Pros: Utterly
fascinating and mind-boggling (i.e. wow!)
Cons: Occasionally
mind-boggling (i.e. huh?) and subject matter is probably not for everyone
The Bottom Line:
Centuries ago, the world was flat. Decades ago, the atom was the smallest bit
of matter. Currently, concepts like time travel aren't possible...or are they?
I fist found this book while walking past a display at work where
I spotted a book with the Doctor Who Police Box on the cover. The TARDIS was in
the process of zipping through a wormhole with lines and equations around it.
The title read Physics of the Impossible
by Michio Kaku. Oh really? I read the inside cover, which described a book full
of exactly what the title promised. I made a note to read it in the future.
Well the future is now or, I suppose, was. And I'll tell
you, it really was a fascinating read. That's the best word I can come up with
to describe it because it was fascinating. Engrossing, though sometimes
mind-boggling beyond the point of "Oh wow" into the realm of "I
have no idea what he's talking about."
Michio Kaku is no stranger to the beast that is physics. He
was entranced by the science fiction adventures he saw on television as a
child, a good thing because in high school he constructed a massive machine to
create dark matter. He currently writes books on the subject of physics while
working on the string theory--or a theory of everything. (and no, apparently
the answer isn't 42).
The idea behind the book is extremely simple. We've all
heard about the possibilities of time travel, faster than light travel, cloaks
of invisibility, telepathy, and other science fiction-like phenomenons, but
most of the time we chuckle and think none of those (among others) are
possible. Sure, our scientists are smart, but they have yet to make the
imaginations of science fiction writers a reality. Kaku seeks to show readers
how some of these ideas may actually be possible. He uses the laws of physics
and brings up possibilities for the seemingly impossible. As long as the
concepts do not break any laws of physics, then hey, they may very well be in
our future, be that future decades, centuries, or even millennia and beyond.
Kaku divides all the "impossibilities" into
different classes based upon how possible they actually are, as well as how
likely and soon we might develop such technologies in the future. The table of
contents gives you perfect insight into the subjects Kaku discusses:
Class I
Impossibilities
1. Force Fields
2. Invisibility
3. Phasers and Death Stars
4. Teleportation
5. Telepathy
6. Psychokinesis
7. Robots
8. Extraterrestrials and UFOs
9. Starships
10. Antimatter and Anti-universes
Class II Impossibilities
11. Faster Than Light
12. Time Travel
13. Parallel Universes
Class III
Impossibilities
14. Perpetual Motion Machines
15. Precognition
Yeah, I know, you would have thought something like Time
Travel would be stuck in a Class III impossibility, but using the laws of
physics, Kaku manages to explain how it really could be possible, some of which
have been utilized in television shows and science fiction books. In fact, all
of these ideas have been involved in science fiction, and the ironic part is
that many of these creative thoughts used to be thought ridiculous by tried and
true scientists. As Agent K said in Men in Black, "Just imagine what we'll
'know' next."
It's a very cool book. Kaku does what he can to bring
examples and concepts down to the level of an every day person to understand.
He uses visual examples to help the reader visualize, and of course, brings in
examples from popular science fiction films and books to demonstrate points and
concepts. For the most part, I knew what was going on and understood how
something could potentially work using atoms and computer chips and matter in
space. Kaku explains things very well and even gives the reader a healthy
tidbit of history and those associated with bits of highly important physics
theories and equations, which are rather essential to understanding how we can
go from point A (say, Newton's theory of gravity) to point B (opening up
wormholes and skipping through them). Of course there were times when even I
(who found all variable equations in math more fun than actual numbers) sat
there on pause, trying to wrap my head around a paragraph or sentence. There
were moments when I thought, "I don't know what he's saying, but it sounds
like it could make sense," amid particles inside atoms and how complex
equations can work (or fail in some cases). However, those times were few and
overall I read each chapter with relish, wondering at the possibilities that
Kaku posited and just how cool it would be if we figured out something like
starships or force fields.
As a science fiction writer myself, this made the book just
that much cooler. I ate this stuff up, wondering how I might incorporate some
of Kaku's ideas into my work, if only by a vague mention. The difficulty in
creating something like a wormhole made me laugh and wonder how one critiquer
of my work could question a completely possible concept and not another, nearly
impossible one. If you're a science fiction writer, read this and love it. If
you're a science fiction reader, read this and love it. If you like physics and
the "impossible," go for it. Even if you're none of the above, I
honestly don't see why you couldn't at least get something interesting out of
this book.
I even read the Preface, something I don't do often (if
ever), but Kaku tells you a bit of his past and lets you know the kind of
person he is and how he's able to write about such things (plenty of research
involved, to be sure). Kaku's writing style is rather informal, very
accessible, and makes you feel like you're talking to someone genuinely
interested in both his work and getting others to understand it and be
interested in it as well. He might mention something and I would pause, zooming
off into my own little world in my head and wondering about the future, the
mystery it holds, how small we really are, or the awesome power a Type III
Civilization would command. All this, as opposed to the stiff professor who
doles out hard facts and ignores whether or not you understand or care about
them. He even makes a clever little quip here and there that had me smiling or
chuckling.
There's nothing negative to say about this book...at all. I
can only recommend it to you and hope that by chapter 1 you'll be as interested
as I was and continue reading. I often stick it on the B&N Employee
Recommendation display and one I made sure to add to my own collection.
Notes from the playlist: "Angels" by Within Temptation
No comments:
Post a Comment