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A review by professorfate
Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
4.0
My history with physics is not a pleasant one. In my senior year of high school, I took honors physics—since I was in honors pretty-much-everything-else. The teacher was a drug addict and was only there about half the time until he got fired (effective the end of the school year), after which we saw him occasionally. I had to try to learn physics pretty much on my own for the state’s Regents exam—which I barely passed.
Then I went to Virginia, where I had to take three semesters of physics—not because of any desire to, but because I was in the Engineering School and it was a requirement. With my thorough knowledge gleaned from high school, I just barely squeaked by those classes as well.
So, given all that, why am I reading a book on high-end theoretical physics? Because in spite of the system’s best efforts to make me hate it, I do find certain areas of physics fascinating. Now, this is not to say that I understand it all (or even half of it). In fact, I recently read a book on nanotechnology (a “For Dummies” book, even), and had a really hard time of it.
Dr. Kaku, however, has a gift for making his explanations for the most part understandable to somebody like me. In this book, he explores areas of physics that are staples of science fiction and that many people consider impossible in the real world—topics like teleportation, Death Stars, time travel, telekinesis, telepathy, and so forth—and discusses whether these are really impossible or not. He divides the book into three sections: Class I impossibilities, which are things that are impossible with today’s technology, but could come into being within the next century or so; Class II, which are things that could happen but will take centuries or millenia, and; Class III, which are things that are impossible given our current knowledge of the laws of physics.
This is not to say that I understood everything he said. There were some topics that elicited the equivalent of a blank stare from me, but I found that I could follow most of the book, and more than most other science books I’ve read. But what really helped me was his voluminous knowledge of science fiction and being able to relate the concepts to things that I’ve seen in the movies or read in books.
If you have an interest in physics, I would recommend this book.
Then I went to Virginia, where I had to take three semesters of physics—not because of any desire to, but because I was in the Engineering School and it was a requirement. With my thorough knowledge gleaned from high school, I just barely squeaked by those classes as well.
So, given all that, why am I reading a book on high-end theoretical physics? Because in spite of the system’s best efforts to make me hate it, I do find certain areas of physics fascinating. Now, this is not to say that I understand it all (or even half of it). In fact, I recently read a book on nanotechnology (a “For Dummies” book, even), and had a really hard time of it.
Dr. Kaku, however, has a gift for making his explanations for the most part understandable to somebody like me. In this book, he explores areas of physics that are staples of science fiction and that many people consider impossible in the real world—topics like teleportation, Death Stars, time travel, telekinesis, telepathy, and so forth—and discusses whether these are really impossible or not. He divides the book into three sections: Class I impossibilities, which are things that are impossible with today’s technology, but could come into being within the next century or so; Class II, which are things that could happen but will take centuries or millenia, and; Class III, which are things that are impossible given our current knowledge of the laws of physics.
This is not to say that I understood everything he said. There were some topics that elicited the equivalent of a blank stare from me, but I found that I could follow most of the book, and more than most other science books I’ve read. But what really helped me was his voluminous knowledge of science fiction and being able to relate the concepts to things that I’ve seen in the movies or read in books.
If you have an interest in physics, I would recommend this book.