Welcome to the “Being Matt Murdock” companion website!
Being Matt Murdock: One Fan’s Journey Into the Science of Daredevil is available in paperback, ebook and audiobook formats and can be purchased through most online vendors.
If you’ve read the book or are currently reading it, check the individual chapter headings below for the complementary material mentioned in the Author’s Notes! And don’t forget to rate and review it!
By Christine Hanefalk
Being Matt Murdock
One Fan’s Journey Into the Science of Daredevil
You will never look at Marvel’s fan-favorite character Daredevil the same way again! Welcome aboard a genre-bending ride into the science of the senses – heightened or not.
What could possibly allow someone to hear heartbeats? Is there something it is like to “radar-sense”? Is it true that your remaining senses are enhanced if you lose one of them? And, how is it that any of us can sense anything in the first place?
Christine Hanefalk takes an in-depth look at these questions – and many more – in this definitive examination of the science of Daredevil’s senses. Here, the author makes a passionate case for how we might come to understand this fan-favorite character on a deeper level while making room for both his blindness and heightened senses.
Panels, clips and additional information
Browse by chapter
Chapter 1 | The Literary Adventures of the Super Blind
The Blind Super-Senser • The Blind Martial Artist • The Blind Superhero • The "In-Betweener"Summary Daredevil is not the only...
Chapter 2 | Sense, Nonsense, and the Stimulus
The "Five" Senses • Understanding the Stimulus • Stimulus ProblemsSummary What is the difference between what Daredevil does,...
Chapter 3 | Body, Meet World
Sensory Receptors • Sensory Organs • What Is Meant by "Heightened" Senses?Summary How do the matter and energy of sensation...
Chapter 4 | Senses, Meet Brain
The One-Note Language of the Nervous System • Patterns in the Brain • The Metamodal Brain • The Brain Without Sight • Sensory...
Chapter 5 | Super Hearing
The Ear – An Audible Crash Course • The Things We Can(not) Hear • What Daredevil Actually Hears (Maybe)Summary Can a person...
Chapter 6 | A Sense of Space
The Cornell Experiments • Edward Smallwood and the Super Echolocators • Your Brain on Echoes • Echolocation on SteroidsSummary...
Chapter 7 | The Forgotten Nose
Your Nose Is Better Than You Think • The Science of Human Smell • The Smell of Hair Tonic • The Scent of a MemorySummary...
Chapter 8 | Heat and Touch
Color, Heat, and Temperature • Reading by Touch • Haptic ExplorationSummary What happened to Daredevil's early ability to sense...
Chapter 9 | The Perplexing Origins of the Radar Sense
Humble Beginnings • Silver Age ShenanigansSummary We begin our deep dive into Daredevil's radar sense by looking at where it...
Chapter 10 | Making Sense of the Radar Sense
The Radar According to Frank Miller • The Self-Sufficient Radar • A World Without a Radar Sense • Sound Waves Versus Radio...
Chapter 11 | There Is Something It Is Like to Radar-Sense
The Radar Sense Experienced • Visualizing the Radar • The Conspicuously Absent RadarSummary Regardless of what we make of its...
Chapter 12 | The Missing Sense
The Oddly-Shaped Elephant in the Room • Blind Moments • The ToolboxSummary The book's final chapter takes a closer look at how...
Christine Hanefalk
Christine is best known in the Daredevil fandom for her website The Other Murdock Papers, where she has been writing about all things Daredevil for over fifteen years.
Combining her love of Daredevil with a lifelong interest in the natural sciences, she has turned a particular focus to examining the character’s heightened senses through a scientific lens.
She holds a Master of Science in Engineering degree in Molecular Biotechnology from Uppsala University.
