Abstract
Barrow, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Sussex, has written a very engaging and even playful book. He attempts to show how certain "laws" governing "Nature" help us to separate the possible from the impossible. Knowing what is impossible—whether in science, art, literature, logic, and theology—helps shed "new light on the nature and content of the actual" (p. vii). Impossibilities define actualities. Furthermore, Barrow offers an array of anecdotes, quotations, diagrams, and illustrations to reinforce the theme of his book.