Interesting Content, Irritating Reader

I enjoyed Professor Kaku's work. He's a well organized, if not flashy writer. In fact, I'd suggest he insert a little humour or a little more personal anecdote -- it would make the contents more accessible and....human. I found the content appealing, but then again, I'm a physicist.

I'd most strongly suggest that Professor Kaku narrate his own material, though. I've seen him on television enough (and in fact have met him on several occasions), and he has the professional chops to do it well.

I say this because the reader, Feodor Chin, came across to me sounding like a high school radio station reader. There are a few bumps in the road with lazy pronunciation, which I can generally overlook, such as 'labatory' for 'laboratory', but generally I try to overlook it. After all, I live in Kentucky, the galactic centre of of swallowed, suppressed, or modified vowels, consonants, and diphthongs.

But for some reason, I lost my composure when the reader consistently pronounces 'hundred' as 'hunerd'. I found myself wincing or flinching every time -- and it happened 'hunerds' of times. It was enough for me that I will avoid any book performed by this reader, no matter what it is.

40 people found this helpful

Eye opening Listen

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Was worth the listen. Intriguing new technologies to here about.

If you’ve listened to books by Michio Kaku before, how does this one compare?

N/A

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narrator did a outstanding job.

Was Physics of the Future worth the listening time?

Yes it's worth the time to get brought up to speed on current trends and technologies that are happening around us.

7 people found this helpful

Michio Kaku's Great Vague Look at the Future

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but it's not designed to be. It breaks up really well into topics and segments. It was perfect for my daily 35-45 minute drives to and from work.

Any additional comments?

I've read a few Kaku books and he's really good at making complex concepts understandable. He has a great ability to build up a concept from the root level so that in the end even a simple science fan like myself can understand it. This book however is a little different. It covers a vast amount of subjects and gives just a taste of each. Granted those "tastes" are probably enough for most, there were times I felt I wanted to learn more about a specific subject. That in itself maybe means this is a great read. I value any book that can light a spark of interest in learning more. In short, this is a good general look at science / tech, and how it will maybe shape our future. I'd recommend it to any science and tech fan.

5 people found this helpful

Good for standalone

This is a good read if you haven’t read Dr. Kaku’s other recent books, like Parallel World’s or Impossible Physics.

If you have read those, you won’t pick up much new info here. It’s still enjoyable but might feel a little re-hashed if those other books are still fresh in your mind.

2 people found this helpful

Listen over &over til i made myself select another

What made the experience of listening to Physics of the Future the most enjoyable?

So much to know said so interestingly there was never a moment i failed to want to repeat to hear every paragraph over & over. I have listened to this book every day for a week & will relisten many more times perhaps to 2100 waiting for all the predictions to come true!!!

What other book might you compare Physics of the Future to and why?

All of Malcome Gladwell's books since they changed the way i see my world!!!

Have you listened to any of Feodor Chin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Chin is the best reader I have ever heard,,, truely thought it was read by the author since the reader seemed to impart the knowledge in a first-hand manner. I'm supprised Chin did not interview all the Physists that contributed the future theories the author wrote in this outstanding book, brilliantly read.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!!! I listen over & over ,,, i'll never put it away. Can't think of another book i so want to hear endlessly.

Any additional comments?

I truly did not want this book to end; I saw the author on CNN answering a few questions the least of what was answered in this book. Loved seeing & hearing the author ,,, too bad CNN did such a poor job of interviewing so very little was learned by the public about what the author has to offer.

5 people found this helpful

Hypercatalogosis

Not quite the Michio we have come to enjoy so much. I think his very organized brain got in the way and produced the Dewey Decimal system of the future. The concepts were great, but organization was annoying.

4 people found this helpful

Even just afew years later, the future is here.

I like Prof Kaku and enjoyed his TV show. This book though was probably much more relevant when it came out. Already, the technology of the next 100 years is here. I would probably not recommend this simply because of that. There were several parts where I had to remind myself that he wasn't being a dullard - his predictions just came true far ahead of when he was expecting them.

5 people found this helpful

Very disapointing

Not only redundant with itself, if you have listened to his other 2 books (which I liked) you will hear a lot of the same info. In this book he seems to have pieced together a vision of the future from a few movies and builds a rationalization to show how it will happen. In some cases the basic premise seems just wrong. For example he thinks telecommuting will never catch on because people only feel comfortable with in person contact. Seriously? Must be why social networking sites are doing so poorly. Not to mention companies are already starting to figure out the economic advantages to having phone and tech workers working from home. So even if employees want to work from an office it might not be the norm much longer. Or the contradiction of maintenance robots will always be too stupid to do repairs unmonitored while at the same time your car drives itself and your AI can be the perfect assistant. We are talking Eureka's S.A.R.A.H. here. I could make many more examples but I think I've made my point.

10 people found this helpful

Michio is always good

Michio Kaku is always a good listen. I only have one disagreement with him and that's the issue of the US going back to product production. I think we'll eventually have to in most fields to secure a healthy economy. There's just too many people that lack a higher education in this country that could be left behind in an ever increasingly intellectually driven job market. Relying on overseas markets to produce goods has weakened our economy and caused a huge separation in the classes. This trend, if continued, will eventually create a lower class of Americans that will become so poor they'll become wards of the government. In this year 2011 45% of the population didn't pay taxes. We need to turn this around before it's too late. Remember it isn't us and them in this country. We live in a fish bowl. Everyone affects the whole system. Crap in one corner of the bowl and eventually it'll contaminate the whole bowl.

4 people found this helpful

The Future Looks Bright.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I'm an engineering student and it sparked my creativity. While I was listening it got me to thinking about different ideas for my work and I think it would do the same for others.

What did you like best about this story?

I thought it was pretty cool to hear what other engineers are working on.

Which scene was your favorite?

The life expanding technology.

Any additional comments?

I like Michio Kaku. He is a great teacher and has a lot of passion and projects that to the listener/reader. I also know of him from other things and he is very credible so it's not just a bunch of mumbo jumbo it's real ongoing projects.

2 people found this helpful