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checkers09's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.75
The future of humanity covers our journey into space and how our existence on earth and among the stars will develop over time. The book is split into three sections, each covering a certain area of humanity's existence in space namely leaving the Earth, voyage to the stars and life in the universe.
The themes discussed are extremely interesting, and Kaku clearly has great knowledge of the various subjects he discusses, as well as an enthusiasm for the subject, which jumps off the page. I particularly enjoyed his chapters on type zero to four civilisations and the ways in which space travel and its financing have changed, morphing from a primarily government-run undertaking to being dominated by venture capitalists (at least in the US).
The book is written clearly enough, although there is something about his writing style which I find slightly grating. I can't put my finger on it, but I just found myself disengaging a lot from what he was writing about, even when the subject matter was very interesting.
there were also some minor details which I found frustrating in this book, such as trying to link everything back to a science fiction book or movie which is fine in small doses but felt forced when included in every chapter. Kaku also talked about so much that it felt as if some of the subjects could have been touched on it greater depth. I think it would have been for the best if he had cut a few areas which aren't really of importance or branched off too far from the purpose of the book. For example, is it really necessary to describe how the Olympics would function in space (chapter 5)?
other than these minor drawbacks, I think The Future of Humanity is a very good overview of our journey into space, especially for those unfamiliar with the subject.
The themes discussed are extremely interesting, and Kaku clearly has great knowledge of the various subjects he discusses, as well as an enthusiasm for the subject, which jumps off the page. I particularly enjoyed his chapters on type zero to four civilisations and the ways in which space travel and its financing have changed, morphing from a primarily government-run undertaking to being dominated by venture capitalists (at least in the US).
The book is written clearly enough, although there is something about his writing style which I find slightly grating. I can't put my finger on it, but I just found myself disengaging a lot from what he was writing about, even when the subject matter was very interesting.
there were also some minor details which I found frustrating in this book, such as trying to link everything back to a science fiction book or movie which is fine in small doses but felt forced when included in every chapter. Kaku also talked about so much that it felt as if some of the subjects could have been touched on it greater depth. I think it would have been for the best if he had cut a few areas which aren't really of importance or branched off too far from the purpose of the book. For example, is it really necessary to describe how the Olympics would function in space (chapter 5)?
other than these minor drawbacks, I think The Future of Humanity is a very good overview of our journey into space, especially for those unfamiliar with the subject.
whichwayis_weston7's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
5.0
tiarala's review against another edition
3.0
First 75% of the book — 4-5 stars, but once we got into theoretical physics Kaku lost me. I know, I know, he's a theoretical physicist and it's what I should've expected and I did. But what started out as really interesting discussion of what, why, and how, became a primer on theoretical physics and I lost interest. Worth reading for the earlier chapters, though.
spaceman5000's review against another edition
5.0
Well-written and accessible book about space exploration and moving humanity off Earth. Inspirational.
ayami's review against another edition
4.0
Michio Kaku talks about a lot of interesting concepts regarding technology, space exploration and science. It wasn’t a mind-blowing read, though, as the majority of what he talks about has been mentioned in plenty of other non-fiction books out there. However, I won’t penalize the book for introducing themes I happened to be already familiar with. Some physics stuff I found hard to follow but this could be due to the fact, I was listening to it as an audiobook. Some reviewers complained about the onslaught of the pop culture references but I enjoyed them and think they were pretty well incorporated into the text. This could be because I have seen the majority of the movies mentioned, though.
dvargas's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.75
alaraor's review against another edition
3.0
Tons of science nuggets and advance technologies explained. The author does it in an easy to understand and easy to read way so the book isn't as hard to read as initially anticipated. Even so, some of it was a bit too far ahead in the future or top speculative for my liking. RBC read for Nov 2022