Black Holes: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Katherine Blundell (PDF)

Description

Black holes are a constant source of fascination to many due to their mysterious nature. In this Very Short Introduction, Katherine Blundell addresses a variety of questions, including what a black hole actually is, how they are characterized and discovered, and what would happen if you came too close to one.She explains how black holes form and grow – by stealing material that belongs to stars, as well as how many there may be in the Universe. She also explores the large black holes found in the centres of galaxies, and how black holes give rise to quasars and other spectacular phenomena in the cosmos.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Highly informative. A brief introduction to what we know of black holes as of 2015. I would like to see an updated 2nd edition since there have been new developments in black hole research, in particular, the detection of gravitation waves on September 14, 2015, from the merger of two binary black holes.The author’s writing style is clear and transparent, with good explanations for all key concepts. This was accomplished with very few mathematical equations. I found one error on pages 18 and 19, where the author states that light takes 6 million years from Andromeda to reach us (the correct value is about 2.5 million years). I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommended it.

⭐This book is a pleasure to read and delightfully short, but it is a bit light on scientific content. It would be ideal for any student who has had one semester of physics, but who would like to learn something about black holes and astronomy. It can be read recreationally, on the beach or on an airplane. Yet, someone with several semesters of physics, including Modern Physics, might discover that they know too high of a percentage of the facts in the book and that would take much (but not all) of the pleasure out of reading it. Last but not least, in the Kindle Edition, the formulas did not typeset well at all on my Android device. They were almost invisible, written in a far smaller font than the words of the book. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to get the printed version.

⭐This book is about 3/4 over my primitive head, but I enjoyed the exposure of the subject, and I did learn a couple of facts along the way. The disappointment is I would have liked the author to use more examples of what would happen if scenarios. Also size was talked about but only in terms of distance. I can’t recall any conjecture on how DEEP they think these things are. Still, it was enjoyable for me, and if you want to know a little more about them it’s a good read.

⭐The descriptions were a little bit too short for what I was looking for.

⭐an enjoyable read. it could have used some math, but in all it opened a portal in the event horizon of black holes for us non-astrophysicists.

⭐Good for staters and understanding basics. Audio is recommended it’s damn easy to listen than reading. Recommend for high school students

⭐Poor overall outline of black holes. I enjoy the “The Very Short Instructions”. This one, I did not enjoy, or come away with a better understanding of Black Holes.

⭐A pretty good review of the current state of knowledge/theory of black holes.

⭐I have many of the VSI books and so I should perhaps have known what I might be letting myself in for with a ‘rocket science’ book. I found the book very frustrating. Large parts of it were lucid, particularly in the early chapters (and, oddly enough, at the very end), but there were parts where the same information was repeated in near enough exactly the same wording within a few lines (in one case three times!) and then, as I was thinking “Yes, yes, you’ve just said that”, the author would throw in a totally new, unreferenced concept and its terminology and I’d think “You what?!” Slow, slow, quick, quick slow. The problem is, I think, that the author didn’t have an editor who would have gone through and made the book into a steady read, perhaps even putting an overview and definitions at the start of each chapter and the detailed concepts at the end.

⭐Fabulous book, simple as….literally. It’s beautifully written in language most people will find coherent, with diagrams in all the right places. The author has been able to condense what is quite simply a colossal amount of physics into digestible chapters for the layman. I enjoyed it as an amateur astronomer (very amateur!!) and would recommend it to others looking to get a basic grounding of black holes for around a fiver.

⭐Great little book.For people with a casual interest in black holes, timelines etc.. You can’t go wrong.Recommend also the Introduction’s in Cosmology, Quantum Physics and Astrophysics.They are easy to read and they get the point across without to much of the jargon.As I said suitable for people with a casual interest.

⭐A requested gift for Physics a level student. They rate it highly.

⭐Good introduction to the general reader who wonders what a black hole is especially since gravitational waves have now been detected. It is what it says – A very short introduction.

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