Book Review: The God Equation by Michio Kaku

If you're like me...you know nothing about theoretical physics. And that's okay! The good news is we have geniuses like Michio Kaku taking care of it for us.

In The God Equation, Michio Kaku, one of the founders of string theory and always an informative interview on TV, takes us through the history of physics, with an emphasis on the search for the "God equation", the one equation that would unify all the forces in the universe. What's illuminating about this search is that while physics builds upon itself, not all disciplines of physics align - Einstein's physics, which was based on galaxies and universes, don't really align with quantum physics, which measures forces and particles inside atoms, and none of them really dovetail with Newtonian physics, which works with mechanics closer to our perception. Since all forces at work (gravity, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and electromagnetic) should act somewhat similar regardless of magnitude, and since they all derived from the same force at the beginning of the Big Bang, there should be a way to express them all in the same way, which would be the God equation. As Kaku notes, science has so far brought us to the point where the equations for all four of those forces can be expressed on a single sheet of paper; the goal is to get them all in the same equation.

It was very interesting to learn more about how physics developed and how theories and scientists grew opposed to each other. For example, when Einstein was developing his theories of relativity, he had to decide whether to base it on Newton's physics or Maxwell's theories on light (that it is both a particle and a wave); he chose to build on top of Maxwell's theories, which so far has been shown to be the correct choice. We also learn how controversial quantum physics was when it was developed - and how it was debated in the sixth Solvay Conference in 1930 in Brussels, with Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg arguing for quantum physics and Einstein and Erwin Schrodinger arguing against (the famous Schrodinger's cat thought experiment, where the cat is either dead or alive, came from his opposition to quantum theory's position that light particles can be in 2+ places at once).

It's also illuminating to find out how some of these equations are actually formed. For example, if an equation isn't working out, it is common practice to see if you could add a constant (basically an unknown factor) in order to make it work. The "c" in the famous E=mc squared formula is a constant - Einstein didn't know what the number represented, although it was proven to be correct decades later. Also, in order for string theory to work (which it usually does), there have to be ten dimensions to our universe instead of the four (up/down, left/right, back/forward, time) that we can perceive - either six dimensions dried up shortly after the Big Bang, or they are so tiny we pass right through them (also, according to the recent M theory, there are eleven dimensions!).

Very interesting read overall, even though I still don't understand the nuts and bolts (do forces have nuts and bolts?) of physics. Recommended - eight out of ten hot dogs!