Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (Paperback)

by Michio Kaku (Author)

Textbook Details
* Paperback: 352 pages
* Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0307278824
* ISBN-13: 978-0307278821
* Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
* Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
* Rating:

Textbook Description
Teleportation, time machines, force fields, and interstellar space ships—the stuff of science fiction or potentially attainable future technologies? Inspired by the fantastic worlds of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Back to the Future, renowned theoretical physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku takes an informed, serious, and often surprising look at what our current understanding of the universe’s physical laws may permit in the near and distant future.

Entertaining, informative, and imaginative, Physics of the Impossible probes the very limits of human ingenuity and scientific possibility.

Physics of the Impossible Review
Kaku presents the daunting advanced concepts of physics to readers in an enjoyable journey through the possibilities of force fields, ray guns, Star Wars force abilities (through psychokinesis), time travel, and much more. The greatest strength of this book is the presentation of recent breakthroughs such as the seemingly invisible “metamaterials” that disappear under a specific frequency of light, or the series of breakthroughs that can be achieved with the possible discovery of room-temperature superconductors. Kaku is an appealing master storyteller (as seen in his appearances on The Universe series on the History Channel) and Physics of the Impossible is a wonderful book offering much food for thought.

I found this book highly entertaining and thought-provoking. Extrapolating from current knowledge is, as Kaku admits, a tricky proposition. Yet he does a creditable job, succeeding largely through his approach: selecting venerable science fiction technologies – invisibility, force fields, ray guns, etc. – as end points to work towards by surveying appropriate cutting edge scientific disciplines. Through this literary device Kaku is able to offer the general reader a very good snapshot of scientific research circa 2008. Science fiction fans will be edified by the very real possibilities produced from this imaginative genre, a genre that has inspired many a scientist over the years. Kaku is one of the most effective popularizers of science around, and if this take on scientific research attracts new interest to the field, just maybe the war against science will not be so easily won after all.

This is probably Dr. Kaku’s best popular work since Hyperspace or Visions. Here is a wide range of scientific possibilities to be explored. Dr. Kaku’s gift is to make modern physics comprehensible to those of us without a mathematical background. In this book he uses his gift to explain how the standard model and string field theory (which he is coauthor of) can be applied to contemplation of some of our most wildest scifi dreams. The chapters are short and easily read in short sittings, which lends well to a book that stretches the imagination so dramaticaly. Dr. Kaku is also careful to remain objective in discussing different theoretical approaches which is an admirable feat given some of the topics ventured into in this book. If you enjoy cutting edge science, it doesn’t get more cutting edge then this. Thank you Dr. Kaku for yet another wonderful journey.

I first saw an interview with Michio Kaku on the Science Channel and was immediately interested in him and his ideas. When the cover caught my eye in the bookstore I just had to read it. Michio clearly and simply lays out a number of theories or inventions that have been deemed impossible and breaks them down into their physical laws and then categorizes them on their actually possibility. A must read for anyone interested in theoretical physics.

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