Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 352 pages
- Published by: Doubleday
- Edition: 1st Edition March 11, 2008
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0385520697
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0385520690
-
Book Dimensions:
9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
- Weighs: 1.2 pounds
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.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Kaku (
Parallel Worlds,
Beyond Einstein,
Hyperspace) introduces complex theories of physics to general readers. As
The Economist notes, Kaku “makes a good stab at explaining difficult physics. But his grasp of his subject is perhaps trumped by his knowledge of science fiction.†While Kaku writes in language designed to captivate nonscience readers, it’s his references to pop cultureâ€"from
Star Trek to
Terminator 3â€"that clarify his fringe physics. (Those wishing to explore the topic further can refer to Kaku’s detailed footnotes.) To critics’ delight, Kaku also investigates the moral issues of futuristic technology that SF does so well and asks provoking questions about the fate of humankind. The only complaints? Kaku omits a few obvious SF parallels, and, more seriously, readers who don’t enjoy that genre may find less of interest here.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
Reader ReviewsI think the biggest reason some people reject evolution is a lack of imagination. It's difficult for humans to picture the vast amount of time it takes for organisms to evolve. To speculate on the many mysteries of science takes a vivid imagination. Fortunately, author Michio Kaku has one. He brings a bright-eyed, gee-whiz sense of wonder to his subject, and his writing makes it contagious. Kaku's passion is the impossible, and in this book he explores different kinds of impossibilities. Class I ideas -- -- force fields, invisibility, phasers and death stars, teleportation, telepathy, psychokinesis, robots, extraterrestrials and UFOs, starships, antimatter and anti-universes -- could come true within a hundred years. Class II impossibilities, such as travel faster than light, time travel and parallel universes, may be possible in the next millennium. Class III ideas, like perpetual motion machines and precognition, may never be possible, given the underlying science. As Kaku explores his subjects, he uses references anyone can understand: Star Trek, Back to the Future, The Wizard of Oz, Flash Gordon, Men in Black. The result is an imminently readable physics primer. I hesitated to use the phrase "physics primer" in that last paragraph, because it might scare off people who would actually find this book fascinating. The truth is, this is nothing like that dry science book you remember from school. It entertains, educates and inspires.
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