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Title: Black Holes : A Traveler's Guide by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0-471-19704-1 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 10 March, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.19 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Happy trails....
Comment: The term "black hole" was coined by the Princeton physicist John Archibald Wheeler. What, exactly, a black hole is (if there even is such a thing) has been a source of debate and confusion for decades. Clifford Pickover inserts you as the main character of this book. You are on a spaceship (complete with aliens) way the heck in the future & your ship is near a black hole. So, you & your friends decide to do a close (literally) study of the cosmic anomaly.
The story is entertaining & has many didactic features. Pickover also inserts some humor so as to make the book enjoyable as opposed to a dense treatise of rather complex mathematical concepts. Also, at the end of each chapter is a section called "The science behind the science fiction." It is a detailed account of what we presently know (or think we know) about the notions which were presented in the narrative.
And, the concepts are many. We learn of various weird things that happen in & near a black hole, such as time slowing, the "shrinking" of one's perspective due to the singularity & the mind-numbing gravitational power which is projected by black holes.....a gravity field so immense that the escape velocity exceeds light speed. We learn how black holes were predicted by Einstein's theory of Relativity as well as how the many principles of quantum mechanics come into the picture when one is attempting to understand the nature of singularities.
Much of this book is speculation, but it is educated speculation. The conjectures on what happens inside of a singularity, as well as the possiblity of wormholes which lead to other universes & dimensions is exciting & based on our best available current knowledge of the cosmos. As an added bonus, there is a chapter in the back of the book in which many of the world's leading cosmologists answer questions posed by the author on various topics about & related to black holes. There are also computer animation pictures of some of the more dazzling geometrical effects that are generated by black holes. For anyone who is planning to visit a black hole anytime soon, this book is a must.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good Book for General Readers
Comment: This book is full of useful information about black holes that is presented in a fun manner. The dialog at the beginning of each chapter makes the reader understand the topic fairly easily. The equations were added for a more scientific approach, but you don't have to understand them to understand the theories. This book is very good for readers interested in Black Holes, but not the physics of them. I would not suggest this book to people who have studied physics or astrophysics if they are looking for a mathematical explanation of Black Holes. It often repeats itself because it is guided towards people with an interest in the subject but are not really interested in the math and physics of it all.
Overall it is an excellent overview of Black Holes, and a joy to read!
Rating: 4
Summary: Engrossing and Entertaining
Comment: I enjoyed this book. It was easy to get into and hard to put down. Don't get discouraged by the equations. I skipped over the calculation as all that interested me was the concepts which the author did well to get across. There was perhaps only a couple of sections I re-read and mainly because I was trying refresh them in my mind to relate them to sections later in the book. As a bonus there's also a cheesy little sidestory that while not exactly rife with tiwsts and turns does well to get across basic concepts in an amusing manner before delving into the knitty gritty of it. If you enjoy studying black holes buy this book. If you don't enjoy studying balck holes, well it'll look good on your coffe table with it's snazzy cover:)
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Title: Time: A Traveller's Guide by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0195130960 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Keys to Infinity by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0471193348 Publisher: Wiley Pub. Date: 29 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Surfing Through Hyperspace: Understanding Higher Universes in Six Easy Lessons by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0195142411 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Stars of Heaven by Clifford A. Pickover ISBN: 0195148746 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension by Michio Kaku ISBN: 0385477058 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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