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A review by mexscrabbler
Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku
5.0
This 2008 book was written by Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist at City College of NY, a co-founder of string field theory and a follower of Einstein's quest to derive a unified theory of everything. He is also a well-known writer with a knack for explaining things as simply as possible (but not more so). In this book he does an excellent job at explaining, in layman's terms (well... a bit more than a layman's knowledge is recommended), some of the cutting edge technologies that are pushing the boundaries between Science Fiction and Science.
He does this by dividing the technologies into three categories: Class I, II and II Impossibilities (because all progress consists of making the "impossible" possible. All of the classes require conformance to known laws of physics.
Class I impossibilities are impossible today but can be understood with today's Physics, so could be realizable in this century or the next. Examples are force fields, teleportation, antimatter engines and telepathy.
Class 2 impossibilities are just beyond our understanding of the physical world, but could be possible on a scale of millenia. They include things like time machines and hyperspace travel.
Class 3 impossibilities violate the laws of Physics, and these technologies, if implemented, would cause a fundamental shiift in our understanding of the world. Examples include perpetual motion machines and precognition.
Each technology / concept is introduced with a history of its appearance throughout history, in ancient cultures, in science fiction or in cutting edge development.
It is a very stimulating book, and I only regret that it has not been updated to include the last 13 years during which much progress has been made in Class 1 technologies.
He does this by dividing the technologies into three categories: Class I, II and II Impossibilities (because all progress consists of making the "impossible" possible. All of the classes require conformance to known laws of physics.
Class I impossibilities are impossible today but can be understood with today's Physics, so could be realizable in this century or the next. Examples are force fields, teleportation, antimatter engines and telepathy.
Class 2 impossibilities are just beyond our understanding of the physical world, but could be possible on a scale of millenia. They include things like time machines and hyperspace travel.
Class 3 impossibilities violate the laws of Physics, and these technologies, if implemented, would cause a fundamental shiift in our understanding of the world. Examples include perpetual motion machines and precognition.
Each technology / concept is introduced with a history of its appearance throughout history, in ancient cultures, in science fiction or in cutting edge development.
It is a very stimulating book, and I only regret that it has not been updated to include the last 13 years during which much progress has been made in Class 1 technologies.