Kaku Review

Physics of the Impossible

Michio Kaku

2008 Double Day

Ed Shannon

To be honest, I am a science ignoramus. But, I love science fiction. I read read Scientific American and popular science magazines religiously. Even though I don’t understand the science, I want a phaser, time travel, and every other impossibility from Buck Rogers to Tron. So I would highly recommend Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible to anyone with any level of interest in science whether as a professional, as a reader, or even a viewer of The Big Bang Theory.

Kaku is a theoretical physicist at City University in New York and cofounder of string field theory. In this book Kaku explores the impossibilities of science/ science fiction and explores just how possible these various theories are. The book is organised by the relative possibility of various concepts. Class I includes force fields, teleporation, and starships among others. Class II examines parallel universes, time travel etc. Class III considers precognition and perpetual motion.

While obviously an imminent scientist, Kaku writes in a style easily accessible by the average reader. I found these cogent, clear explanations of very difficult concepts and science an effective supplement to my understanding of the science, and the science fiction which I find so fascinating.

While Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory would find some way to denigrate this book, he and I would love to meet Dr. Kaku. So for serious student of science or any of us who admit to being a bit of a science/ science fiction nerd, The Physics of the Impossible is an essential addition to our libraries.