Michio Kaku is a professor of theoretical physics at City University of New York (CUNY), and I suspect is a very good teacher. Although I am lacking in a background in physics, I could carefully follow Kaku’s practical examples explaining complex theoretical constructs in the movement toward a “theory of everything.” This book chronologically moves through the history of physics theory, as great minds develop theories to understand and explain gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces. He describes how thinkers have tried to deal with ways that various theories fail to agree and align, as physicists try to develop a theory that unites all thought and observation.

Kaku describes the ancients’ attempts to understand our cosmos and forces observed in daily life. Theories grow more sophisticated as our observational tools increase in sensitivity and capability, from telescopes to microwave detection, from microscopes to the Large Hadron Collider, and beyond. Mathematical and theoretical development far exceeds physical observation since our tools cannot keep pace with the rate at which great minds advance hypotheses. We meet Newton, and learn of gravitational force. We learn of the relationship between electricity and magnetism, and how Faraday and Maxwell discovered this. We learn of Einstein’s mind-blowing ideas regarding general relativity, space-time, and his failed attempts to reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics, the theories of the universe and the sub-atomic.

Quantum theory has predicted and led to the observation of particles such as the Higgs Boson. In fact, there is a whole host of particles and phenomena that theory has developed: black holes, dark matter and dark energy, neutrinos, gravitons, quarks, gluons, leptons, etc. Many we have observed, some we need more sophisticated tools to document. Kaku finally leads us to string theory, a mathematically elegant set of equations that possess simplicity and symmetry, qualities deemed beautiful and essential to an ultimate solution. Physicists have observed that correct thought tends to the symmetrical and simple; the more complex and unbalanced, the more likely thought is to be incorrect. String theory leads to ideas such as a multiverse, wormholes, and 10 or 11 dimensions, hypotheses we are so far away from observing. Indeed, these phenomenon would radically change our lives, how we think of ourselves and the universe to an unimaginable extent.

Kaku realizes that this is where physics ends and metaphysics picks up. What is our idea of God in this universe? Was He the initial mover, the One who keeps the system moving, and to what final end? St. Thomas Aquinas has relevant input today as we ponder the universe’s beginnings, pre-history, and final end. With no real scientific background, I found this material challenging but refreshingly so. I recommend this book if you are looking for a good primer on physics for the uninitiated, if you want to understand more about where we are in our understanding of our physical world. Highly recommend.