Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was my first foray into Michio Kaku's works, and one big takeaway I got from this book is that I do have an interest in checking out other books from him. I appreciate his enthusiasm to teach about theoretical physics, and his optimism about the futures of human society is refreshing. That being said I really didn't enjoy this book. There's a reason it took me almost 4 months to complete it.
Most of my displeasure with this book was entirely personal. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there was a lot more chemistry and discussion about atoms and waves than I was expecting. I think I was drawn into the book by its promise to connect sci-fi pop culture (something I really enjoy) with theoretical physics (something I wasn't familiar with but excited to learn about). In a way, this book reads a lot like your cool high school teacher who tries to compare each lesson to whatever movie or show is popular with the teens. But just like how you can't spend all period talking about your favorite show with your professor, this book inevitably had to start talking about hard physics eventually, and that's where I felt my attention slip. And again, I can't stress this enough, that was entirely on me. I do not fault this book - a nonfiction book about theoretical physics written by a professional physicist - for teaching me about physics. I had trouble reading through the majority of these chapters because I was not familiar with physics, I am not a fan of inorganic chemistry, and I have a small attention span. So why am I rating this book so low if a major factor of my dislike was completely personal?
This is an old book. Published in 2008, many of the cutting-edge projects and proposed research endeavors discussed are ancient history and common knowledge in 2023. I think that at the time this book was written, it could have been a fantastic window into the world of modern physics and astronomy research. (I can't be so certain because I was 6 when the book was published, but I have no doubt in my mind that it was a great resource for exploring the bridge between the reality and science fiction at the time.) And while some theories will always remain relevant, when the author was discussing up-and-coming research projects to be launched in the early 2010s, I couldn't help myself from wondering how out-of-date many of the claims in the book really were in 2023. I enjoy reading old books, and I think that in the realm of fiction, there are very few instances in which age would decrease the value of a story. But in the world of science nonfiction, where hundreds of new discoveries are being made every year, there comes a time in a book's life where it approaches irrelevance in the face of modern knowledge.
If you're interested in an introduction to theoretical physics, I would recommend reading one of Michio Kaku's newer books, instead. I was a huge fan of his writing style and attitude in this book, and I am excited to read more of his works. He has multiple books about the development of advanced societies, which I think will be a lot more up my alley than this book was. And while I don't doubt that the majority of the lessons in this book remain true to this day, I found the persistent thought that some research cited in the book may be out of date to be a constant distraction. This is a fine book, but I don't think that it has much value in the modern day when there are more up-to-date books on the same or similar subjects.
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