussing how Santa does what he does. Magic, Mone explains early on, is just science that hasn't yet been explained. In addition, the book is very funny. Chapter 24 is my favorite.
• 
  Staff Favorites

  Could Santa really do all he is rumoured to do? Sure, says Mone, with a little science and technology to help. With listening devices implanted in ornaments, he can tell who is naughty and nice. Wormholes in space make it possible to visit every house in the world in one night. And the reindeer are just cover for his warp-powered sleigh.
  
  Drawing on the work of scientists and researchers, Mone gives us a whole new view of Santa and the possibilities of science in creating Christmas magic.
• 
  Amanda

  This book was definitely something different. I liked the logic that the author used to "prove" that Santa is real. I thought the best part of the book was all of the new-ish scientific research that I had never heard of before. A printer that can print human organs?? I had to look that up to see if it was true. There were other interesting things too. It had a fun sense of humor to it but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had a deeper interest in physics/technology/etc.
• 
  Anne

  Disclaimer: I won this in a Goodreads giveaway!
  
  I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, but it took me a LONG time to finish. It was hilarious - a total nerd book. But I feel like it could have been cut by at least a quarter (maybe more) and retained its charm.
  
  Its perfect for any academics or scientists looking to talk to their kids about Santa.
  
  
• 
  Tyler

  Some very funny parts and some interesting parts, but not as good as I thought it could be. The writing was a little dry and I found myself getting bored at times. I found it better when I read it in small parts rather than for an extended period of time. Worth a read, but not worth buying (so get goodreads to give it to you, like I did).
• 
  Adam

  Okay-This is a must-read for those who want to know how plausible Santa would be. The combination of (nigh-impossible) high-tech biology (elf cloning), materials science(self-assembling toys!) and physics (wormholes connecting houses, causality violation) with side-splitting intelligent comedy had me floored. This is not to be missed!
• 
  Spencer

  I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is sort of a "science of ..." type book, but unlike most of those, this assumes Santa Claus is real. I loved that Mone's intended audience is clearly adults and not children.
  
  Sometimes this The Truth about Santa was too clever for itself. However it's a fun read for those Holiday plane trips.
• 
  D.A. Fellows

  5/5 stars. For what it is, this is a pretty good book. It's only a couple of hours of reading time, and it blends real science with the whole Santa legend to "prove" how it could be done. Good for kids with a decent reading level, or adults with enough kid left in them to not be embarrassed reading it.
• 
  Stephanie

  Meh - it was okay. I thought this book was going to be really funny, but to me it wasn't. Or maybe I just don't get science nerd humor. Mone's idea to prove scientifically how Santa can actually do what he does on Christmas is an interesting one. But the execution seemed repetitive and after about half the book it became a bit boring.
• 
  J.M.

  A whimsical spin on the legend of Santa Claus, using recent technological advances and science fiction to make the case for Santa's reality. While neat in theory, I really couldn't read much of it, but I can understand how it would appeal to other spec-fi fans.
• 
  Kathryn

  Summary: Santa - he's mysterious, endowed by aliens, and coming to your house via wormhole!
  
  Review: It was interesting for the first 50 or so pages. Then I forced myself through the next 50 or so pages. Then I just skimmed the last 50. Seriously, enough, sir.
• 
  Jerrilynn Lilyblade

  I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
  
  http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/10263187
• 
  Heather

  Creative and well-researched, but a bit boring. On the bright side, though, I met my Goodreads goal!
• 
  Sarah

  Very creative and insightful! Can be a bit complex when discussing the particulars of time-travel and wormholes. However, when not being too technical, this is an amusing and entertaining book.