Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe
Harper Collins £25 HB
Black holes are some of the most intriguing and awe-inspiring objects in our Universe. Where else do space and time flip roles and the end of time waits for you, no matter what you do? There are many popular science books about black holes available to the curious reader, but there are few like this. Black Holes is not your average light bedtime reading, and you’ll need your full concentration to follow all the Penrose diagrams. But fear not: although this is a heavy book, conjuring many memories of head-scratching in general relativity lectures, the authors do a very good job of guiding the reader.
The book starts with the basics of spacetime, giving you the tools you’ll need to navigate your way using this new coordinate system. Penrose diagrams feature heavily, and you will understand how to read them to interpret what would happen to you should you stray close to or happen to ‘fall into’ a black hole, as well as what happens in a wormhole. There is very little maths in the book, and the authors tell the story at a nice steady pace that engages the reader, focusing attention on the subject matter with relatable examples.
The best part of the book is the final chapters, where thermodynamics and quantum information meet to describe the Universe as a hologram. This is one of the best books for describing the basics of holography and how it came about. The authors skilfully and logically lead the reader to what feels like a very natural conclusion. In the final pages you may even begin to ask yourself: are we indeed living in a giant quantum computer?
Black Holes is essential reading for anyone keen to understand the essence of general relativity without the maths. The book connects the similar challenges we face in building a quantum computer and developing the correct theory of quantum gravity. And so, by the end of the book we come away with an appreciation that there is much more to black holes than we may have originally expected, and that we may well be living in a holographic Universe. ★★★★★
Laura Nuttall is a Future Leaders Fellow at Portsmouth University