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Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (Commonwealth Fund Book Program) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kip S. Thorne
Creator: Stephen Hawking
Publisher: W. W. Norton Company
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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You Save: $15.95 (84%)
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Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 51943
Media: Paperback
Pages: 619
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0393312763
Dewey Decimal Number: 523
EAN: 9780393312768
ASIN: 0393312763
Publication Date: January 1995
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Product Description
In this masterfully written and brilliantly informed work, Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, answering the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know what they know? Features an introduction by Stephen Hawking.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
 The people behind the Science October 19, 2008
Giant Panda (Washington, DC)
Kip Thorne is the author of one of the most authoritative texts on Gravitation and Astrophysics. aaeBlack Holes and Time Warpsa is meant to bring these recent advanced discoveries in cosmology to the masses. What makes this book most valuable is that it not only devotes many pages explaining the physics in simple terms, but also introduces the major players in the field, telling the stories of their lives, and describing in detail how they achieved their discoveries. The book is therefore very inspiring to young scientists. It is written in a highly narrative style that keeps up a heightened suspense as one wonders what the next discovery will be, what ita(tm)s impact is one our world vision, and which scientist will bring about such a breakthrough. br / br /We read about the life story of Einstein, and how he worked hard and long hours in between babysitting his children so as to come up with his masterpieces on relativity. We then read about Chandrasekhar, the young student from India, who with nothing more than his own brain and a crude mechanical calculator achieved what is perhaps one of the greatest theoretical discoveries of the 20th centuries: black holes. It would be years before astronomers concur and document the existence of these beasts, years in which Chandrasekhar had to suffer rejection and alienation from his peers in the scientific community. We read about the wonderful experiments physicists set up to understand the world: from massive arrays of radio telescopes for listening to the furthest reaches of the universe, to cosmic ray detectors to measure the minute remnants of supernova explosions. We read about the atomic and H-bombs, about Oppenheimer and his own personal feelings about his creation. Here, the attitude of the author a" himself a leading scientist and contributor to human knowledge a" is far from passive acceptance of all that science brings. He understands perhaps more than anyone else that science can be applied for evil purposes as well as beneficial purposes, and he does not shy away from discussing these ethical dilemmas he and his peers had to confront at some points in their lives. br / br /Coming closer towards the end of the 20th century, Thorne discusses the complexities black hole research has led us into: apparent paradoxes and strange objects defying understanding a" aaesingularitiesa in scientific lingo. We read eagerly about the competition between leading scientists such as Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose to expand our limits of knowledge on black holes. We read also about the role of the cold war in advancing a" or suppressing a" scientific knowledge. br / br /This wonderful book is augmented by an enormous number of simple illustrations explaining the concepts discussed, as well as photographs of the various people involved in this unending quest for knowledge. The book also boasts of a useful glossary at the end, as well as a timeline, a bibliography, a good set of notes, and a people as well as a subject index. It is definitely a book worth reading, one of the few books on science that admit that science is more than just numbers, but is also about people and is an integral part of the human story. I give it a 4 because I thought the book is too long, and tends to get wordy at times. A concise edition would be a useful contribution. The bibliography also suffers from bloatedness a" it is so bulky and with no comments such that the interested reader will have difficulty deciding what to read next. br /
Einstein's legacy not that outrageous April 2, 2008
Science nerd (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I didn't understand a lot of this book. The physics was largely beyond me and I could not grasp the embedded diagrams that Kip Thorne used. These embedded diagrams attempt to represent three-dimensional space-time on a two-dimensional piece of paper. But I enjoyed reading the book nonetheless. One can look at science in two (or perhaps more) ways; the process and the results. I am interested in process, the building of one idea upon another. And Thorne does this particularly well. I am not a big fan of the results which is a good thing because I didn't really understand them, at least in this book. Thorne also included a lot of biographical information which I found very interesting. Thorne also admitted when he had made mistakes, which was refreshing; a nice human element. The most interesting parts of the book were when he compared the different styles of the various research teams. This is especially true when he compared first the American/British research style with the Russian research style and later in the book, the American, British, and French styles and their differing use of mathematics. Overall, this book was a good read, but by the end I was anxious to finish so that I could start reading Leon Lederman's new offering.
A detailed history of the science of physics November 22, 2007
John M. Gowan
Mr. Thorne offers insight into an important world of science that only a person who has first hand experience could. While this book is a book about black holes, it is just as much a book about the science leading up to the ability of science to recognize and study them. It is very detailed with numerous "boxes" that include extra information. While it is not necessary to have an extensive science background in physics/astrophysics etc..., it would help. If one gives the book the patience that it takes, a world of information is available. It is not a quick read, but it is very interesting stuff no doubt.
The science behind the movie "Contact" June 11, 2007
Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When Carl Sagan wanted to have his fictional herione from Contact travel in time, he turned to Kip Thorne. br / br /This book is Thorne's attempt to more fully explain the science of time travel. br / br /And in the process Thorne takes you to the prediction and discovery of black holes. br / br /First seriously suggested by the theories of Albert Einstein, a black hole is a star that has grown so massive (at least three times the size of our sun) that it litterally can't sustain itself against its own weight. It assumes a gravitional force so powerful that not even light can escape its grasp. br / br /Obviously, therefore, learning what resides beyond the visible dark exterior of a black hole has eluded science. br / br /Yet that dark exterior has fueled speculations that black holes may enable nature (and possibly man) to perform seemingly magical feats. br / br /As mentioned at the outset, one of the most interesting of these feats is time travel and the reason is because the great gravitional power of a black hole litterally allows it to warp the space around it. For us it would be a little like standing on one end of a water bed when someone places an anvil on the other end. Owing to the great weight of the anvil, the bed is contorted and owing to its contortions we find ourselves falling toward the anvil. br / br /Assuming a sufficiently heavy anvil we could see both ends of the water bed being connected. br / br /One obvious challenge would to be travel a black hole without becoming a part of it. br / br /Another not so obvious challenge is the fact wormhole creation at best is an exotic affair not occuring above quantum distances. In this way, any people wishing to use one would have to go an extreme wieght loss program! br / br /Because of its thoroughness, Thorne gives an extended discussion of the characters involved in the story he's telling. For example, Thorne explains that physicists use both flat and curved universe models to understand black hole behavior. Additionally, even though predicted by his theories, Einstein actually disputed the existence of black holes. As a result, the Soviet Union and not the US was the first country to really encourage serious discussion of them. However, once predicted and then once found, black holes became a unique entree into the laws of physics and with it the mind of God himself. br / br /For those who read or saw Contact and enjoyed it, this will be an excellent account of the fact behind the fiction.
Relativity Explained February 16, 2007
M. Chapin (Harbor Springs, Michigan)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kip S. Thorne explains Einstein's Theory of Relativity well. I have always been interested in time and space, and black holes, and anything that had to do with the universe and space. Thanks to this book my understanding of some theories has increased. I learned more about Enstein's quirks and devotion to the pursuit of scientific knowledge. A fascinating book.
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