Point Books Conducive To Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos
| ISBN: | 0374114129 (ISBN13: 9780374114121) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Caleb Scharf
Hardcover | Pages: 272 pages Rating: 4.04 | 529 Users | 70 Reviews
Mention Epithetical Books Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos
| Title | : | Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos |
| Author | : | Caleb Scharf |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 272 pages |
| Published | : | August 7th 2012 by Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 2012) |
| Categories | : | Science. Physics. Nonfiction. Astronomy. Audiobook. Unfinished. Popular Science |
Narration To Books Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos
One of The Barnes and Noble Review Editors' Picks: Best Nonfiction of 2012Selected by The Christian Science Monitor as one of "21 smart nonfiction titles we think you'll enjoy this summer"
Selected by The New Scientist as one of 10 books to look out for in 2012
We've long understood black holes to be the points at which the universe as we know it comes to an end. Often billions of times more massive than the Sun, they lurk in the inner sanctum of almost every galaxy of stars in the universe. They're mysterious chasms so destructive and unforgiving that not even light can escape their deadly wrath.
Recent research, however, has led to a cascade of new discoveries that have revealed an entirely different side to black holes. As the astrophysicist Caleb Scharf reveals in Gravity's Engines, these chasms in space-time don't just vacuum up everything that comes near them; they also spit out huge beams and clouds of matter. Black holes blow bubbles.
With clarity and keen intellect, Scharf masterfully explains how these bubbles profoundly rearrange the cosmos around them. Engaging with our deepest questions about the universe, he takes us on an intimate journey through the endlessly colorful place we call our galaxy and reminds us that the Milky Way sits in a special place in the cosmic zoo—a "sweet spot" of properties. Is it coincidental that we find ourselves here at this place and time? Could there be a deeper connection between the nature of black holes and their role in the universe and the phenomenon of life? We are, after all, made of the stuff of stars.
Rating Epithetical Books Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos
Ratings: 4.04 From 529 Users | 70 ReviewsCommentary Epithetical Books Gravity's Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule Galaxies, Stars, and Life in the Cosmos
An excellent book to further learn about black holes, quasars, etc, picking up more or less where Stephen Hawking leaves it in A Brief History of Time. The book reads quite peculiarly though: it starts with an introduction to cosmology and subatomic physics, veers into the description of what we have learned about this compact objects (the "gist"), only to then careen telling the author's side story. (Note to the editor: I wish this type of approachable scientific books would have a prerequisiteWould have been nice to have an explanation of hawking radiation and how blackholes are seemingly a counter to the universal laws of entropy. Still, the author writes charmingly with an ear for the ignorance of the layman. He uses metaphors without overloading the prose with unecessary analogies. This book is the perfect length.
One of the wonderful things about modern astrophysics (and science in general, I suppose) is that it puts us in our place. I'm not being facetious about this. Four centuries ago, Earth was the center of the universe and Man was the reason it was created about 6,000 years ago. Now we know that the universe has no center, it is unimaginably vast, and our Milky Way Galaxy is only one of hundreds of billions of galaxies, each of which contains a multitude of stars of which our Sun is but one. It's a
The idea of singularities, massive black holes - ravenous behemoths, lurking at the center of every galaxy is fairly mind-blowing. Most of the concepts are well illustrated and there are simple but effective diagrams throughout the book.The ideas behind Caleb Scharf's area of expertise - black holes and their effects on the formation of galaxies and even superclusters of galaxies is intriguing and he makes a very plausible case for most of his speculations and hypotheses.I liked the author's
Black holes are the rock stars of cosmology. With the possible exception of the Big Bang, nothing gets better press. And there has been plenty written about the guts of black holes but in Gravitys Engines, Caleb Scharf turns the picture on its head and explores the interaction of black holes with the environment around them.The result is stunning. I cant remember when I last read a popular science book where I learned as much I hadnt come across before. In particular Scharfs descriptions of the
There is a lot we still dont know about the Universe, but we are slowly getting there and this book has some intriguing theories about how black holes effect galactic formations. Lots of new information for the amateur Cosmologist, and some speculations that may soon be tested with new space telescopes.
I'm torn about this book. It was an interesting topic, written about by someone with a talent for description and a deep knowledge about the subject, yet it was still somehow a slog to read and I cannot tell why.
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