That's... Highly Improbable.

Today's review is on the excellent book, Physics of the Impossible, by renowned author and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. He is beyond doubt one of my favorite scientists because of the matters he works almost exclusively with. These matters (sorry, unintentional pun) are namely the unconventional, the seemingly impractical, the impossible. More on this after the overview.








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

Author: Dr. Michio Kaku

F/NF: Nonfiction

Genre: Science, Futurism

Humor: Surprisingly much for a physics book; the well-written anecdotes link these "impossible" notions to real-life research and ways these technologies might become reality.

Stereotypical? : Hardly. This book is an expository text that reads like a novel; the concepts touched upon are well-known to viewers of Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, essentially every piece of science-fiction media ever. Among these are... well, I'll tell you in the full review.

Originality Rating: Quite honestly, 8/10. The premise of taking the fantastic and making it practical has been done before, but Dr. Kaku interweaves breaking developments in science, particularly physics (as the title suggests) into his thoughtful novel.

The Review: Physics of the Impossible is an entertaining book which delivers on all accounts. Divided neatly into Classes I, II, and III Impossibilities, the book is clear that some devices may come only well into the future, perhaps many millennia from now. But despair not- Dr. Kaku proposes that some technologies could come quite soon, even possibly within the lifetimes of those reading this right now. He also displays once more his talent of making physics interesting to the average (well, semi-average, anyway) person, previously shown in his other books, Hyperspace and Beyond Einstein. I really enjoyed this book, me being a science fan and avid Heroes viewer. It focuses on the possible technologies of the future, such as thinking androids, psychokinesis (telepathy), teleportation, and force fields to name a few, while the later chapters are closer to theories that would fulfill our greatest science fiction fantasies. Time travel? Sure! Faster-than-light movement? Someday, it'll be no problem. Wormholes and parallel universes? Of course. But the downer is that these far-advanced techs won't be practical until we gain the power of a GALACTIC REPUBLIC (gee, that sounds familiar) and can harness the energy of that whole region. Yet Dr. Kaku proposes that for technologies like invisibility or phasers, they may be possible within the century or even next few decades. And this man knows what he's talking about- he's a theoretical physicist. It's what he does for a living. My final review? 9 out of ten TARDISes. An excellent book, and a definite read for science fiction fans and anyone who has ever hoped that someday, he or she could teleport places or stop time. Just like Hiro Nakamura. Yatta!

Signing off for now,

V