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sarahheidmann's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
thevagabondlawyer's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Blown-away! I am still soaking with enormous information that I might need to take a moment to process everything. I am delighted that I decided to pick up this book. The Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku is very readable and packed with fascinating information. It is an examination of the possibility of life outside our own world, the possibility of unifying the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, the possibility of transhumanism and multiverses. It details science with great analogies and fun, perfect for someone without a strong astronomy or science background. I am having an astrophilia lately and I just can't get enough. If you thought science is dull or too far beyond you, then please meet Michio Kaku. He is brilliant, brilliant and really engaging in a way that will fill you with astonishing wonder and possibility.
ariel_bloomer's review against another edition
4.0
The first half of this book could be subtitled "the science and ideas behind James S.A. Corey's The Expanse."
mynameiskate's review against another edition
5.0
Welp, this was just great. I was a little worried that it would be too sciency and technical. But it wasn't. Kaku is a very clear and engaging writer. He covered a large range of topics and just went deep enough to pique interest. If you read a lot of science fiction, you may find this a bit remedial as you're probably familiar with a lot of the concepts (terraforming, generational ships, etc) but Kaku couches it in real science that is available to us today. I really enjoyed this very much.
actuallyahorsereads's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book for the most part! It was really cool reading this coming off of The Calculating Stars, because this does talk quite a bit about the actual history of space travel and where we might be going in the future. I learned quite a bit, and listening to this as an audiobook was definitely a good choice. He did start to lose me a bit toward the end when he started getting deep into some of the science, and there were times when he was talking about other potential civilizations that he lacked imagination about what those could potentially be, especially in terms of technology. I get that he was trying to relate it back to our understanding and our own concept of society, but the writer in me kept going “BUT THEY COULD DO THIS INSTEAD AND HAVE WAY MORE ADVANCED STUFF THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT BUT NOT IN OURS.” Reasons why I chose to go into the arts instead of science unlike the rest of my family, I guess.
Overall, this was a highly fascinating read and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in space or what future technology could be!
Overall, this was a highly fascinating read and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in space or what future technology could be!
ryk_good_desu's review against another edition
5.0
Michio Kaku never ceases to peak my curiosity about the cosmos. Nothing that he said was new if you follow astrophysics, physics, or sci-fi, but how he words theories and predictions is what really sets him apart.
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book! It’s a great introductory exploration of space travel - where we are currently, the near future possibilities, and the long term goals of space exploration and survival.
The tone is conversational but intelligent - with an occasional dry humour that I really appreciated.
The structure of the book worked well for me - we start out with what we’ve currently done, the science around visiting and terraforming Mars (including some discussion about robots and artificial intelligence), and then we branch out to discuss interstellar travel, and later inter-galaxy and multiverse travel.
There were a few times where his digressions on the science of how things worked (aka all the physics theories) got a little much, but just when I was getting confused (though granted that was after 6 hours of reading already) he would bring it back to the original thesis and summarize things in a very comprehensible manner. Unfortunately he doesn’t spend too much time addressing the ethical questions surrounding some of the possible outcomes of space exploration, colonies, and expansion (particularly those around wealth and classism), which is a shame.
There are so many excellent sci-fi movie and story references throughout the book to help highlight ideas. That said, if you don’t want spoilers for a particular film, don’t read that paragraph because there are definitely spoilers!
I also recommend reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu, several of his short stories in that collection actually use and grapple with the science and inherent travel issues that are proposed and discussed in Kaku’s book (ex. Multigenerational Star ships). It made for an excellent (though unintentional) read-along experience.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book - as evidenced by my binging it in two days. It serves as a great jumping off point for a curious reader’s extra research, and makes you think about how humans should or shouldn’t, and may or may not succeed in space travel.
Definitely recommend for anyone interested in a broad but well-researched and intelligent overview of where we’re going with space travel in the next few decades and centuries.
The tone is conversational but intelligent - with an occasional dry humour that I really appreciated.
The structure of the book worked well for me - we start out with what we’ve currently done, the science around visiting and terraforming Mars (including some discussion about robots and artificial intelligence), and then we branch out to discuss interstellar travel, and later inter-galaxy and multiverse travel.
There were a few times where his digressions on the science of how things worked (aka all the physics theories) got a little much, but just when I was getting confused (though granted that was after 6 hours of reading already) he would bring it back to the original thesis and summarize things in a very comprehensible manner. Unfortunately he doesn’t spend too much time addressing the ethical questions surrounding some of the possible outcomes of space exploration, colonies, and expansion (particularly those around wealth and classism), which is a shame.
There are so many excellent sci-fi movie and story references throughout the book to help highlight ideas. That said, if you don’t want spoilers for a particular film, don’t read that paragraph because there are definitely spoilers!
I also recommend reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu, several of his short stories in that collection actually use and grapple with the science and inherent travel issues that are proposed and discussed in Kaku’s book (ex. Multigenerational Star ships). It made for an excellent (though unintentional) read-along experience.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book - as evidenced by my binging it in two days. It serves as a great jumping off point for a curious reader’s extra research, and makes you think about how humans should or shouldn’t, and may or may not succeed in space travel.
Definitely recommend for anyone interested in a broad but well-researched and intelligent overview of where we’re going with space travel in the next few decades and centuries.
noragracereads's review against another edition
5.0
**5 stars**
Consider me inspired.
Not only is Michio Kaku an engaging writer, he possesses a mind beyond impressive. I cannot agree with all of his philosophy, a philosophy shared by a great many scientists, but I admire his creativity and theorizing based on decades of scholarship. Perhaps the part of reading The Future of Humanity that brought me the most joy was my constant disagreement with its proposals. I found dangerous fault with many ideas about how we conquer the stars, how we bend the universe to our will to survive, yet the intellectual stimulation that such disagreement generated felt good rather than dreadful.
The scope of this book spans trillions of years. The answers to all of Kaku's questions may take billions. Such an expanse of time is intimidating but pondering "the future of humanity" using physics and philosophy does provide a sort of hope and opens millions of doors to new science fiction, which, as we have seen with Star Trek, Foundation, etc., has guided us in solving real-world questions about the advancement of our species.
But even just that last sentence plagues me... We may be the only beings on Earth and in our solar system with advanced cognitive abilities, but what about our intelligent primate cousins? What about the rest of the planet, with its thousands of life forms all depending on Earth's prolonged existence to survive? As environmental activists say nowadays, "There is no Planet B." We aren't yet Michio Kaku's Type III civilization on the Kardashev scale. Perhaps we would be wise to focus on taking care of the billions of people and all of our natural relatives still living on the Earth today before we begin trying to carry out the dreams of billionaires and strictly Western (predominanly male) thinkers. In doing so we may find peace with our planet and with ourselves, and in the end discover that the inevitable death of life that comes with the end of all things in the universe in trillions of years won't be such a bad thing, but part of a cycle that we look forward to as we do the beginning of each season, of each year, and of each millennia.
If you choose to read The Future of Humanity, which I highly recommend that you do, I would encourage you to be skeptical of the billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. that Kaku praises extensively in the first half of the book. It is quite upsetting and frightening that it is the mega-rich at the forefront of space exploration. As you will surmise from the quotes from each of them that Kaku cites, all of them have a god-complex motivation and have elitist ideas about who gets to go to the stars. In fact, much of the philosophy of this book and of this interstellar utopia that physicists are reaching for is elitist. From what I've gathered from their theorizing, the plan is to send those who can afford and have access to insanely advanced technology to our new homes in the heavens, whilst we leave behind everyone else to perish on our dying planet instead of just solving our climate and humanitarian problems. I long for the day when these people consider the poor and oppressed in their romantic theorizing and dreaming.
Consider me inspired.
Not only is Michio Kaku an engaging writer, he possesses a mind beyond impressive. I cannot agree with all of his philosophy, a philosophy shared by a great many scientists, but I admire his creativity and theorizing based on decades of scholarship. Perhaps the part of reading The Future of Humanity that brought me the most joy was my constant disagreement with its proposals. I found dangerous fault with many ideas about how we conquer the stars, how we bend the universe to our will to survive, yet the intellectual stimulation that such disagreement generated felt good rather than dreadful.
The scope of this book spans trillions of years. The answers to all of Kaku's questions may take billions. Such an expanse of time is intimidating but pondering "the future of humanity" using physics and philosophy does provide a sort of hope and opens millions of doors to new science fiction, which, as we have seen with Star Trek, Foundation, etc., has guided us in solving real-world questions about the advancement of our species.
But even just that last sentence plagues me... We may be the only beings on Earth and in our solar system with advanced cognitive abilities, but what about our intelligent primate cousins? What about the rest of the planet, with its thousands of life forms all depending on Earth's prolonged existence to survive? As environmental activists say nowadays, "There is no Planet B." We aren't yet Michio Kaku's Type III civilization on the Kardashev scale. Perhaps we would be wise to focus on taking care of the billions of people and all of our natural relatives still living on the Earth today before we begin trying to carry out the dreams of billionaires and strictly Western (predominanly male) thinkers. In doing so we may find peace with our planet and with ourselves, and in the end discover that the inevitable death of life that comes with the end of all things in the universe in trillions of years won't be such a bad thing, but part of a cycle that we look forward to as we do the beginning of each season, of each year, and of each millennia.
If you choose to read The Future of Humanity, which I highly recommend that you do, I would encourage you to be skeptical of the billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. that Kaku praises extensively in the first half of the book. It is quite upsetting and frightening that it is the mega-rich at the forefront of space exploration. As you will surmise from the quotes from each of them that Kaku cites, all of them have a god-complex motivation and have elitist ideas about who gets to go to the stars. In fact, much of the philosophy of this book and of this interstellar utopia that physicists are reaching for is elitist. From what I've gathered from their theorizing, the plan is to send those who can afford and have access to insanely advanced technology to our new homes in the heavens, whilst we leave behind everyone else to perish on our dying planet instead of just solving our climate and humanitarian problems. I long for the day when these people consider the poor and oppressed in their romantic theorizing and dreaming.
afrugalfather's review against another edition
3.0
Recommended for science fiction fans that are interested in knowing how the human race might take to the stars.