Impossibility

Technology progresses at such speed that one sometime wonders whether there are any limits to what can be achieved. On the other hand science is built on laws which restrict our ability to do things - we can't travel faster than light or produce energy out of nothing. In Impossibility John Barrow looks such limits, and asks what consequences they will have in future. The book is actually much more positive than the title suggests, and the only things which seem to be really impossible are those which have been mathematically proved to be so. In truth the book is a wide ranging speculation of the possible directions our technology might follow. If you like this sort of peek into the future then this is a book you should read.

I had expected this book to be essentially a collection of separate chapters, each one dealing with a different kind of impossibility. In fact the chapters form more of a continuing discussion of what may become possibile in the future. In a sense the book is an answer to John Horgan's The End of Science. Some people might think that Barrow tries to cover too wide an area in this book and skims over the details too much - but he does provide plenty of notes at the end for those wanting to look further into the material covered.