The New York Times Book Review - Adam Frank
Kaku thinks with great breadth, and the vistas he presents us are worth the trip even if some of them turn out to be only dreamscapes.
Publishers Weekly
12/16/2013
In this expansive, illuminating journey through the mind, theoretical physicist Kaku (Physics of the Future) explores fantastical realms of science fiction that may soon become our reality. His futurist framework merges physics with neuroscience to model how our brains construct the future, and is loosely applied to demonstrations that “show proof-of-principle” in accomplishing what was previously fictional: that minds can be read, memories can be digitally stored, and intelligences can be improved to great extents. The discussion, while heavily scientific, is engaging, clear, and replete with cinematic references. Kaku’s claims, however, often lack generalizability: his points about human thought are derived from research studies and patterns that emerge from discrete areas of analysis under highly sophisticated technological surveillance. The place of these esoteric conclusions in the nuanced processes of our daily life is rarely explained. Likewise, each issue raised, while fascinating, is equally fleeting: topics skip from telepathy helmets to cell phone MRIs in just over a page. Legal and ethical complications, too, arise with each predicted advance, though aren’t given the attention they demand. These new mental frontiers make for captivating reading, yet Kaku’s optimism and enthusiasm provides cover for what are mostly overhyped claims. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Future of the Mind, #1 New York Times Bestseller
“Compelling…Kaku thinks with great breadth, and the vistas he presents us are worth the trip.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Intriguing….extraordinary findings…A fascinating sprint through everything from telepathy research to the 147,456 processors of the Blue Gene computer, which has been used to simulate 4.5% of the brain’s synapses and neurons.”
—Nature
“Fizzes with his characteristic effervescence….Fascinating….. For all his talk of surrogates and intelligent robots, no manufactured being could have a fraction of his charisma.”
—The Independent
“A mind-bending study of the possibilities of the brain....a clear and readable guide to what is going on at a time of astonishingly rapid change.”
—The Telegraph
“In this expansive, illuminating journey through the mind, theoretical physicist Kaku (Physics of the Future) explores fantastical realms of science fiction that may soon become our reality. His futurist framework merges physics with neuroscience... applied to demonstrations that “show proof-of-principle” in accomplishing what was previously fictional: that minds can be read, memories can be digitally stored, and intelligences can be improved to great extents. The discussion, while heavily scientific, is engaging, clear, and replete with cinematic references.... These new mental frontiers make for captivating reading.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Kaku turns his attention to the human mind with equally satisfying results…Telepathy is no longer a fantasy since scanners can already detect, if crudely, what a subject is thinking, and genetics and biochemistry now allow researchers to alter memories and increase intelligence in animals. Direct electrical stimulation of distinct brain regions has changed behavior, awakened comatose patients, relieved depression, and produced out-of-body and religious experiences… Kaku is not shy about quoting science-fiction movies and TV (he has seen them all)… he delivers ingenious predictions extrapolated from good research already in progress.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Facts to ponder: there are as many stars in our galaxy (about 100 billion) as there are neurons in your brain; your cell phone has more computing power than NASA had when it landed Apollo 11 on the moon. These seemingly unrelated facts tell us two things: our brains are magnificently complex organisms, and science fiction has a way of becoming reality rather quickly. This deeply fascinating book by theoretical physicist Kaku explores what might be in store for our minds: practical telepathy and telekinesis; artificial memories implanted into our brains; and a pill that will make us smarter. He describes work being done right now on using sensors to read images in the human brain and on downloading artificial memories into the brain to treat victims of strokes and Alzheimer’s. SF fans might experience a sort of breathless thrill when reading the book—This stuff is happening! It’s really happening!—and for general readers who have never really thought of the brain in all its glorious complexity and potential, the book could be a seriously mind-opening experience.”
—Booklist
Praise for Physics of the Future
"[A] wide-ranging tour of what to expect from technological progress over the next century or so.... fascinating—and related with commendable clarity" —Wall Street Journal
"Mind-bending...Kaku has a gift for explaining incredibly complex concepts, on subjects as far-ranging as nanotechnology and space travel, in language the lay reader can grasp....engrossing" —San Francisco Chronicle
"Epic in its scope and heroic in its inspiration" —Scientific American
"[Kaku] has the rare ability to take complicated scientific theories and turn them into readable tales about what our lives will be like in the future.... Fun...fascinating. And just a little bit spooky" —USA Today
Praise for Physics of the Impossible
"An invigorating experience" —The Christian Science Monitor
“Kaku's latest book aims to explain exactly why some visions of the future may eventually be realized while others are likely to remain beyond the bounds of possibility.... Science fiction often explores such questions; science falls silent at this point. Kaku's work helps to fill a void.” —The Economist
“Mighty few theoretical physicists would bother expounding some of these possible impossibilities, and Kaku is to be congratulated for doing so.... [He gets] the juices of future physicists flowing.” —Los Angeles Times
Library Journal
09/15/2013
Having wowed us with New York Times best sellers like Physics of the Future, CUNY physics professor Kaku takes us into the new neuroscience, showing us that recording memories and videotaping our dreams aren't sf fantasies but reality. And soon we might be able to upload our brains to a computer. With an eight-city tour.
FEBRUARY 2014 - AudioFile
The ins and outs of nanotechnology and the mind would be difficult to enliven as an audio title for any narrator, yet Feodor Chin manages to convey the author's boundless enthusiasm for these subjects. Chin tells the story of the popularization of brain science with an up-tempo, keeping the listener's interest in the dense material. He also varies the pitch in his delivery to emphasize particular points, distinguishing the important parts of complex sentences. This is an excellent attempt at bringing academic research to the layperson in the audio format. M.R. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2013-12-14
Having written the enthusiastic but strictly science-based Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011), Kaku (Theoretical Physics/City Univ. of New York) turns his attention to the human mind with equally satisfying results. Aware that predictions limited to a lifetime are usually wrong--where are the flying cars, cancer cures and Mars colonies foretold in the 1950s?--the author expands his forecasts to the next few centuries. He has no trouble foreseeing telepathy, telekinesis, intelligence pills, artificial memories and mind control. He agrees that centuries of research by physicians and neuroscientists has borne fruit, but he boasts that the end of the 20th century saw his own profession, physics, produce spectacular advances, with more to come. Acronymic high-tech machines (fMRI, PET, ECOG, DTI) allow researchers to watch the brain reason, see, remember and deliver instructions. Telepathy is no longer a fantasy since scanners can already detect, if crudely, what a subject is thinking, and genetics and biochemistry now allow researchers to alter memories and increase intelligence in animals. Direct electrical stimulation of distinct brain regions has changed behavior, awakened comatose patients, relieved depression, and produced out-of-body and religious experiences. Similar to the human genome program, massive research efforts in the United States and Europe to reverse-engineer the brain have the potential to vastly increase human potential as well as relieve disease and injury. "[W]e should treasure the consciousness that is found on the Earth," writes the author. "It is the highest form of complexity known in the universe, and probably the rarest." Kaku is not shy about quoting science-fiction movies and TV (he has seen them all). Despite going off the deep end musing about phenomena such as isolated consciousness spreading throughout the universe, he delivers ingenious predictions extrapolated from good research already in progress.
