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Michio Kaku has a wonderful way of putting complex concepts into everyday terms. Each chapter deals with a different topic, and often quotes the history of the idea, its use in current culture (e.g., in movies or books), and a discussion about its plausibilities.
I have a degree in Physics, but that knowledge was not needed to enjoy this book. I recommend it for all adults, and for teens.
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For those who have an interest in science and have a science fantasy inclination, this is the book for you. Professor Kaku writes in a conventional style that both informs and entertains. The book is organized around the Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist, stages of civilization development as his structure. He address the many and varied science fiction features placing each in context drawn from literature, popular culture, motion pictures, and television dramas.
Phenomena such as force fields, phasers, teleportation, faster than light travel, time travel, and perpetual motion are placed in their rightful place in the possible civilization stage. Each impossible phenomenon is judged based upon its relation to the known physical laws and the past and current research conducted by the Physics community.
What the reader is provided is a comprehensive summary of the developing physics reasoning. Key individuals contributing to and proposing the physical laws are discussed and assembled into a coherent and entertaining story. I would recommend this to anyone who has a rudimentary scientific interest and a fascination with what challenges the future offers. Today's impossible concepts are evidently tomorrow's reality, or as Albert Einstein offers "If at first an idea does not sound absurd, then there is no hope for it."
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this book is engaging, from the moment i started reading it i could not stop until i finished. being a fan of science fiction i thoroughly enjoyed reading prof. Kaku's explanations for how the things we once thought of as only being the topic of science fiction are actually possible and some already exist! "Physics of the impossible" is a fantastic literary journey into the realm of possibilities.
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I'm still reading this one, but the author had me at the introduction. I've seeen the author a few times on Fox News and I've meant to research his stuff. Finally the planets aligned and I downloaded on my Kindle. I'm very glad I did.
He makes the unexplainable easy to understand. His vision for the future, based on science, is outstanding and hopeful.
If you have the slightest interest about quantum, string theory or connectedness, you need to check this out.
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Professor Michio Kaku, arguably the next Carl Sagan, continues his work to popularize science with "Physics of the Impossible" by examining the prospects of someday turning technologies out of science fiction into science fact. A theoretical physicist in his own right, Kaku applies the known laws of physics to spacecraft, ray guns, lightsabers, invisibility, self-conscious robots, and other topics, and surprisingly, concludes that most of the dreams of science fiction can be achieved. The only catch, Kaku claims, is the amount of energy available to a civilization, which he classifies into groups based on use of fossil fuels, solar/volcanic "planetary" fuels, directly tapping the fusion in the sun, and tapping all the energy of a galaxy. The laws of physics do not preclude a ligthsaber, though unlike in the Star Wars movies, an actual device would probably be tethered to its own power plant. Basically, "impossible" is a relative term, for the most part- thermodynamics seems to be the most heartless of the laws of physics, so you're never going to see a perpetual motion machine. Kaku also explores the history of some of the concepts, such as telepathy and telekinesis, which was pretty interesting to read.
This isn't a physics book- there are no equations or diagrams. Don't expect to learn the intricate details of said laws of physics from this book. Kaku has written a book addressed to the science-interested layman to get him more interested in the subject, hopefully interested enough to take science as a career, or encourage children to do the same. You can find some of the topics in other popular science books, but Kaku is quite the gifted wordsmith, which is why you should consider reading this book in particular. Although sometimes Kaku does beat a topic to death, this book is very easy to read and digest. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in science, be it through science fiction books and films or, like me, an awesome high school physics teacher.
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