Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (عالم المعرفة #399)

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 7,879 ratings · 514 reviews

A fascinating exploration of the science of the impossible—from death rays and force fields to invisibility cloaks—revealing to what extent such technologies might be achievable decades or millennia into the future.

One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. In Physics of the...more

Hardcover, 329 pages

Published March 11th 2008 by Doubleday (first published 2008)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only

96th out of 594 books — 1,311 voters

Best Pop Science Books

18th out of 63 books — 63 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 07, 2008 Servius Heiner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Servius Heiner by: anyone who enjoys science

Shelves: science

This book is standard Michio Kaku. He starts off discussing the three classes of impossibilities. (Understand that much of what you would think of as impossible is not really impossible. In order to be proven impossible it must break a law of physics, there is not much that does.)

“Class 1 Impossibilities: These are technologies that are impossible today but that do not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century, or perhaps the next, in modified form. They includ...more This book is standard Michio Kaku. He starts off discussing the three classes of impossibilities. (Understand that much of what you would think of as impossible is not really impossible. In order to be proven impossible it must break a law of physics, there is not much that does.)

“Class 1 Impossibilities: These are technologies that are impossible today but that do not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century, or perhaps the next, in modified form. They include teleportation, anti-matter engines, certain forms of telepathy, psycho kinesis, and invisibility.”

“Class 2 Impossibilities: These are technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world. If they are possible at all, they might be realized on a scale of millennia to millions of years. They include time machines, the possibility of hyperspace travel, and travel through wormholes.”

“Class 3 impossibilities: These are technologies that violate the known laws of physics. Surprisingly, there are vary few such technologies. If they do turn out to be possible they would represent a fundamental shift in our understanding of physics.”

He also goes into detailing the classes of civilizations, which is important because there are just something you can’t do until you have the power to do them. We are a class “0” civilization.

Type 1 civilization: Those that harvest planetary power, utilizing all the sunlight that strikes their planet. They can, perhaps, harness the power of volcanoes, manipulate the weather, control earthquakes, and build cities on the oceans. All planetary power is with in their control.

Type 2 civilization: Those that can utilize the total power of their sun, making them 10 billion times more powerful then a type 1 civilization. The Federation in Star Trek is a type 2 civilization. A type 2 civilization in a sense, is immortal; nothing known to science, such as ice ages, meteor impacts, or even supernovae, can destroy it. (In the event their mother star is about to explode they can just move to another system, perhaps even move their planet.)

Type 3 civilization: Those that can utilize the power of an entire galaxy. They are 10 billion times more powerful then a type 2 civilization. The Borg in Star Trek, the Empire in Star Wars, and the galactic civilization in Asimov’s Foundation series correspond to a type 3 civilization. They have colonized entire star systems and can exploit the black hole at the center of their galaxy. They freely roam the galaxy.

Over all I was fascinated by this book, Michio has a way of explaining heavy physics without losing a reader without a doctorate. There are some things I wish he would have went into in greater detail, but I guess there are always more books.

I am growing tiered of this universe I think I will go check out the one next door.
(less)

like 9 likes · see review

Apr 23, 2008 Doug rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great introduction to current issues in Physics - without the pain of complex equations. Also, fun as the author esplores the plausibility of the physics in the Star Trek, Star Wars, and Time travel movies and books.

like 6 likes · see review

Mar 26, 2010 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

They speak only the truth when the haters call string theorist Michio Kaku desperately nutty but none who believes this would then impute him for writing a bad book. And good news for the equation-phobes as Dr. Kaku stays well clear of his pet subject in Physics of the Impossible, excepting a flip riposte to the current backlash against string theory in the final chapter (but if you're interested in the world of vibrating strings after all, I would recommend skipping The Elegant Universe by Bria...more

like 3 likes · see review

Oct 22, 2010 John Stevens rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dr. Michio Kaku is perhaps the or one of the most brilliant minds in theoretical physics living today. I've seen him present several concepts and theories on the Discovery Channel.
I am a man who truly appreciates the marvel of theoretical physics. The stuff of Albert Einstein. Although I have some education along these lines and have watched and read quite a lot, I still find it very difficult to follow.
In this book/audio book, Dr. Kaku takes us on a journey into all of those "sci-fi sciences"...more

like 6 likes · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book caught my attention. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about physics and the future of new discoveries. It is a good tool to use for learning history on science. It would also help anyone who wants to know about new technology. This book would be for young adults and older. It is a hard book to understand. Background in physics helps you to understand what is happening.

like 2 likes · see review

Jul 16, 2008 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

While I really liked this book, a lot, it felt incomplete to me in that much of the math and science behind these concepts is not very in depth. Sure, it's not a text book, but I would have liked to have seen equations or at least references to something that could explain the math.

Also, while there is a TARDIS on the cover, there is no TARDIS, and no mention of Doctor Who at all in the book. I felt slightly cheated, but not enough to not give it a five star rating.

Oh, and the other quibble. V...more

like 4 likes · see review

Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

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 culture

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Jenny williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love Michio Kaku's approach, theories and views. I follow his website from time to time to see what different discoveries he makes every day. Physics Of The Impossible is a novel that requires some background knowledge and understanding of physics to truly get what he is saying. This book had example after example after example of all of the different things they said we would NEVER be able to do as a human race and just a decade or so later we are doing far more than what scientists said was...more

like 1 like · see review

Sep 21, 2012 Priscilla added it

Shelves: science

I've read a lot of physics books, and I just can't finish this one. So. Damn. Boring. Kaku is not a very good writer; he's very inconsistent when it comes to his explanations of things/how he presents material and ideas to the reader. Sometimes he'll repeat almost the same sentence multiple times in a paragraph without elucidating further or going beyond it; sometimes he'll go to great lengths to explain things that seem to me as if they're at the "shallow" end of difficulty of understanding and...more

like · see review

Sep 16, 2012 Jake Buchanan rated it 5 of 5 stars

When you think of a high school science fair, I'm sure memories of Baking Soda volcanoes and potato light bulbs come racing to mind. Kaku had a different plan; he built an Atom smasher (also called a particle accelerator) in his basement. This led him on the fast track to a successful life as a theoretical physicist, popularizing science for much of the public eye. Kaku has done this by appearing on many television shows, hosting talk radio shows, and even writing books. In Michio Kaku's 2008 b...more When you think of a high school science fair, I'm sure memories of Baking Soda volcanoes and potato light bulbs come racing to mind. Kaku had a different plan; he built an Atom smasher (also called a particle accelerator) in his basement. This led him on the fast track to a successful life as a theoretical physicist, popularizing science for much of the public eye. Kaku has done this by appearing on many television shows, hosting talk radio shows, and even writing books. In Michio Kaku's 2008 book "Physics of the Impossible", Kaku theorizes ways for the most popular ideas of science fiction into their most realistic concepts.
Physics of the Impossible is laid out in a way that makes it easy for just about anyone to pick up and start reading. It is split into 3 sections, Class I Impossibilities, are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." These could take a few hundred years to develop, but are foreseeable in the future. Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," and therefore are only realistic thousands to millions of years from now. Lastly, Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." and would require all that we know about the laws of physics to go through immense change. In each of these sections are the subsections of the book, where the specific topic at hand is discussed. These topics consist of robots, time travel, force fields, going faster than light, parallel universes, perpetual motion, and much more.
In "Physics of the Impossible", Kaku lays out not only the most talked about things in science fiction, but he explains about how they would realistically work. He realizes that, for example, force fields come in varying states and theories. He then makes his own theory, and explains how it would be most probably made and used effectively. And that's what he does for the next 300 pages. Kaku does a great job on explaining the theories, where they came from, and how they would work realistically. The entire time you read the book you feel that Kaku is knowledgeable, that he know's exactly what he is talking about. This book is not specifically written for physics majors, nor is it dumbed down to the point where you feel as if you knew all the material prior to reading. Anyone with a thirst for knowledge or enjoys science fiction would love this book and I highly recommend it.

(less)

like 1 like · see review

May 21, 2012 Mitch Koder rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is not a single story; it is instead a collection of essays that each discuss a specific technology of the future and tells whether we could ever really have it someday. Some of the topics covered are invisibility, teleportation, parallel universes and time travel.

At first I was going to give this book 2 stars but then I realized that it wasn't that Michio Kaku (the author) did a bad job writing it; it was more that I guess I was disappointed that we aren't going to have time travel or...more

like · see review

May 20, 2012 Marco Santini rated it 4 of 5 stars

Michio Kaku is a distinguished physicist and futurist, committed to peace and environment.
In this book he introduces concepts of fundamental physics about stealth technology, teleportation time travel, force fields, etc. He bases his analysis on the newest frontiers in physics. However he admits that much more has still to be learned about physics and universe. It is actually an intriguing text aiming at teaching science. However the definition of three classes of impossibilities leaves me some...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 30, 2012 Kristi Thielen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Kaku is my kind of physicist; maybe its generational.

I love his references to Star Trek, pop movies and fiction and science fiction through the years as he details three different kinds of Impossibles: Class One: impossible by today's technology, but possible in modified form, within a century or so, as they do not violate the known laws of physics;Class Two: Impossible according to ou our understanding of the physical world but perhaps something we could grasp in a millennia to millions of year...more

like · see review

Apr 29, 2012 Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Borrowed this one from my buddy David, with whom I saw the author speak in Bristol. The book is far more in depth, but even then just seems to skim the surface of so many sci-fi topics and addresses their reality and categorizes them in three classes of impossibility.

The list is extensive: Force Fields, Invisibility, Phasers, a Death Star, Teleportation, Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Robots, ET's/UFO's, Starships, Antimatter/universe, Faster that Light, Time Travel, Parallel Universes, Perpetual Mo...more

like · see review

Apr 12, 2012 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although technically this book technically isn’t a science fiction book, its topic is about “impossible” physics, or the physics that regularly come up in science-fiction books such as force-fields, robots, time travel, interstellar travel, alternate universes, and extra dimensions. Michio Kaku, the author of the book is a theoretical physicist who has written several science books and is a host of two radio shows. Kaku, in this book looks at the theoretical physics of various “impossible” techn...more Although technically this book technically isn’t a science fiction book, its topic is about “impossible” physics, or the physics that regularly come up in science-fiction books such as force-fields, robots, time travel, interstellar travel, alternate universes, and extra dimensions. Michio Kaku, the author of the book is a theoretical physicist who has written several science books and is a host of two radio shows. Kaku, in this book looks at the theoretical physics of various “impossible” technologies and rates them into three categories:

Class one impossibilities are technologies that are “impossible today, but do not violate the known laws of science.” Kaku estimates that these technologies will be available in a century or two, or even within our lifetimes.

Class two impossibilities are technologies that we know are possible, given our knowledge of physics, but stand at the very edge of our understanding, meaning they could take thousands or even millions of years to develop. I was surprised to find time travel in this category.

Class three impossibilities are technologies that are impossible given our knowledge of physics; we would have to drastically change our understanding of physics and the universe to make them possible. Fortunately for all us science nerds out there, there are only two technologies in this category: precognition, and perpetual motion machines.

Some people may find reading about such technologies daunting, for many of them are relevant to quantum theory. However, Kaku explains quantum, string, and many other theories clearly and without too much technical jargon. It was a welcome middle ground between scientific journals and Quantum Theory for Dummies. He also frequently used “real-life” examples, referring to Star Trek when explaining interstellar travel; several books by H.G. Wells, including The Invisible Man and The Time Machine; the Large Hadron Collider; and the typical household bed sheet when explaining Space-Time.

Having been introduced to all these examples, I amassed quite the book list. Currently I am reading an anthology of H.G. Wells that includes The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and War of the Worlds, which will perhaps be followed by The Science of Star Trek by Laurence M. Krauss if I can find a copy. If not, I have The Odyssey by Homer, Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens to get through. (There was a big book sale at Chapters. The H.G. Wells book, Odyssey, and Great Expectations for only 30$!) You can expect to read my reviews of these in the coming weeks.(less)

like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Misha Erementchouk rated it 4 of 5 stars

Two things made me drop one star. First, constant references for (obvious) military applications. I understand that they are predetermined by the sub-cultural motive - military science fiction - but this is really sad to see that all this talk about different impossibilities, all this beautiful science (of which only a hint could be presented in a popular book) and just for more efficient and entertaining killing. Second, neglect of the problem of time scales, similar to that appearing in statis...more

like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Vladimir Vasquez rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

¿Qué significa Imposible?

En Fisica de lo imposible, el Doctor Michio Kaku se vale de conocidas series de televisión y de películas con temática de ciencia ficción, como Volver al Futuro, Star Trek y Star Wars, para presentarnos historias clásicas de la ciencia y darnos su opinión sobre el posible desarrollo de la ciencia en el futuro.

El autor intenta redefinir el concepto que nuestra sociedad actual posee de “Lo Imposible” y trata de ponernos en perspectiva en comparación a las civilizaciones...more

like · see review

Jul 31, 2011 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

A good book for fans of Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time,” POTI takes several concepts from the world of science fiction and speculates on the possibility of their eventual existence in real life. He explores the technology of force fields, invisibility, phasers, light speed, multiple/parallel dimensions, etc., all through the eyes of a physicist, and then, using the logic and tools of a physicist (while keeping in mind the layman audience) classifies each of these "impossibilties" int...more

like · see review

Jul 24, 2011 NJMetal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dr. Michio Kaku's "Physics of the Impossible" is the type of book that blows you mind open with the possibilites. Dr. Kaku is one of the most prolific physicists on the modern age. In "Physics of the Impossible" he explores the realistic possibilities of the science fiction of today becoming the science fact in the not too distant future.

In fact, for the most part, the stuff of sci-fi novels will not only become the fodder for tomarrow's non-fiction novels but the fiction may be near childs play...more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 15, 2010 Owen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Michio Kaku is an interesting guy- I first heard him talk on one of the Royal Society for the Arts podcasts (free online, worth looking into, but I repeat myself). In the podcast he didn't mention that he was the first name in string theory (from the 70s. If memory serves there are 9 dimensions in string theory, 10 in M theory, but I could be wrong. And I can't be bothered to check). He did say that he built a particle collider in his garage using wiring donated by a failing Westinghouse corpora...more

like · see review

Aug 09, 2009 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

There is no denying that this is an interesting book and one that presented many of the problems of physics in a way that is comprehensive, comprehensible and engaging. I think other people (people with a greater interest in science fiction, particularly) will find this book even more interesting than I did and more accessible than your standard pop science book on physics. I hadn’t realised I knew quite so little about science fiction – I hadn’t ever really thought about the fact that I hadn’t...more There is no denying that this is an interesting book and one that presented many of the problems of physics in a way that is comprehensive, comprehensible and engaging. I think other people (people with a greater interest in science fiction, particularly) will find this book even more interesting than I did and more accessible than your standard pop science book on physics. I hadn’t realised I knew quite so little about science fiction – I hadn’t ever really thought about the fact that I hadn’t seen any of the Superman films or any of the Star Trek films or any of the Star Wars films after the first couple. If you’d asked me I would have said that my disillusionment with film had only really started a couple of years ago, but clearly it goes back much further than I realised.

I think it would have helped to have known more about popular culture and thereby to have gotten some of the references here – but really, I could make do without this knowledge. So, if you don’t know which end it is best to hold your light sabre or (and even though he doesn’t actually quote Dr Who) how to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow (sorry, that one always amuses me) you will still be able to follow what is going on.

This book looks at what it says it will look at – impossible stuff. It then tries to work out just how impossible this impossible stuff is. The answer generally being, not terribly. Basically, he identifies three levels of impossibility. Stuff that is impossible now, but might not be for all that long. Stuff that is impossible now and might remain so for the next couple of thousand years. And finally, stuff that is pretty damn well close to being totally impossible and is likely to stay that way unless there is a fairly impressive overturning of some of the fundamental laws of physics. (And do you know what, if I was killed by a bullet aimed under Newtons Laws and these ended up being proven to be wrong, well, I'd be asking for my money back)

What he doesn’t like to do is say stuff is completely impossible and will always remain impossible (even when discussing faster than light travel, for example, or perpetual motion machines – although he does point out that there are one or two fairly serious problems that need to be addressed if these are ever likely to work).

I really do understand that people don’t like it when other people (you know, like me) start talking about things being impossible. I know that they point back to past predictions of the impossible and smirk and tut or whatever they think is the best way to express their disgust. And look, all that is fine – but just because you’ve seen something rather cool happen on your favourite science TV show doesn’t mean that the world has to be made to conform to your desires. For example, it is pointed out in this book that to open a wormhole that might allow us to travel backwards in time might require all of the energy contained in a body the size of Jupiter. The wormhole still might not work, of course – it still might collapse as soon as we enter it – or it might not even open at all in the first place. Is there really ever going to be a time when we are likely to convert all of the matter in Jupiter into energy just so as to try out a wormhole that may or may not work? Look, I could be completely wrong (I have been known to be in the past) but I’d have thought we might have other uses for that amount of energy, even in some strange, undefined future. Margaret Wertheim’s criticism in Pythagoras' Trousers God, Physics, and the Gender Wars of the high priests of physics (ever noticed how often these boys talk about the mind of God?) and their preference for BIG science in a world were the majority of our species are barely scratching out an existence is apt and worth keeping in mind while reading this book, I think.

I know, I know, ‘where’s your sense of adventure and your desire to dream the dream, McCandless?’ But I want more than ‘there might not be anything in the laws of physics as we know them to stop us from …’ as a reason to believe my grandkids will be living on Mars. And he does a very good job in presenting the ‘problems’ here, even if he ends up being a bit more optimistic than I would be. Given I’ve rather strong doubts we will see out another century without destroying ourselves with nuclear weapons (a threat we seem to have ignored rather bizarrely as the threat increased following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the relative safety of the Cold War) many of these questions are likely to remain academic.

There is talk of interstellar flights (and this from a creature whose furthest adventures to date have been to the moon and who nearly kills astronauts (cosmonauts) whenever we leave them on space stations for any length of time). Still, we are talking millions of years into the future – so why not? Well, economics is probably one reason. If travelling away from Earth at near light speeds is necessary for those traveling to the stars it is hard to see why any future society would bother. The stars are an awfully long way away and by the time the people on the rocket would reach these far away places billions of years will have elapsed here on Earth. Why would the people on the Earth (the people paying the bills, after all) bother sending other people so far away only for us to never hear from them again? (Well, unless they are telephone hygienists, of course) I just can’t see how we would ever think that this would be the way to go. I’m not saying we never will go off to the stars, but if we do it will not be with the same sense of exploration that Columbus was sent off with. We will be sending off these ships with the certain knowledge that we will never hear from them again.

Despite Kaku being very interested in string theory, he does present it here as having many failings and also presents some interesting questions about the possibility of us ever developing a theory of everything, either made of strings or not. He discusses this concern on the basis of Gödel's incompleteness theorem in mathematics – and given physics is the most mathematical of the sciences this ought to provide some pause for thought. Gödel's theorem says that there will always be things in mathematics that we know must be true, but can never prove to be true within mathematics itself. The goal of mathematics throughout the ages (since the Greeks, in fact) has been to create a system of proven axioms that build upon each other to create the whole structure of mathematics as a logically complete whole – Gödel proved this dream could never be realised. The fear now is that this may also be true in Physics.

Kaku does not think that very much is impossible (given enough time, enough knowledge, enough energy). He also handles some of the philosophical issues in some of the impossibilities mentioned (teleportation is an interesting case – are you the same person on the other side of the teleportation device as you were on the side you entered or should Scotty be charged with your murder?) The stuff on lasers – and why light sabres might not be the weapon of choice for quite some time (a bit of a problem with the necessary power source) was very interesting.

There is a question I’ve always wondered about which is mentioned here, but not explained. We now have images of single atoms. In fact, I’ve seen pictures of atoms spelling IBM. All well and good (although I am rather surprised it didn’t spell Coke). But I’ve always wondered how this is possible given the uncertainty principle. The uncertainty principle says that we can’t know both the position and velocity of a particle with absolute certainty, I’d have thought a photo of an atom would violate that.

All the same, this book presents lots of material on many fascinating topics in a way that is very accessible (no maths required). My favourite was a discussion on how to point a star that is collapsing to form a black hole so that it becomes a kind of huge gamma ray weapon. I mean, you’d really have to hate the people you were aiming it at. I would say that to go to all that trouble you would really have to hate them rather a lot. Presumably they would need to be responsible for Vogon poetry or something equally atrocious.
(less)

like 10 likes · see review

Aug 07, 2009 Khalid rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio-books, already-read

This book is one of the best books in science. The approach the author follows is really interesting. He would take things that are available in science fiction, and discuss how they can be possible in real life, using real physics. He starts with attainable things, until he gets to the really impossible things.

This book gives you a very interesting perspective on physics, and is definitely worth reading for any science fiction enthusiast. Part of what I read from it is that science fiction writ...more

like 1 like · see review

May 30, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-on-tape

Interesting exploration of what may someday be. Though Mr. Kaku is probably right in most of what he says, I am saddened to hear that he leaves little room for the discovery of additional laws of physics that will blow his timeline away.

I suppose that it is only to be expected when you speak to a scientist that only what is scientifically known now is appropriate for consideration. Still, he could have been a bit more flexible in how he worded some of his more absolute statements. Right now, he...more

like 1 like · see review

May 27, 2009 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was fantastic, and it really captured my attention! I've read enough 'the physics of Star Trek' and the 'physics of Indiana Jones' books to know that lots of them are written so that people can snag some of that bandwagon money with their smarts. There's nothing wrong with that, mind, if I had any great grasp of physics I'd be writing a book about how the magic of Harry Potter surely has a grounding in reality. But my point is that a lot of those books are dry and lengthy, and they req...more

like · see review

Apr 12, 2010 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won't pretend to have properly understood more than a quarter of the theoretical physics covered in this book but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy a book that discusses topics such as nuclear fired x-ray lasers, ramjet fusion engines and nanobots.

What this book does brilliantly is to introduce the basics of theoretical physics (eg quantam theory, Newtonian mechanics, Maxwell's theory of light, how a laser works etc) and to survey the keenest cutting-edge of contemporary techno...more

like 1 like · see review

Sep 10, 2012 Sebastian rated it 3 of 5 stars

(I read this book in Spanish, so my review is in that language).
Michio Kaku es especialista en explicar teorías física en simples palabras y este libro no es la excepción. Además de ser un libro fácil y rápido de leer, éste también nos entrega una pincelada de los últimos avances tecnológicos logrados en los últimos años.
Divide su libro en tres secciones de acuerdo al nivel de posibilidad que un fenómeno representa. De esta manera, existen fenómenos que quizás la física podrá llevar a cabo dent...more

like · see review

Mar 02, 2012 Juan Manuel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cuando leo esta clase de libros me pregunto por qué las cátedras universitarias se reducen al desarrollo teórico de problemas y nunca se explora el contexto histórico detrás de cada teorema. Muchos podrían decir que no es práctico puesto que no influye en lo operacional, sin embargo, considero que tener un panorama de lo que fue la concepción de una idea en cierta época, puede hacer de la misma idea algo mucho más fascinante. Para mí es difícil obviar el resto y encontrar deslumbrante el desarro...more

like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Mangoo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are people that turn to computer science because when young they were compulsive videogamers. And there are people who turn to be physicists because when young they wanted to believe in science fiction. Michio Kaku belongs to the latter, perhaps rarer, case and this book represents his attempts to check the status of technologies depicted in the likes of Star Trek or Star Wars according to the current scientific knowledge and outlook.
Kaku presents a rather wide range of topics in a format...more

like · see review

Aug 04, 2009 Nicholas rated it 5 of 5 stars

I like Michio Kaku. It's amazing that someone as intelligent and lost in the world of physics and mathematics to co-create something as complicated as string field theory can write lay science books that are interesting, relevant and funny. In this book, Kaku uses science fiction to explore the realms of physics and as a jumping-off point for the discussion of theoretical physics. A sucker for science fiction myself, I found Kaku's discussions enlightening and heartening. Kaku is an optimist wit...more I like Michio Kaku. It's amazing that someone as intelligent and lost in the world of physics and mathematics to co-create something as complicated as string field theory can write lay science books that are interesting, relevant and funny. In this book, Kaku uses science fiction to explore the realms of physics and as a jumping-off point for the discussion of theoretical physics. A sucker for science fiction myself, I found Kaku's discussions enlightening and heartening. Kaku is an optimist with a firm belief in human progress and has a way of reaching to the kid in all of us by showing how marvels such as teleportation, interstellar travel and time travel are perfectly acceptable in the realm of modern physics. He is also very careful to caution us by giving realistic timetables for humanity's ability to harness and create such fabulous inventions.

Kaku divides all of his discussions on the "impossible" into three categories:

Class I impossibilities: Things that do not violate the known laws of physics, but require a technological leap in our capacity to manipulate energy. These impossibilities have a strong chance of becoming reality by at the latest, the end of the century.

Class II impossibilities: Things that do not violate the known laws of physics but are impossible for our level of civilization (his categorization of types of civilizations classified by their use of energy is interesting in its own right). These things may become possible if we make the leap from a type 0 civilization to a type 1 civilization (more on this below).

Class III impossibilities: Things that violate known laws of physics, but that may be possible if we expand our knowledge and find ways to create conditions or environments that violate these laws and create new ones (sounds crazy, but Kaku insists this would be possible for a type 3 civilization).

Before I forget, Kaku explains (based on the work of noted physicist Freeman Dyson) we are a type 0 civilization because we use dead plant and animal matter as our chief source of energy, which is extremely limited and inefficient. A type 1 civilization has mastered terrestrial energy - they can manipulate the weather, mine the oceans and tap energy at the core of their planet. A type 2 civilization has mastered stellar energy - their energy consumption is so vast they need to extract it from a star. A type 3 civilization are galactic, they consume and can manipulate the energy of multiple stars in multiple solar systems. We are on the verge of breaking through to a type 1 civilization. Depressing right? The leap between levels of civilizations, however, is predicted to occur at faster and faster rates, much like computer speeds doubling and doubling where growth becomes exponential. The hardest part is starting out. ;)

Anyway, the most interesting thing is that most of the bizarre and seemingly magical technology discussed in Physics of the Impossible Kaku classifies as Class 1 impossibilities. As crazy as it may sound, teleportation, cloaking devices, robots and the harnessing of anti-matter are all possible by the end of the century. This is more than wishful thinking. Kaku presents sound science to back up his claims, which is enormously exciting and makes me anxious for the future.

Sadly, things like faster-than-light interstellar travel and time travel are class 2 impossibilities that we will never see in our lifetimes.

A great book for the kid in all of us, and a sound introduction to the world of theoretical physics for all people. (less)

like 1 like · see review

Sep 06, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a good book for understanding where we are in terms of making some of science fiction's wildest technological advances into reality. It's a difficult read, but easy to get into because Kaku is obviously a science fiction buff who is very passionate and knowledgeable about his topic. I'm only giving it three stars, though, partly because so much of it is wildly speculative and therefore not very practical, and partly because Kaku, like so many other scientists along with him, sometimes pu...more

like 1 like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
صدر حديثا - كتب و...: * فيزياء المستحيل - ميشيو كاكو	23	155	5 hours, 44 min ago

combine
Other Editions (33)

More editions...

Genres

Science

594 users

Non Fiction

329 users

Science > Physics

142 users

Science > Popular Science

25 users

Science > Technology

13 users

Science > Astronomy

11 users

Reference

10 users

Science Fiction > Time Travel

10 users

Reference > Research

6 users

Literature > American

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Michio Kaku

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and popularizer of science. He’s the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory), and continues Einstein’s search to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into one unified theory.

More about Michio Kaku...

Books by Michio Kaku

Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century

Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the Universe

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Physics of the Im...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel
avg rating	preview: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Telepor Goodreads rating: 4.06 (7879 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1168341.Physics_of_the_Impossible?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320469147l/1168341.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1168341.Physics_of_the_Impossible?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku[/url]

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel (عالم المعرفة #399)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website