Who HQ brings you the stories behind the most beloved characters of our time. This What Is the Story of? title is out of this universe! Learn the history of the Time Lord, the TARDIS, and the epic battles they've faced across time and space. When Doctor Who began airing on the BBC in 1963, British audiences were introduced to the rogue Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Now, viewers from all over the world are glued to their screens for the mysterious Doctor's intergalactic adventures. But how did this time traveler became such a beloved character? Author Gabriel P. Cooper provides readers with the inside scoop on the Doctor's unique time machine, loyal companions, and diabolical foes. This book, just like the show, is sure to intrigue a new generation of fans.

In zir travels through space and time through the last 26 years, the Doctor has had to solve numerous complex problems-- problems that often have applications to everyday life. This book, written by one of the Doctor's biggest fans, will explore, discuss and demonstrate the Doctor's distinctive view of life, ethics, spiritualism, and science. On the evening of September 17th 1983, six-year-old Courtland Lewis sat down on his grandparents' linoleum floor to watch something he later learned was called Doctor Who. It changed his life. Thirty-eight years later, Courtland Lewis is a philosophy professor and the author or editor of fifteen books--six of them about Doctor Who. Most recently, Dr. Lewis edited Kiss and Philosophy: Wiser than Hell (2020). Courtland Lewis knows his stuff. As a lifelong Doctor Who fan, he understands the history and concepts of the show. As a philosophy professor, he has the ability to break down those concepts, examine them from every angle, and convey them to readers in easily understandable terms. Doctor Who can be a tricky show, full of high and complex continuity, and Dr. Lewis is an admirable guide through the vortex of space and time. --R. Alan Siler, author of Doctor Who's Greatest Hits (Remastered) and editor of Children of Time: The Companions of Doctor Who (2018) Love Doctor Who? Want to figure out how to live a life actually worth living? Then let Courtland Lewis be your guide in this fantastic explanation of what it means to be a good person, by way of the example set by the Time Lord from Gallifrey. -Massimo Pigliucci, author of A Field Guide to a Happy Life: Brief Lessons for Living (2020), and How To Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (2017). It's hard to believe, but although the Doctor has been around for billions of years, he (or occasionally she) has only been teaching us how to live for sixty years. Lest we forget some of the Doctor's invaluable lessons, they have been captured, distilled, and condensed in this handy little communication device called a 'book'. This 'book' thingy has the descriptor The Real Meaning of Doctor Who. Amazing, really. -Ray Scott Percival, author of The Myth of the Closed Mind: Understanding How and Why People Are Rational (2012) Grab your bow-tie (because bow-ties are cool) and don your fez. Dr. Lewis takes us on an exciting journey into the examined life of the Doctor, getting us into the thick of things with moral dilemmas faced by the Doctor, the mission to avoid the monsters who threaten us with their evil actions, and how to deal with endings. This guidebook shows us how to lead a better life with the Doctor as our exemplar. As the Doctor says, You've got to throw yourself in! so embrace your inner flaneur and engage with life. Geronimo! -Paula Smithka, co-editor of Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010), More Doctor Who and Philosophy: Regeneration Time (2015), and Community, Diversity and Difference: Implications for Peace (2005) --Courtland Lewis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

Philosophers look at the deeper issues raised by the adventures of Doctor Who, the main character in the long-running science fiction TV series of the same name.

Much philosophical work on pop culture apologises for its use; using popular culture is a necessary evil, something merely useful for reaching the masses with important philosophical arguments. But works of pop culture are important in their own right--they shape worldviews, inspire ideas, change minds. We wouldn't baulk at a book dedicated to examining the philosophy of The Great Gatsby or 1984--why aren't Star Trek and Superman fair game as well? After all, when produced, the former were considered pop culture just as much as the latter. This will be the first major reference work to right that wrong, gathering together entries on film, television, games, graphic novels and comedy, and officially recognizing the importance of the field. It will be the go-to resource for students and researchers in philosophy, culture, media and communications, English and history and will act as a springboard to introduce the reader to the other key literature in the field.

Pastor and author Matt Rawle is on a mission. He sees Christ all around him—in books, movies, TV shows, rock music—and he wants to share what he sees. As Matt says, "God offers the raw ingredients, and 'culture' is whatever we cook up." In The Salvation of Doctor Who, pastor and author Matt Rawle draws on the long-running TV show and cult favorite Doctor Who to chart the intersection of faith and science. Chapters include “Bigger on the Inside,” “God and Time and God’s Time,” “The Oldest Question in the Universe,” and “The Sonic Screwdriver Is Mightier Than the Sword.” The Salvation of Doctor Who is part of The Pop in Culture Series of Bible studies in which Matt Rawle stirs up a tasty gumbo of insight, humor, and inspiration based on some of your favorite pop culture classics. A DVD featuring four sessions with the author, a full Leader Guide, and a Worship Resources Flash Drive also are available for group study.