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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
On the boundaries of science and fiction, 5 Jun 2008
Michio Kaku takes a pleasant verbal stroll along science fiction classics like force fields, time travel, parallel universes, telepathy, artificial intelligence and the like, while explaining the physics that would be involved in making these come true. Quite a lot more is physically possible than one would think.
Mr Kaku does a fine job of systematically exploring the boundaries of science and fiction. Unfortunately, his prose is rather bland and the anekdotes - the icing on the cake in books like this - lack the liveliness that is needed for a really gripping read. For readers who prefer content over style this should be no deterrent.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An entralling high level snapshot that challenges possibilities, 23 April 2008
Got this book and finished it the day after it arrived. Captivating stuff ! As a high level introduction to the current state of a variety of scientific areas it's fantastic.
Kaku tends to spend a little more time on the areas close to him, but everthing gets good coverage. As a springboard to understand current progress it allows the reader to go off and find more information on the particular subject areas that interest them.
I read it in the same week as Ray Kurzweil's 'The Singularity is Near' and it's interesting to see both the overlap, and how things have moved on in 5 years.
All in all a great book for the layman and those with a scientific background. Oh, and a great price for a hardback book right now :)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great premise, reasonable execution, 11 Jun 2009
The premise of this book is fabulous. Take all the things which we've read about and seen in science fiction books, TV shows and films, and examine how possible, or impossible they are.
So we have phasers, death stars, time travel, warp engines, telepathy and many many more. Yes, it's a geek heaven, but hopefully the book is accessible enough to attrect a wider audience. It certainly deserves it.
Kaku's approach is to look at the fictional invention, explain why it is impossible as it stands, but then go on to see how real physics could create something similar in the future. He classes inventions into type 1,2 and 3 impossibilities, possible in some form within the next century, possible in the distant future, and impossible given the laws of physics as they are currently understood. This is a framework which gives the author the opportunity to potter around on some of the more exciting playing fields of modern physics.
The most surprising thing about the book is the number of things he tags as type 1 impossibilities (starships, forcefields and teleportation amongst them) and the very small number of type three (perpetual motion, precognition).
The strength of the book is simply its source material. The whacky world of theoretical physics is one that should have interest to many beyond a purely scientific audience, especially when described in the largely layperson's terms used here.
My one slight niggle is that while Kaku is relatively easy to read, he isn't the most inspiring author in the world. His material is the inspiring part, and he puts it across well, but in the end I found the structure of the book rather repetitive.
Minor quibble though. Rcommended.
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by Michio Kaku
