Other books by Michio Kaku
PARALLEL W O R L DS
E I N S T E I N ' S COSMOS
V I S I O N S
H Y P E R S P A C E
B E Y O N D E I N S T E IN
A S C I E N T I F I C E X P L O R A T I ON
I N T O THE WORLD OF P H A S E R S , FORCE F I E L D S,
T E L E P O R T A T I O N , AND TIME TRAVEL
Doubleday
N E W Y O R K L O N D O N T O R O N T O S Y D N E Y A U C K L A ND
P U B L I S H E D BY D O U B L E D AY
Copyright © 2008 by Michio Kaku
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.
www.doubleday.com
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 Kaku. -1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Physics-Miscellanea. 2. Science-Miscellanea. 3. Mathematical physics-
Miscellanea. 4. Physics in literature. 5. Human-machine systems. I. Title.
QC75.K18 2008
530-dc25
2007030290
ISBN 978-0-385-52069-0
P R I N T E D I N THE U N I T E D STATES OF A M E R I CA
1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2
First Edition
To my loving wife, Shizue,
and to
Michelle and Alyson
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xix
Part I: Class I Impossibilities
1: Force Fields 3
2: Invisibility 16
3: Phasers and Death Stars 34
4: Teleportation 53
5: Telepathy 70
6: Psychokinesis 88
7: Robots 103
8: Extraterrestrials and UFOs 126
9: Starships 154
10: Antimatter and Anti-universes 179
Part II: Class II Impossibilities
11: Faster Than Light 197
12: Time Travel 216
13: Parallel Universes 229
Part III: Class III Impossibilities
