Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel,   ISBN:9780307278821

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It's become a pretty much accepted fact now that a lot of the great future inventions we see on the likes of Star Trek, Star Wars and just about any show involving science fiction are not going to exist within our lifetimes. But the one-word question you must be asking yourself then about things like time travel, teleportation, and deadly laser cannons is when? Thankfully the great scientist and bestselling author, Michio Kaku, has lots of answers for you.

In Physics of the Impossible, Kaku breaks down what the future holds for humanity with its great inventions by what he calls Class Impossibilities, divided into Class I for possible inventions within one or more centuries, Class II to cover the next millennia, and finally Class III which ranges from hundreds of thousands to millions of years. The likes of force fields, telepathy and starships are covered under Class I, faster than light travel and parallel universes in Class II, and perpetual motion machines (which never run out of power and can continue indefinitely) under Class III.

The brilliance with Kaku is that while he is discussing all these interesting subjects, he is also going into depth about physics and mathematics, covering the history of the development of certain subjects, and subliminally educating readers in complex physics. Kaku even provides a clear definition with plenty of similes for relativity, thermodynamics, and quantum theory.

Physics of the Impossible is the perfect book for any type of nerd, as well as any person who wants some answers to why we don't have flying cars and transporters yet. No science background is required, as Kaku breaks everything down to its simplest form. The result is a fascinating book that gives one hope for future inventions, possibly even within our lifetimes.

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Amazing, best book I've read on 'the very near future in technology & medicine' ...save maybe Ray Kurzweil.

Should be high school & college curriculum immediately ... & maybe the USA would begin pulling it's own weight & doing it's part internationally/globally. = )

Pix of Lawrence M. Krauss, Bill Shatner & G. Lucas woulda been cool too ; )

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I would put this on the must read list for anyone who's interested in science, technology, and sci fi. It looks at those things we see in movies and on TV and gives an honest, straightforward approach to these questions and does so in plain English. Get it, read it, love it.

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Kaku takes you to the edge of the universe in ways that are hard to even think about!

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I read this good book, here in Brazil.
This book taks about things such as teletransport, wormholes, starships, telepathy, etc.
The main good thing of this book is to show front edge physics, for the general public. Almost all teenagers can understand this book. It is a book for general public, not for physics. As a Brazilian, I must tell you that the author only remembers a Brazilian scientist, just one time, on the notes (page 310). And this only Brazilian remembered is (in my opinion) the biggest Brazilian scientist alive: Miguel Nicolelis.
Another great quality of the author is his open mind.
The main problem of this book is to forget things that are near, such as nuclear fusion reactors. Yes, he talks something about this in two pages, but the information isn't enough. About quantum computers, there's just some pages. About nuclear trash destination, electric vehicles and space elevator, there's nothing in this book.
As a suggestion to the author,I must suggest that this book must be bigger, with chapters about nuclear fusion reactors, nuclear trash destination and new kinds of space lauching.