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A review by jeannemixon
Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
5.0
When I first started this book, I got stopped by the science. Who knew physics was so hard to understand. I was going to return it to my granddaughter's dad and told her it was too hard for me because there was so much science. She said, well, grandma is there a lot of math? I said no no math, just words. She said, but then you should be able to read it if it's just words.
So I gave it a second try and pushed through the harder words and really enjoyed it! The conceit is that Kaku is exploring the feasibility of science fiction tropes that are currently considered impossible. He divides them into three categories: impossible but maybe in the near future possible as we learn more and develop better tools; impossible for us but if you could harness the power of the sun or something advanced like that maybe not impossible; and violates the laws of physics as we understand them currently. For some of the problems he states the question and then subtly changes it in his answer which sounds annoying but is actually entertaining.
While the books sounds kind of silly -- are you really interested in warp drives or invisibility -- he has actually produced a guide to the current state of physics as of the writing of the book, 2009. Which sounds like not so long ago, but as some reviewers pointed out in the world of science, especially the world of robotics, is. But since I am not a scientist, it was interesting to me to read about the state of physics in 2009. I assume that if you want an update on how things turned out, you can simply check wikipedia. For me 2009 was current enough.
So I gave it a second try and pushed through the harder words and really enjoyed it! The conceit is that Kaku is exploring the feasibility of science fiction tropes that are currently considered impossible. He divides them into three categories: impossible but maybe in the near future possible as we learn more and develop better tools; impossible for us but if you could harness the power of the sun or something advanced like that maybe not impossible; and violates the laws of physics as we understand them currently. For some of the problems he states the question and then subtly changes it in his answer which sounds annoying but is actually entertaining.
While the books sounds kind of silly -- are you really interested in warp drives or invisibility -- he has actually produced a guide to the current state of physics as of the writing of the book, 2009. Which sounds like not so long ago, but as some reviewers pointed out in the world of science, especially the world of robotics, is. But since I am not a scientist, it was interesting to me to read about the state of physics in 2009. I assume that if you want an update on how things turned out, you can simply check wikipedia. For me 2009 was current enough.