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Other books by Michio Kaku
PARALLEL
W O R L D S
EINSTEIN'S
C O S M O S
VISIONS
HYPERSPACE
B E Y O N D
EINSTEIN
A INTO
SCIENTIFIC OF
EXPLORATION FORCE FIELDS,
THE W O R L D
PHASERS, AND
TELEPORTATION,
TIME
TRAVEL
Doubleday
N E W YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY AUCKLAND
PUBLISHED
BY
DOUBLEDAY
Copyright © 2008 by Michio Raku All Rights Reserved Published in the United States by Doubleday, an imprint of The Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. \ Y \ Y w. d o u b 1 eday. co m D O U B L E D A Y and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaku, Michio. Physics of the impossible : a scientific exploration into the world of phasers, force fields, teleportation, and time travel / Michio Raku. -1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Physics-Miscellanea. 2. Science-Miscellanea. 3. Mathematical physicsMiscellanea. 4. Physics in literature. 5. Human-machine systems. I. Title. QC75.R18 2008 530-dc25 2007030290 e l S B N : 978-0-385-52544-2
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To my loving wife, Shizue, and to Michelle and Alyson
Preface ichnou lodgments \ix
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Port I: 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 3 16 34 53 70 88 103 126 154 179
Part II: Class II Impossibilities
11: Faster Than Light 12: Time Travel 13: Parallel Universes 197 216 229
Port III: Class III Impossibilities
14: Perpetual Motion Machines 15: Precognition Epilogue: The Future of the Impossible 257 272 284
Notes Bibliography Index
305 317 319
If at first an idea does not sound absurd, then there is no hope for...