A Brief History of Black Holes: And Why Nearly Everything You Know About Them Is Wrong

Pre-ordered this book for my birthday gift to me....Best.Gift.Ever! I adore her writing style, candor and knowledge. An absolute joy to read! I can't imagine anyone, who enjoys this subject matter, not enjoying the heck out of this book.

Fifteen years ago, after reading some articles on the internet and in magazines about exoplanets, brown dwarfs and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, I wanted to read some books about astrophysics, but all I could find at that time were encyclopaedia-style books. I bought one such work, but of course never read it. Now, having read this book, I can conclude here that I have finally found the book I wanted to read at that time.I have already read a book about black holes this past June, but while that book was informative and instructive, it was a chronological treatise about the ideas on and the research into black holes throughout the ages. It was thus a historical treatment first about the ideas on gravity by Newton and Einstein, then about the theoretical contemplations on black holes by Schwarzschild up the more serious research on black holes by Hawkings and others. If somebody wants to read about the historical understanding of black holes, that book can be highly recommended.This book, on the other hand, is more a discussion of all important concepts in astrophysics. As such, it also discusses the researchers who have made the discoveries, but it spends more time introducing their astrophysical discoveries. As such, the live cycle of stars is introduced, why blue giants burn out after millions of years whereas red dwarfs can fuse hydrogen still after hundreds of billions of years. What happens to them after they have run out of hydrogen is displayed, and it is shown into what astrological bodies they will develop afterwards. How they fuse hydrogen is discussed and also, to my delight, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.Of course, the book then also spends due amount of time on its main protagonists, the black holes. In the chapter “Black holes don’t suck”, it is introduced that, in contrast to what is shown in the usual science fictions films and series, including Star Trek, and of course the Disney film “The Black Hole”, objects around black holes, including accretion disks, generally orbit black holes in stable orbits. Black holes are thus not giant vacuum cleaners that suck everything in their environment into them. Specially the film “The Black Hole” made me believe that everything will be sucked into the black hole, whereas in reality, only those gas molecules in the accretion disk, that have through collisions lost enough energy will fall into the black hole. Therefore, it is a falling into a black hole, due to lost energy, just like a satellite, that loses energy by interacting with earth’s atmosphere, will eventually fall back onto earth, and not a being sucked into.In other chapters, Becky Smethurst also shows that due to radiation pressure, there is a limit on how much can fall into a black hole. Moreover, usually, only 10% of what would be possible by this limit does actually fall into a normal black hole. By introducing an ultramassive black hole, she shows as well that there is a limit on how big a black hole can get. If a black hole gets too big, an accretion disk would stabilise itself though gravity and nothing would fall inside a black hole anymore; everything would be more attracted to the disk itself than to the black hole. Therefore, such ultramassive black holes do not have an accretion disk.To come to a conclusion, this is a really good book that does not just explain black holes, even though it also does that very well, but explains actually many intersting astrophysical phenomena. Therfore, a clear recomendation from me for this book, I’m even thinking I might want to read it a second time one day, even though I usually don't do that with non-fiction books.

It is written in Dr Becky’s usual fun communication style while covering the topics in a clear and accessible manner. While it is accessible to the non physicist it is still an interesting read for someone who has a fair amount of knowledge about astrophysics and Black Holes. It covers many topics that help understand what Black Holes are and how our understanding of them was pieced together.

Never a dull moment in this historical buildup to our current understanding of black holes. Dr. B writes with a contagious enthusiasm for the subject that is assured to kindle a desire for more. The explanations of physical processes are clearly composed with very little mathematics and the narrative spiced up to read like a detective mystery by including the historial discovery behind the science.

The author has a conversational approach backed by a PhD in astrophysics. As a high school physics/earth science teacher, I fully expect I will revisit both of her book annually... because I have a liberal arts bachelor's degree, and she brings all the "maths" (She's from the UK) to a level everyone can understand. I love her approach of starting at the historical beginning and tracking the development of the science through time. (My students often comment on my bias, when they ask me a question, to back up 200 years and explain it forward.) She is an amazing science communicator for the general public and I look forward to her future efforts.

I’m an engineer who enjoys reading physics books. I found Dr. Smethurst to be probably the most entertaining, informative, and fascinating writer out there.Dr. Becky is an active Oxford professor who has an active YouTube channel that educates people about astrophysics. She explains hard topics in layman’s terms. This book is for the general audience, and it doesn't assume any prior scientific knowledge.I finished 90% of this book very quickly, thanks to Dr.Becky’s style of writing that kept me intrigued. I can tell she is a great educator because, even in interviews or on social media, she educates us about all current scientific research and informs us about the most probable one.

"It's a gravity-defying feat to explain such mind-bending science in a way that's both accessible and laugh-out-loud funny. But this book pulls it off - a dazzling display of knowledge and wit."

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to friends. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Written in a style very much like Isaac Asimov's Seventeen Essays books I grew up on. Dr. Becky gives us a look at the history of discoveries leading up to black holes, and explains in a style that non-scientists can follow. Thanks, Dr. Becky!

Volume scritto da una brillante giovane ricercatrice con particolare riguardo per gli appassionati non troppo tecnici, con spiegazioni ampie e interessanti, mai pedanti, e parecchi riferimenti storici.Non dice niente di nuovo sui buchi neri (perché non si sa niente di nuovo, dopotutto - anche se la "fotografia" di M87* è stata un evento storico, non ci ha insegnato nulla che già non fosse stato ampiamente descritto), ma dice quello che sappiamo, rappresentando un eccellente compendio dello "stato dell'arte" sull'argomento, senza tralasciare nulla e distinguendo le certezze acquisite dalle ipotesi più o meno fantasiose.Consigliato a chiunque non sia astronomo di professione, ma voglia tenersi al corrente e avere idee chiare e corrette su uno dei fenomeni più impressionanti della natura.Ha il pregio di essere in lingua originale, cosa che evita imprecisioni e strafalcioni spesso introdotti durante la traduzione in italiano delle pubblicazioni scientifiche a carattere divulgativo. Richiede però una conoscenza dell'inglese di buon livello.In conclusione, un ottimo volume a un prezzo più che ragionevole.

So I assume it was good.

Fantastic book i have finished it it is literally amazing and also good product by the seller

This book was very professionally written; simple and understandable (it is hard to be able to explain such extreme phenomena easily ). I recommend it to everyone who wants to know what blackholes are and the history of their discovery.