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From Publishers Weekly
In this latest effort to popularize the sciences, City University of New York professor and media star Kaku (Hyperspace) ponders topics that many people regard as impossible, ranging from psychokinesis and telepathy to time travel and teleportation. His Class I impossibilities include force fields, telepathy and antiuniverses, which don't violate the known laws of science and may become realities in the next century. Those in Class II await realization farther in the future and include faster-than-light travel and discovery of parallel universes. Kaku discusses only perpetual motion machines and precognition in Class III, things that aren't possible according to our current understanding of science. He explains how what many consider to be flights of fancy are being made tangible by recent scientific discoveries ranging from rudimentary advances in teleportation to the creation of small quantities of antimatter and transmissions faster than the speed of light. Science and science fiction buffs can easily follow Kaku's explanations as he shows that in the wonderful worlds of science, impossible things are happening every day. (Mar. 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
PRAISE FOR PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE
"The study of the impossible has opened up entirely new vistas for science, Kaku rightly points out. It is here that the book's strength lies: the impossible is a gateway for discussing what we still do not understand, those gray areas that are surely the most fascinating part of physics.....there is a surprising amount of heavyweight, cutting-edge science woven into the fabric of this book. String theory, dark energy, metamaterials and quantum theory are just a few topics - PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE is, in fact, an easy-to-read physics primer in disguise. Kaku has huge reach as a writer and speaker. Hopefully, his acessible, entertaining, and inspiring book will set the next Einstein on his or her path to glory."
-The New Scientist
"Michio Kaku's latest book, PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, aims to explain exactly why some visions of the future may eventually realized while others are likely to remain beyond the bounds of possibility...Science fiction often explores such questions; science falls silent at this point. Mr. Kaku's work helps to fill a void."
-The Economist
"Kaku encourages us to take seriously ideas the world's great intellects consider crazy, reminding us that these same powerful minds sometimes wonder whether such way-out theories and models of the universe are crazy enough to be true."
-The Seattle Times.
"An invigorating experience"
-THe Christian Science Monitor
"A genuine tour de force, skillfully delivering cogent descriptions of everything from subatomic structure to the laws of the universe."
-Kirkus (starred review)
“Science and science fiction buffs can easily follow Kaku’s explanations as he shows that in the
wonderful worlds of science, impossible things are happening every day.” —Publishers Weekly
"Tour de force of science and imagination."
- LIbrary Journal (starred review)
"A fascinating exploration of the interface between science and science fiction, extremely well researched, lively, and tremendously entertaining. – Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics and The Science of Leonardo
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR PARALLEL WORLDS
“A wonderful tour, with an expert guide, of a cosmos whose comprehension forces us to stretch to the very limits of imagination.” —Brian Greene, author of The Fabric of the Cosmos
“A highly readable and exhilarating romp through the frontiers of cosmology.”
—Martin Rees, author of Our Cosmic Habitat and Our Final Century
“A roller-coaster ride through the universe—and beyond—by one of the world’s finest science writers.” —Paul Davies, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, Sydney, and author of How to Build a Time Machine
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR HYPERSPACE
“One of the best popular accounts of higher physics.” —Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal
“Among the best of the genre to appear in recent years . . . What a wonderful adventure it is.” —New York Times Book Review
“Mesmerizing . . . the reader exits dizzy, elated, and looking at the world in a literally revolutionary way.” —Washington Post Book World
"The study of the impossible has opened up entirely new vistas for science, Kaku rightly points out. It is here that the book's strength lies: the impossible is a gateway for discussing what we still do not understand, those gray areas that are surely the most fascinating part of physics.....there is a surprising amount of heavyweight, cutting-edge science woven into the fabric of this book. String theory, dark energy, metamaterials and quantum theory are just a few topics - PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE is, in fact, an easy-to-read physics primer in disguise. Kaku has huge reach as a writer and speaker. Hopefully, his acessible, entertaining, and inspiring book will set the next Einstein on his or her path to glory."
-The New Scientist
"Michio Kaku's latest book, PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, aims to explain exactly why some visions of the future may eventually realized while others are likely to remain beyond the bounds of possibility...Science fiction often explores such questions; science falls silent at this point. Mr. Kaku's work helps to fill a void."
-The Economist
"Kaku encourages us to take seriously ideas the world's great intellects consider crazy, reminding us that these same powerful minds sometimes wonder whether such way-out theories and models of the universe are crazy enough to be true."
-The Seattle Times.
"An invigorating experience"
-THe Christian Science Monitor
"A genuine tour de force, skillfully delivering cogent descriptions of everything from subatomic structure to the laws of the universe."
-Kirkus (starred review)
“Science and science fiction buffs can easily follow Kaku’s explanations as he shows that in the
wonderful worlds of science, impossible things are happening every day.” —Publishers Weekly
"Tour de force of science and imagination."
- LIbrary Journal (starred review)
"A fascinating exploration of the interface between science and science fiction, extremely well researched, lively, and tremendously entertaining. – Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics and The Science of Leonardo
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR PARALLEL WORLDS
“A wonderful tour, with an expert guide, of a cosmos whose comprehension forces us to stretch to the very limits of imagination.” —Brian Greene, author of The Fabric of the Cosmos
“A highly readable and exhilarating romp through the frontiers of cosmology.”
—Martin Rees, author of Our Cosmic Habitat and Our Final Century
“A roller-coaster ride through the universe—and beyond—by one of the world’s finest science writers.” —Paul Davies, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, Sydney, and author of How to Build a Time Machine
CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR HYPERSPACE
“One of the best popular accounts of higher physics.” —Jim Holt, Wall Street Journal
“Among the best of the genre to appear in recent years . . . What a wonderful adventure it is.” —New York Times Book Review
“Mesmerizing . . . the reader exits dizzy, elated, and looking at the world in a literally revolutionary way.” —Washington Post Book World
Inside This Book
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, but needs another edit.,
By Don (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (Paperback)
Interesting, but needs another edit. Seems hastily written. This idea of ranking possible civilizations according to their power output only, seems short-sighted to me. It's easy to talk about future (or extraterrestrial) civilizations powerful enough to juggle star clusters as easily as juggling tennis balls, but do astronomers ever see stars being juggled like that? No. Even if it were possible, maybe ETs have other interests besides power output. Kaki occasionally tosses in off-topic opinions that can be distracting and annoying. That said, he is an accomplished physicist who knows his stuff, and who is careful to avoid making outright false statements, and despite the above caveats, I found this an interesting and entertaining read. It is mainly about the feasibility of sci-fi techs like you see in shows like Star Trek. I gave it only 3 stars because it seems like it was written in a hurry and rushed to print.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Degrees of Scientific Impossibility,
By
This review is from: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (Hardcover)
Will something that is impossible now eventually become possible? In order to answer this question, the author has divided various potentially outrageous ideas into three levels of impossibility, based on current and expected future technological capabilities and the known laws of physics: Class I impossibilities, occupying over 60% of the book, Class II impossibilities and Class III impossibilities. The higher the class level, the more impossible (or farther in the future) the possible realization of the idea is perceived to be. In progressing along these classes, the author goes from practical nuts-and-bolts solutions to various problems that may be possible in a matter of decades to centuries (Type I), to dreams whose realizations may never happen according current very abstract ideas that are at the very forefront of scientific thinking and thus very far removed from our everyday experience (Type III). The writing style is clear, friendly, authoritative and quite engaging. The book contains no diagrams whatsoever. In most cases, they are not really essential because of the author's excellent ability to express complex ideas into clearly understandable prose. However, in a few cases, diagrams would have been quite welcome. Technical terms are clearly explained as they occur so that anyone could read this book and learn a great deal from it. However, science buffs would probably appreciate it the most.On a more technical note, on a couple of occasions the author has pointed out that when an electron and an antielectron (positron) meet, they annihilate producing "gamma rays at an energy of 1.02 million electron volts or more" (p. 184) and "annihilate one another and create a gamma ray" (p. 278). The first statement can be misleading while the second one is incorrect and is likely a misprint. When an electron and a positron meet in free space, they annihilate producing two gamma rays (not one) of energy 0.511 million electron volts each (or more, depending on their relative kinetic energies when they meet); the total gamma ray energy released being (at least) 1.02 million electron volts. Production of two gamma rays is essential to conserve momentum, i.e., total momentum before the collision must equal total momentum after the collision, which is impossible if only one annihilation gamma ray is produced.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too sci-fi,
By
This review is from: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (Paperback)
For me, this was more speculative than technical, leaving me feeling that almost anyone could have written it. I prefer reading material about more current applications and research than this book provides. The author certainly knows his physics and makes the information easy to digest for those who want to be working in physics over the next 60 years. I wish I had such information when I was in high school in 1944.
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