Empire of the Stars

Title: Empire of the Stars
Author: Arthur I MillerPublisher: Abacus 2006 (First published 2005)Pages: 318ISBN: 978-0-349-11627-3

We will be hard pressed to categorise this book from Miller. It is neither a biography nor a scientific one, in the strict sense of both classes. True, it is the life story of Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, Nobel laureate of Indian origin and his professional clash with Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the noted physicists of the first half of the 20^th century. Chandrasekhar’s early life is briefly mentioned and the narration really begins with his journey to England for higher studies at the tender age of nineteen.

Chandrasekhar (known as Chandra among his friends) was a prodigy in India. Young Chandra earned reputation among the students and teachers alike and many professors often invited him to speak on their behalf during seminars. Chandra was also the nephew of Sir C V Raman, another Nobel laureate from India. However, when he found himself involved in Cambridge, his confidence began to ebb. He speculated about the end of the life cycle of massive stars and came to the conclusion that stars above a particular mass (which was later known as the Chandrasekhar Limit, which is 1.4 times the mass of the sun), end up as a black hole. This was contrary to the accepted practice at that time in 1935, and Eddington opposed it tooth and nail because such a finding would go against the basic tenets of a theory he was formulating then. The established wisdom suggested that there is no mechanism for a star to become a black hole and they would end up as a white dwarf. At a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society at London in 1935, Eddington made a vicious verbal attack on Chandra, criticizing the theory as well as the person. All scientists, even those who privately believed that Chandra was right couldn’t come openly in his support, because Eddington was very powerful and his friends or students controlled appointments in several institutions in the USA and UK. Chandra suppressed the bitterness and turned to less sensational topics and continued research there. In the 1970s, his assertions were proved correct by astronomical observations and he was awarded the Nobel in 1983.

The book is organized into three parts. The first part concerns with the collision, its background and the emmigration to USA. The author has tried to get at the root of Eddington’s opposition to Chandra, with the assertion that Cambridge was very racist at those times. Professional jealousy is ruled out as the antagonists were not comparable. Chandra was a fresh graduate student from India, while Eddington was a world-wide authority of relativity theory and astrophysics. It was him who conducted the famous solar-lensing experiment in 1919 which furnished the experimental verification of Einstein’s master piece. It is also a sad demonstration of even noted scientists fall prey to their preconceived and selfish notions which go counter to truth or new suggestions. Eddington proved to be impervious to reason, as far as Chandra was concerned.

The author then explains many scientific concepts involved such as relativity theory, white dwarfs, physical theories about the nature of matter, development of the nuclear bomb by USA and the Soviet Union etc. This part is concerned very little with the life of Chandra. The description if often terse and uninteresting to the general reader. It lacks focus at this point and a lot of fields are touched upon. Too many biographical sketches make the reading progress laborious. A brief life story of each person encountered in the text is given which could’ve been avoided. Another irritating drawback is that the stellar distances are given in so and so trillion trillion miles. It is very handy to use light-years instead. It is repeated in almost all places such that the reader might wonder whether the term ‘light-year’ was coined after this was book was published!

The book contains some controversial remarks about Meghnad Saha, a leading Indian astrophysicist. Chandra writes to his father about Saha of ‘his scheming, sneering attitude – an attitude which blurts out when in inviting me to come back to India he asks me to “join the politics”. (p. 149). The death of Chandra due to a heart attack is touching, as ”On 21 August 1995, he was awakened by severe chest pains. He did not want to disturb Lalitha (his wife), so he quitely dressed and slipped out of their bedroom. Perhaps he took a quick glance at the mirror on their dresser, where there was a postcard-sized reproduction of Monet’s painting of a little girl. ‘That’s you’, he often told Lalitha. He took the lift downstairs, got into his car and drove to the university clinic. As he was entering, he collapsed. He had had a massive heart attack. He died later that day, with Lalitha at this side” (p. 286)

Overall rating: 2 Star

The Making of the Fittest

Title: The Making of the Fittest
Author: Sean B CarrollPublisher: Quercus 2009 (First published 2008)Pages: 292ISBN: 978-1-84724-724-7 An excellent, superb work from Carroll, who is a practising biologist on the validity of evolution and the firm rejection of alternative theories like creation and intelligent design. This is a must-read for any science enthusiast along with other great books on genetics. Very well researched and full of photographs and illustrations to carry the point definitely into the reader’s mind makes the book a best seller. The book is meticulously planned and only at the end we will fully comprehend why the author has arranged the individual chapters in the given way and convey heartfelt congratulations to him which he deserves on every page of the work.

The book is divided into ten chapters, six of which describes the genetic theory and the science behind it. Carroll describes it as his six-course dinner. After this, the next two chapters are what he calls after-dinner conversations in which the arguments of creationists and intelligent designists are lampooned with clear and logical argument based on history of similar occurrences. It was the aim of the author to supply the reader with enough arguments which he can present in our own discussions which we may have to do in our lunch conversations or more probably, our children’s schools.

The book starts with an introduction of a species of fish specific to Bouvet Island and nearby seas in the Antarctic ocean which has developed a colourless blood and anti-freeze proteins by evolution. The red colour of blood is due to haemoglobin which accounts for 45% in mammalian blood, whereas the ice fish has managed a ratio of 1% cells by volume. It is practically ice water flowing through their arteries! The mutation in the genes responsible for this is identified and narrated in detail.

The second chapter presents a primer on the basic maths behind evolution. A branch of knowledge can’t be called proper science, if it is not represented in the language of science – mathematics! The facts given are very basic, but it clearly spells out the facts and in the end, we can be pretty assured that the chances and probabilities for genetic mutations and hence evolution to occur are not that remote as it is made out by the opponents of this theory. Since every base pair in the DNA sequence is copied one by one by a process which is not totally error-free, it results in a very small probability of having errors in one of the alphabets of the DNA code (A, T, C and G). Even this minor change may result in the production of fundamentally different proteins.

The third chapter starts with the science. The basics of evolution is like this. The genetic information of plants and animals are conveyed to the next generation in the DNA code inherited from parents. It looks like a double helix connected by base pairs which consist of two of the four above mentioned letters. When the DNA is copied to carry to the offspring, there occurs some times a flaw which causes a different letter to be copied. This is called a mutation which need not be bad in all cases. This variation is invariably present in every generation and if such a random variation is beneficial to the organism in natural selection or sexual selection, that trait is enhanced in subsequent generations and after considerable time, all members who don’t possess this variation might be wiped off. Variation, selection and time are the three components of evolution. The basic definitions are as as follows. Proteins are the molecules that do all the work in every organism – from carrying oxygen, to building tissue, to copying DNA for the next generation. The DNA of each species carries the specific instructions (in code) necessary for the building of these proteins. DNA is made of two strands of four distinct bases. The strands of DNA are held together by strong chemical bonds between pairs of bases that lie on opposite strands – A always pairs with T, C always pairs with G. Proteins themselves are made up of building blocks called amino acids. Each amino acid is encoded as a combination of three bases or a triplet (ACT, GAA etc.) in the DNA molecule. The chemical properties of these amino acids, when assembled into chains averaging about 400 amino acids in length, determine the unique activity of each protein. The length of DNA that codes for an individual protein is called a gene. (p 78-79).

Fourth chapter describes how new capabilities are evolved from the old which is explained with an apt example of the development of full colour vision in colobus monkeys of Africa. All monkeys in the old world possess colour vision whereas most of the new world monkeys have only a dichromatic vision in which shades of two primary colours will be seen. The colour of an object is the wavelength of light reflected by it and specific wavelengths activate visual pigments in our retinas which are made up of a protein, called an opsin. Humans have three different visual pigments, which are sensitive to short, medium and long wave lengths, specifically to 417 (blue), 530 (green) and 560 nm (red). Most other mammals have just two opsins and genes, while birds and fish have four or more. Some birds can see also in the UV range. The third colour gene in humans was made by an error in replicating one of the opsins, such that only three amino acid positions 180, 277 and 285 account for the 30 nm tuning difference between the red and green pigments. Most other mammals have colour blindness to distinguish between red and green. Sometimes, colour blindness appears in humans too, but in fact, natural selection is so strong in the wild that the percentage of monkeys with colour blindness is less than 0.1%, whereas it rises to 8% in humans where no natural selection operates. Trichromatic vision helps the colobus monkeys to select tender, red leaves which are more nutritious and they have developed ruminating to digest these leaves.

Similar to the development of new genes based on natural selection, some traits which are not used are weeded out because natural selection is blind to them. Some very old genes are found in the fish coelacanth (see picture) which has body features that link it to distant ancestors that lived 360 million years ago. It is thus called a ‘living fossil’. Present fish have shedded several of the genes of coelacanth, but they appear as non-functional DNA code in the present genome. The part was rendered non-functional by erroneous mutations in the sequence which was not rejected by selection. Mice have about 1400 olfactory (smell) genes in a genome of about 25,000 genes, but humans possess only 5 smell genes in their total of 25,000! However, humans do have erroneous copies of the mice smell genes and it is deduced that those genes are allowed to be fossilised when trichromatic vision developed in the ancestor of humans which made dependence on smell irrelevant. So, the paradigm of gene loss is, “Use it or Lose it”. This loss of genes is a valid argument against intelligent design. Evolution is not necessarily a progressive or additive process. Modern species are not better equipped than their ancestors, they are mostly just different. The pattern of gain and loss seen in species’ DNA are exactly what we should expect if natural selection acts only in the present, and not as an engineer or designer would. Natural selection cannot preserve what is not being used, and it cannot plan for the future.

In the sixth chapter, several examples of evolution repeating itself if the environment demands it are given. This is demonstrated with the case of howler monkeys in South America which have trichromatic vision and live on a leaf diet. Evolution also creates a genetic arms race between the predator and prey, as shown in chapter 7. Humans and germs are ever in an arms race to overtake each other. There is a good percentage of people in Africa and India who suffer from ‘sickle-cell anemia’ which is a genetic disease in which the shape of the red blood cells are changed to the form of a sickle instead of round. However, this contributes resistance to malaria and hence sometimes favourably selected. Germs also evolve to resist drugs faster than we can imagine. The eighth chapter describes how complex structures such as the eye evolved in animals. This was argued to be one of the clinching cases of creationism. It is seen than activation of a gene called Pax-6 causes eye tissue to develop. Researchers have successfully created eyes on the feet of fruit flies in this way. Such activation is done by molecular switches present in the genome near protein coding sequences.

The final chapter arms us with arguments in favour of evolution which crushes the back of creationists and intelligent designers. Stubborn refusal and ideological differences to accept truth have caused people and nations to spurn progress. Two examples are given which include Lysenko and chiropractors. Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, a peasant with a meager education, rose to become a deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet and director of the Genetics Institute of USSR. He refused to accept the reality of DNA and put forward outlandish and flawed hypotheses of his own to design new experiments which resulted in utter failure. Since he was close to Stalin and other prominent party bosses, he silenced all his opponents, sending many to the firing squad. This refusal crushed Russian biological research for a long time until Stalin was dead. Chiropractors, on the other hand, is a group of people practising alternate medicine in several parts of the world. They theorise that all diseases are primarily neurological in origin, and caused by the pinching of nerves by misaligned vertebrae. They are against germ theory and refuse to vaccinate.

There are six arguments or tactics used against evolution

1. Doubt the science: One often encounters blanket statements, such as “virtually no scientific evidence for evolution exists”. Such conclusions are often presented as logical conclusions to a variety of arguments refuting elements of evolutionary science. Paleontology has identified many examples of fossils with characteristics that are intermediate between those of different groups. Even Pope John Paul II had changed his tone when he remarked about evolution in a 1996 statement published in L’Osservatore Romano:

“fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought, nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favour of this theory”.

2. Question the motives and integrity of scientists: At the heart of much opposition is the assertion that evolutionary science is motivated by an atheistic philosophy. Often opponents will equate them to all evil.

3. Magnify disagreements among scientists, and cite gadflies as authorities: There has been honest differences of opinion among researchers regarding some of the mechanisms of evolution. This is blown out of all proportions and is presented as disagreement. Also, there are some reputation seeking people among scientists who openly oppose scientific ideas. Getting a doctoral degree and making negative arguments are relatively easy – making new, verifiable discoveries is an altogether different matter. The deniers specialise in rhetoric and the mining of quotes, not in laboratory research.

4. Exaggerate potential harm: Opponents of evolution perceive great danger in evolutionary principles and lay much blame for society’s difficulties on the influence of ‘Darwinism’ in modern culture. He is also blamed for Soviet-style communism. By inflating evolutionary science into a political philosophy, they are discrediting the science. This hijacking is termed by Steve Jones as, “Evolution is a political sofa that molds itself to the buttocks of the last to sit upon it”.

5. Appeal to personal freedom: The teaching of evolution in public schools is frequently viewed as an assault upon the religious freedom of those who oppose it. Such arguments are rejected by US federal courts, however.

6. Acceptance repudiates key philosophy: The ultimate source of the conflict over evolutionary science is the same that was seen over genetics in the erstwhile Soviet Union and vaccination in the chiropractic community. It is viewed at odds with matters of faith that are not open to scientific evidence. As stated by the organization Answers in Genesis, “the real issue is the authority of the Bible as a trustworthy revelation from God, and hence the integrity of its Gospel message”. There are three arguments put forth by them.

1. Evolution must be rejected because it denies the Bible
2. Evolution must be rejected because it denies God
3. Evolution must be rejected because it denies salvation.

A commendable book by all means. Genetics and study of DNA had not developed when Darwin was alive and he was ignorant of the mechanisms by which his variations were finding place among offsprings. Even then, it is astonishing to see that every further step in knowledge further advances the theory of evolution further, instead of negating it.

Overall rating: 4 Star

The Administration of the Mughal Empire

Title: The Administration of the Mughal Empire
Author: Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi
Publisher: Low Price Publications, Delhi, 2002 (First published 1973)
Pages: 296

Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi (1903-1981) was born in U.P, India and migrated to Pakistan soon after independence in 1947. Being a renowned scholar, he went on to become the Minister for Education in the Pakistan government. Written in a clear and eloquent style which is quite unusual among the writers of the sub-continent, the work is a mark of the erudition and philosophy of the author. Though it sometimes deviates very much from some of the most basic aspects of historical validity, we can’t deny the impressive scholarship which has gone into making this work one of his masterpieces. Every page is littered with foot notes and relevant details and the bibliography is astounding. The weakest point is the author’s intolerance to opposing points of view and his carpet denial of the work done by British and Indian scholars. His sweeping criticism extends to scholars of every hue and goes on even to accuse them of ignorance of the Persian language, which was the official language of the Mughal state. Contrary to the secular view of not picturising the epochs of Indian history according to religion, Qureshi declares the Mughal state being one which belonged to Islam and every muslim subject was a part of the ruling race. If such is the feeling of even renowned scholars like Qureshi, then the nostalgia of the ignorant Muslim masses about the long gone ‘empire of their own’ would have been so great and it also might have been a factor which resulted in the merciless bifurcation of the Indian motherland with its consequent bloodbath.
The responsibility of the Muslim community is expressed as, “(Akbar) became so powerful that resistance to his will became impossible. With the growth of the monarch’s authority, the power of the Muslim community declined to a degree that the earlier sense of responsibility as the mainstay of polity was replaced by comparative indifference and, in certain circles, even by political irresponsibility” (p. 6). Qureshi’s tirade against fellow historians is clearly brought out when he takes the noted historian, Sir Jadunath Sirkar, to task, as “Jadunath Sirkar’s reputation was built on his book on Alamgir I, and it has considerable material. It is old fashioned and rather disappointing, because he finds himself out of sympathy with his subject and the spirit of the reign has eluded him. He quite unnecessarily says uncharitable things about Islam which mars the quality of his work because it betrays a deep seated prejudice” (p 20).

Islam is both a religion and a political state. This was necessitated by the tribulations the prophet had to undergo in establishing the first Islamic state and continued there after. The Muslim believes that it is impossible to divorce religion from all human activity, because all actions must be motivated by man’s innermost convictions and externally, they should interpret his ideals (p.24). Islam does not constitute a central church, and in such a community, the purity of the doctrine and conformity with the principles could be insured only by laying the greatest emphasis upon the inviolability of the fundamentals; fissiparous tendencies could be prevented by some compromise between freedom and conformity (p.25). Qureshi’s vainly tries to prop up Aurangzeb as the jewel among Mughals often goes below the levels of common sense. See this passage, “Alamgir is held up by modern writers as a paragon of intolerance against the Hindus but he did not go beyond the imposition of the Jizyah, the demolition of temples built or repaired without sanction, and the suppression of certain spectacular and festive institutions, some of which, like Holi, caused annoyance and inconvenience to others” (p. 41). What can be said about this, which even denies the victims the basic right to voice their grievance? He is quite certain that the imposition of Jizyah, which constituted only a small fraction of the state income (nearly 2.5%), but which shattered the morale of the entire Hindu community since paying the tax involved going to the tax-collector’s mansion in person, wait for appointment and personally handing over the money to him, often accompanied by jeers and insults of haghty Afghan and Turkish nobles was only a small matter! Demolition of temples which went on a grand scale through out the empire and which eventually caused its natural demise was, in the eyes of the author, resorted to when the renovation or building was without sanction. The prohibition of the festivities of the greatest festival of North India, Holi, was only a small matter to Qureshi since it caused nuisance to a micro-minority who happened to treat this land as their legacy and treated its inhabitants worse than slaves.

A day in the life of Emperor Shah Jehan is curious. He got up before the first streak of the light of the dawn, made his morning ablutions and went from his sleeping quarters, the khwabgah, to the royal mosque in the palace. There he offered his prayers in congregation and then remained busy in reading the Quran and worship and meditate until the Sun has risen fully. Then he went to the jharokah-i-darshan, where he spent two or three gharhis. At about four gharhis after dawn, he held the diwan-i-am. Then he moved to the diwan-i-khas. This was followed by the transaction of confidential business in Shah Burj. At noon, he retired to his private apartments, where he had luncheon with the empress and other ladies of the court. The empress of the chief stewardess of the palace brought to the notice of the emperor the cases of deserving women who needed help, and the monarch was pleased to make suitable grants. The the emperor had a short siesta and came out after offering the afternoon prayers. He then went on to the diwan-i-am and inspected the guard who displayed the royal standards. If there was any outstanding business, it was executed. By now, the diwan-i-khas had been lit, and the emperor went there. First the sunset prayers were offered, then for about four or five gharhis, official business was transacted, after which the emperor rose for the evening prayers. At midnight, he retired to his sleeping apartments” (p. 47).
The herding of women for the sexual pleasures of the monarch is glorified by Qureshi, as “In Muslim lands, the quarters reserved for women are called harem, or a sanctuary; it is the same word which is used for the holiest places in the world of Islam. The word signifies the respect shown to women and to the sanctity of domestic life” (p.55).

The tax structure of the Mughal state was sectarian in the extreme and merciless in squeezing the Hindus dry, irrespective of their financial status. The income of the state fell into two broad categories. The first is ushar and zakat, the latter includes jizyah and kharaj. The zakat is prescribed by the Quran upon all Muslims and the state didn’t collect this tax which was left as voluntary. Jizyah, however was collected with the full vigour to make up for ushr. Even the tax rates on commodities traded by vendors were different, based on their religion! Muslim traders paid 2.5%, Christians and Jews paid 3.5% and the Hindus were required to pay 5% (p. 146). This was all done in the motherland of the majority community where such heinous discrimination was practised all the time the country was under Muslim rule. Akbar withdrew Jizyah which was reimposed by Aurangzeb.

The claims of Qureshi are often laughable and proves the extent to which he stands dissociated from logical thinking and independent verification of facts in his quest for painting the Mughals in false glory. Some of the claims are as follows.
1. The farmer owned the land he tilled
2. Officers were responsible for the safety of travellers and if the things were robbed and they are unable to apprehend the culprits, they have to compensate them out of their own pockets
3. The mughal state was benevolent and the people were happy even though they didn’t possess even the basic furniture or clothes.
4. Akbar was the worst ruler while Aurangzeb was the jewel among them
5. The magnificent monuments erected by later rules, especially Shah Jehan denotes the prosperity of the empire including common people even though he forgets that the redness of the Red Fort was contributed in no small measure by the blood of the common folk.
6. The ulema who were also justices of the law, harshly punished the accused even under trumped charges were justified in doing so because it proved the independence of judiciary.

A useful chronology of the Mughal emperors is given.

1. Zahir-ud-din Muhammad Babur AH 932, CE 1526
2. Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Humayun AH 937, CE 1530
3. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar AH 963, CE 1556
4. Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jehangir AH 1014, CE 1605
5. Dawar Bakhsh AH 1037, CE 1627
6. Shihab-ud-din Muhammad Shah Jehan AH 1037, CE 1628
7. Murad Bakshsh AH 1068, CE 1657
8. Shah Shuja AH 1068, CE 1657
9. Muhiy-ud-din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir AH 1068, CE 1657
10. Azam Shah AH 1118, CE 1707
11. Kam Bakhsh AH 1119, CE 1707
12. Qutb-ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam Bahadur AH 1119, CE 1707
13. Azim-ush-Shan AH 1124, CE 1712
14. Muizz-ud-din Jahandar Shah AH 1124, CE 1712
15. Muin-ud-din Muhammad Farrukh-siyar AH 1124, CE 1713
16. Shams-ud-din Muhammad Abul-Barakat Rafi-ud-Darajat AH 1131, CE 1719
17. Shams-ud-din Muhammad Rafi-ud-dawlah Shah Jehan II AH 1131, CE 1719
18. Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah AH 1131, CE 1719
19. Mujahid-din Ahmad Shah Behadur AH 1161, CE 1748
20. Aziz-ud-din Muhammad Alamgir II AH 1167, CE 1754
21. Shah Jehan III AH 1173, CE 1759
22. Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Shah Alam II AH 1173, CE 1759
23. Akbar II AH 1221, CE 1806
24. Siraj-ud-din Muhammad Bahadur Shah II AH 1253, CE 1837

In spite of all these short coming noted in the above paragraphs, students of the history of the Indian sub-continent should read this book as it is enlightening in some aspects because of the author’s erudition in Persian and the first-hand translations of documents provided. However, such a student should be ever vigilant to ward off the chaff from the wheat. Anachronistic ideals which are declared to be the hallmarks of this medieval empire should be weeded out and other noted writers like Moreland and Jadunath Sirkar should be consulted, especially Moreland’s “From Akbar to Aurangzeb – A study in Indian economic history”, which contains documentary evidence to rubbish some of the claims put forward by Qureshi.

Overall Rating: 3 Star

Physics of the Impossible

Title: Physics of the ImpossibleAuthor: Michio KakuPublisher: Penguin, 2008Pages: 303

Michio Kaku, himself a noted physicist who popularizes science so that it is made enjoyable even to lay people has produced a splendid example of how a book which deals on advanced scientific concepts can become a best seller. In a simple to understand way, he describes profound ideas in an inimitable style full of interesting anecdotes and historical diversions which accentuates its appeal to all classes of readers. Kaku is deeply attracted to the popular science fiction movie series, ‘Star Trek’ and several of the impossible machines (impossible with today’s technology) he describes trace their origin to some of the lesser known episodes of Star Trek. The book details some of the ideas which are classified as impossible in today’s world, but may become realities in a short period of time when the underlying science and technology has advanced enough. He lists some of the examples which were marked as impossible by 19^th century physics but which were proved to be so useful in our everyday lives that we often take them for granted! Lord Kelvin, one of the most prominent scientists of the Victorian era, declared that ‘heavier-than-air’ devices such as the airplane was impossible, X-rays were a hoax and radio had no future. Lord Rutherford, who discovered the nucleus of the atom, dismissed the possibility of building an atomic bomb, comparing it to moonshine. Einstein himself wrote a paper in 1939 that ‘proved’ that black holes could never form. Great as these men are, we can’t help smile at the short-sightedness of their approaches with our advantage of hindsight.

Three categories of impossibilities are discussed in this work. The first is the Class 1 impossibility, which is impossible today, but does not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century, or perhaps the next, in modified form. Class 2 impossibility, on the other hand, are technologies that sit at the edge of our understanding of the physical world. If they are possible at all, they might be realized on a scale of millennia to millions of years in the future. Class 3 impossibilities are a class of its own, indeed. These violate the known laws of physics and if they do turn out to be possible, they would represent a fundamental shift in our understanding of physics. He then explains several technologies based on this classification.

Class 1 impossibilities

1. Force fields: This is a thin, invisible yet impenetrable barrier able to deflect lasers and rockets alike. This may be created with plasma windows, laser curtains and carbon nanotube shields. Magnetic levitation is also a related aspect which may become feasible when high-temperature superconductivity is mastered.

2. Invisibility: Metamaterials may render objects invisible. These are substances created by embedding tiny implants within a substance that force electromagnetic waves to bend in unorthodox ways. This will become available for the entire spectrum including visible light.

3. Phasers and death stars: Death star is a colossal weapon, the size of an entire moon, incinerating any object it collides with. Phasers are ray or beam weapons which are found only in science fiction now. Advances in laser technology may make this a reality.

4. Teleportation: It is the ability to transport a person or object instantly from one place to another. Quantum entanglement is an idea from quantum theory which will prove to transport information place to place.

5. Telepathy: Mind reading and projecting one’s ideas into another head had fascinated man kind from the very beginning. Brain scans, recognition of EEG waves, MRI scans etc have enabled researchers to associate specific wave patterns to particular thoughts and one day, this may advance further to know what’s going on in the brain.

6. Psychokinesis: This is the ability to move things by the power of the mind. The technologies for telepathy may also help in this.

7. Robots: The word ‘robot’ comes from the 1920 Czech play R.U.R by playwright Karel Capek which means ‘drudgery’ in the Czech language and ‘labour’ in Slovak. Attempts to enable them with language and speech processing is going on.

8. Extraterrestrials and UFOs: The search for extraterrestrial life will venture to further stars and galaxies. Kepler satellite is able to detect up to hundreds of earth-like planets in outer space. Kaku classifies alien civilisations according to the energy they handle like

1. Type 1 civilisations: those that harvest planetary power, utilising all the sunlight, power of volcanoes, manipulates the weather and build cities on the ocean. All planetary power is within their control

2. Type 2 civilisations: those that can utilise the entire power of their sun, making them 10 billion times more powerful than a type 1 society.

3. Type 3 civilisations: those that can use the power of an entire galaxy. They are 10 billion times more powerful than a type 2 civilisation. They have colonised billions of star systems and can exploit the power of the black hole at the centre of their galaxy.

9. Starships: Ion and plasma engines will replace the conventional thruster designs for rockets. Solar sails, Ramjet fusion, nuclear electric rockets, nuclear pulsed rockets and space elevators are budding technologies. Nanoships may also gain credence in the near future.

10. Antimatter and anti-universes: According to the standard model of quantum theory every subatomic particle has its counterpart with the opposite charge, like electron and positron. When these particles meet, they annihilate each other releasing a burst of energy and a shower of neutrinos. Such antimatter may provide the energy for spaceships of the future.

Class 2 impossibilities

1. Faster than light travel: Even though the theory of relativity denies the presence of anything that goes faster than light, tachyons are thought to be faster. Search is on for tachyons to see whether they have remained after the big bang. Worm holes and black holes are researched to find if they connect to other universes.

2. Time travel: Along with the plethora of paradoxes it offers, such as the ‘grandmother paradox’, theoretically it is possible to travel to the future if sufficient power is available to travel at speeds comparable to that of light.

3. Parallel universes: Hyperspace, which contains more than the three space dimensions and string theory which proposes 10 dimensions are due for more study in the future.

Class 3 impossibilities

1. Perpertual motion machines: Unless our understanding of thermodynamics is not altered in a big way, such machines won’t exist.

2. Precognition: The ability to predict things to come is also a remote possibility which can’t be materialised with our current state of knowledge.

There is a good passage about why scientists may often prove to be unreliable judges for phenomena put forward by freaks and frauds. “….scientists are easily fooled by those claiming to have psychic power. Scientists are trained to believe what they see in the lab. Magicians claiming psychic powers, however, are trained to deceive others by fooling their visual senses”.

Speculations about futuristic technologies in the ancient Greek texts are mentioned. “In Greek mythology, the god Vulcan forged mechanical handmaidens of gold and three-legged tables that could move under their own power. As early as 400 BC, the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum wrote about the possibility of making a robot bird propelled by steam power. In the first century AD, Hero of Alexandria (credited with designing the first machine based on steam) designed automatons, one of them with the ability to talk, according to legend. Nine hundred years ago, Al-Jazari designed and constructed automatic machines such as water clocks, kitchen appliances and musical instruments powered by water”. Probably, our home legion of vedic scientists may take a clue of two from them and ascribe them to the ever more burgeoning list of inventions in the Vedic era of India!

The Copenhagen school of quantum theory speculates that there is an invisible wall separating the microscopic world with the macroscopic and every quantum phenomenon will be in an uncertain state until an observation is made of it. ”One minority point of view is that there must be a ‘cosmic consciousness’ pervading the universe. Objects spring into being when measurements are being made, and measurements are made by conscious beings. Hence there must be a cosmic consciousness that pervades the universe determining which state we are in. Some, like Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner, have argued that this proves the existence of God or some cosmic consciousness. In fact, he even expressed an interest in the Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism, in which the universe is pervaded by an all embracing consciousness”.

The fallacy of Nostradamus’ predictions are analysed in one section. One quatrain from the predictions reads thus.

Earth-shaking fires from the world’s center roar:
Around ‘New City’ is the Earth a-quiver
Two nobles long shall wage a fruitless war
The nymph of springs pour fourth a new, red river.

This can be interpreted in any way we need. Recently, arguments have surfaced that this indicates the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York!

Doomsday cults have plagued mankind from the very ancient period to the present. In the US, William Miller declared that the End would arrive on April 3, 1843. A spectacular meteor shower by chance lit up the night sky in 1833, one of the largest of its kind, further enhancing the influence of Miller’s prophecy. Tens of thousands of devout followers, called Millerites, awaited the coming of Armageddon. When 1843 came and went without the arrival of the End of Days, the Millerite movement split into several large groups. One large piece regrouped in 1863 and changed their name to the Seventh-day Adventist Church while another group formed in 1914 called themselves, ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’.

Altogether, a fine book by any standard and this book should be owned by any student of science irrespective of their age. This may become a motivator for many children to see in science the future of mankind and the earth. Highly recommended.

Overall rating: 4 Star