Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition by Jim Al-Khalili (PDF)

Description

Bringing the material up to date, Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, Second Edition captures the new ideas and discoveries made in physics since the publication of the best-selling first edition. While retaining the popular format and style of its predecessor, this edition explores the latest developments in high-energy astroparticle physics and Big Bang cosmology.The book continues to make the ideas and theories of modern physics easily understood by anyone, from researchers to students to general science enthusiasts. Taking you on a journey through space and time, author Jim Al-Khalili covers some of the most fascinating topics in physics today, including:Black holesSpace warpsThe Big BangTime travelWormholesParallel universesProfessor Al-Khalili explains often complex scientific concepts in simple, nontechnical terms and imparts an appreciation of the cosmos, helping you see how time traveling may not be so far-fetched after all.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review It is very desirable to have a book available that explores the relevant physics issues from a straight and sober scientific standpoint. Jim Al-Khalili’s Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, appearing in a newly revised second edition, fulfils this need admirably. The explanations are up to date and the author knows how to provide honest accounts of his exotic subject matter … A good virtue of the book is that it successfully distinguishes between truth and fiction. The presentation is quite thorough while being very much at a popular level, with almost no mathematics, some nice illustrations, and plenty of jokes. I was fascinated to learn that the entire area of wormholes, first developed by Kip Thorne, was initially prompted by Carl Sagan, who wanted to have some kind of plausible scientific basis for his novel Contact. … a highly enjoyable and very interesting read. It can be strongly recommended to teenagers and to anyone who wants a non-technical account of some very topical areas of modern physics. Quite a lot of important details are included and discussed, giving an extremely good up-to-date overview of the subject matter. Even academic physicists who are not engaged in these areas can find here the kind of clear and straightforward explanations that may be helpful in answering students’ questions. These are topics where it is often hard to get information that is both reliable and understandable. Al-Khalili has once again done everyone a good turn in providing it.―Peter J. Bussey, Contemporary Physics, June 2012Praise for the First Edition:… the reader will enjoy the clear and non-technical explanations strewn with historical anecdotes about the heroes of this quest for the understanding of what is space and time … Al-Khalili takes us by the hand to a fascinating world from which you may not return…―Jean-Phillipe Uzan, University of Paris, FranceThis is precisely the kind of book that I like reading. The pace of the journey as the ever more complex theories unfold is well handled. Jim Al-Khalili uses layman’s language to his credit.―Vernon NashI know of no other book on this subject that is so accessible to the reader for whom relativity and quantum mechanics are new. The author’s explanations are unusually clear, and he writes at a simple level without being patronizing or slow-paced. The tone is consistently good-humored, almost playful at times.―Publisher Tom QuinnJim Al-Khalili has produced, with earnest intentions, a concise, well written book … this is on the whole a pleasant, readable book.―Physics WorldIf you want to know about time, this is the book. I don’t know of another nearly as good and I’ve read a lot of them. But more than telling you about time, what makes this book exceptional is that it conveys a wonderful sense of the beautiful excitement of scientific ideas.―David Malone, Producer of BBC’s Documentary “The Flow of Time”Jim Al-Khalili has written a splendid popular book … The book would be an excellent resource for school teachers in both mathematics and physics to enrich their teaching, and to enthuse their students. … Many physicists will enjoy this easy-to-read book … I highly recommend it for teenagers with an interest in science and for non-scientists interested in the deep questions of our universe.―David G. Blair, University of Western Australia, The PhysicistJim Al-Khalili’s [book] is another of the many books about the wonders of the Universe and what we know about them. But with a difference, though. Enthusiasm to make everything understandable to the most untutored comes from every page. It’s successful, it’s humorous, and it’s up to date. A great crib for furtive, refreshing use.―New ScientistThis is a popular book on general relativity and cosmology including black hole physics. Also, the history of these subjects is described, and a valuable list of references, including both popular and advanced levels, is attached … the book contains several nice figures to help understanding properties of relativity theory.―Hans-Jurgen Schmidt, Zentralblatt MathThroughout the book, everything is surprisingly clear and the readers are left with lots of room for her/his imagination to follow their own thoughts, though not losing track of the trend … It is actually fun reading this book … This book gives a good impression of how special and general relativity affect our environment.―Karsten Markus, Department of Astronomy, UCTIt is very desirable to have a book available that explores the relevant physics issues from a straight and sober scientific standpoint. Jim Al-Khalili’s Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, appearing in a newly revised second edition, fulfils this need admirably. The explanations are up to date and the author knows how to provide honest accounts of his exotic subject matter … A good virtue of the book is that it successfully distinguishes between truth and fiction. The presentation is quite thorough while being very much at a popular level, with almost no mathematics, some nice illustrations, and plenty of jokes. I was fascinated to learn that the entire area of wormholes, first developed by Kip Thorne, was initially prompted by Carl Sagan, who wanted to have some kind of plausible scientific basis for his novel Contact. … a highly enjoyable and very interesting read. It can be strongly recommended to teenagers and to anyone who wants a non-technical account of some very topical areas of modern physics. Quite a lot of important details are included and discussed, giving an extremely good up-to-date overview of the subject matter. Even academic physicists who are not engaged in these areas can find here the kind of clear and straightforward explanations that may be helpful in answering students’ questions. These are topics where it is often hard to get information that is both reliable and understandable. Al-Khalili has once again done everyone a good turn in providing it.―Peter J. Bussey, Contemporary Physics, June 2012Praise for the First Edition:… the reader will enjoy the clear and non-technical explanations strewn with historical anecdotes about the heroes of this quest for the understanding of what is space and time … Al-Khalili takes us by the hand to a fascinating world from which you may not return…―Jean-Phillipe Uzan, University of Paris, FranceThis is precisely the kind of book that I like reading. The pace of the journey as the ever more complex theories unfold is well handled. Jim Al-Khalili uses layman’s language to his credit.―Vernon NashI know of no other book on this subject that is so accessible to the reader for whom relativity and quantum mechanics are new. The author’s explanations are unusually clear, and he writes at a simple level without being patronizing or slow-paced. The tone is consistently good-humored, almost playful at times.―Publisher Tom QuinnJim Al-Khalili has produced, with earnest intentions, a concise, well written book … this is on the whole a pleasant, readable book.―Physics WorldIf you want to know about time, this is the book. I don’t know of another nearly as good and I’ve read a lot of them. But more than telling you about time, what makes this book exceptional is that it conveys a wonderful sense of the beautiful excitement of scientific ideas.―David Malone, Producer of BBC’s Documentary “The Flow of Time”Jim Al-Khalili has written a splendid popular book … The book would be an excellent resource for school teachers in both mathematics and physics to enrich their teaching, and to enthuse their students. … Many physicists will enjoy this easy-to-read book … I highly recommend it for teenagers with an interest in science and for non-scientists interested in the deep questions of our universe.―Professor David G. Blair, University of Western Australia, The PhysicistJim Al-Khalili’s [book] is another of the many books about the wonders of the Universe and what we know about them. But with a difference, though. Enthusiasm to make everything understandable to the most untutored comes from every page. It’s successful, it’s humorous, and it’s up to date. A great crib for furtive, refreshing use.―New ScientistThis is a popular book on general relativity and cosmology including black hole physics. Also, the history of these subjects is described, and a valuable list of references, including both popular and advanced levels, is attached … the book contains several nice figures to help understanding properties of relativity theory.―Hans-Jurgen Schmidt, Zentralblatt MathThroughout the book, everything is surprisingly clear and the readers are left with lots of room for her/his imagination to follow their own thoughts, though not losing track of the trend … It is actually fun reading this book … This book gives a good impression of how special and general relativity affect our environment.―Karsten Markus, Department of Astronomy, UCT About the Author Jim Al-Khalili is a professor of physics at the University of Surrey. While still an active researcher in theoretical physics, Dr. Al-Khalili has become a well-known science communicator in the UK, with regular appearances on television and radio science documentaries. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication in 2007 and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal in 2011. He became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to science in 2008.

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

⭐I am a proud owner of the 1st edition of this book and purchased this one because it is the more recently released 2nd edition. It was my favorite book on the topic to date so purchasing the 2nd edition was a no-brainer. So what do I think of this book? Al-Khalili is no doubt a master at taking esoteric physics concepts and breaking them down into terms for anyone who has a genuine interest in the topics covered to understand. Another commenter here said he read the whole book in two sittings. Congratulations are in order for him. I, on the other hand, had to slowly comb through this book digesting the knowledge a little at time before I can move onto the next section. I read about twenty pages at a time for about a month. I would often reread areas to make sure I knew exactly what was going on. Not because it was difficult to understand what he was saying but because it was truly challenging for me to completely digest. It’s more than just fascinating and it deserves to be chewed swallowed.Al-Khalili brilliantly connects chapter to chapter helping you understand dimensions, gravity, the universe (so much more complex – even though he does a wonderful job explaining – than I could even have imagined), black holes, white holes, Einstein and his theory of relativity (it’s a really big deal and he doesn’t downplay how big of a deal it is), paradoxes, and finally a move into where physics is today and what our leading – most abstract? – theories are. All of it beautifully rendered with illustrations and real-world easy to understand examples.Having read the first edition and now the second edition and although I’d recommend this book strongly to anyone with an interest in these topics that isn’t perusing – or has – a degree in physics, I have a couple of gripes I’d like to bring some attention to. Maybe some of these are my own lack of understanding and inability to grasp what the author is saying, but, nonetheless, they left me confused and once or twice a little disappointed.Al-Khalili admittedly wrote the first edition of this book years ago, and during that time Pluto was still a planet. Twice in this book he makes reference to Pluto being our ninth or `outermost planet’. Given, this is petty, but if you’re updating older material and releasing it as a new and improved edition, shouldn’t you look into all the details? It is my understanding that Pluto, although now considered a dwarf planet, is not truly our ninth planet anymore. In fact, it is one of many dwarf planets beyond Neptune.Next there is a line from his first edition repeated in this edition explaining that the cosmological constant was the biggest mistake of Einstein’s scientific career. While at the time that may have been believed to be the case this book goes on to explain that the cosmological constant is back in play and is actively being used in modern equations. So was it a mistake or not? A simple word change would get rid of some of the confusion this can create.He then deals with the shapes of the universe from open to closed and finally flat. I understood this perfectly because of his examples of what open and closed were, but I feel he kind of jumbled it a little in the end when explaining the difference because these and a flat universe. Closed = gravity halting expansion causing a recollapse. Open = gravity not being able to slow the expansion causing it to expand forever. Got it… Now flat: “balanced on a knife’s edge between a universe that will one day collapse and one that will steadily expand forever.” Okay, that makes sense. It sounds like it becomes static since open means eternal expansion and closed means a recollapse. However, in the next sentence he says “Instead, the density of matter would be such that its gravity will steadily slow the expansion rate down, but never quite stop it. This corresponds to a flat universe, neither open nor closed.” This is why I’m confused. Gravity cannot stop the expansion in an open universe, fine. But gravity also cannot stop the expansion in a flat universe? It just keeps expanding, just maybe slower? What then is a flat universe? What’s the difference? Is it that gravity just slows it down? Wouldn’t that happen anyway within an open universe? A little more explanation here would do wonders because it just doesn’t appear clear enough to be easily understood.Now he moves onto the paradox of the twins. It is beautifully explained and easy to understand. However, he injects his beliefs as to why there is no paradox here. Without going into detailed explanation, his idea defeats the paradox only if the universe is as he believes it to be; open. He explains shapes of the universe wonderfully earlier on in the book, but doesn’t reference here that the paradox will still exist if the universe is positively curved and closed. He explains throughout the book his ideas and other’s ideas and where they disagree, but fails to do so here, which is a little disappointing.One last gripe on the author, and it’s more of a personal preference than something I feel he did incorrectly. When he’s talking about the speed of light, why it’s the cosmic speed limit, and why nothing can pass it (truly fascinating and finally explained for laymen to understand) he makes the statement “to accelerate it up to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy, which is impossible”. This book deals with the seemingly impossible in a radical way including the infinite. For example, when explaining how black holes are formed he talks about the escape velocity equaling the speed of light causing the gravitational force on the surface of the star to become infinite. Seems unreal yet he explains general relativity allows for these infinite things to happen. So to have Al-Khalili blatantly state without explanation that an infinite amount of energy is impossible seems somewhat out of character for the very book he has created.Finally here’s an extremely petty complaint that has to do with the editor and not the author. The only reason I even mention it is if there is to be a third edition at some point it should be corrected. Unless, of course, I’m mistaken and it’s not wrong, in which case I apologize for even bringing it up. There appears to be typing error in the following sentence: “Namely, if the Universe is open and infinite, then what does it expands into?” Expands, not expand?In closing, this is hands down, bar-none the absolute best book I have ever read on the introduction to these radically complicated topics for the laymen to understand. Al-Kahalili is an absolute master at communicating these extraordinarily esoteric concepts to anyone with the desire to understand them. The only reason I do not give him five stars here is because of the things I listed above. Barring those, this would absolutely be a five star book! I’d give it 4.5 stars if I could. I highly recommend it! Thank you, Al-Kahalili for putting this information together so spectacularly.

⭐This book is a fascinating and highly readable look into cosmological thought. It is full of interesting concepts and well worth the cost of money and time to delve into. One concept that the book covered well was the fact that time slows down as an individual travels faster. Although other books have covered this concept, the examples that this book used made the concept real and much more understandable.Personally, I especially liked the chapters on wormholes. Although other books that I have read recently have covered these concepts, this one, using the recent book Contact (starring Jodie Foster and made in 1997) gave some reality to how this would work.I highly recommend this book for any interested in astronomy and the universe.

⭐Well written, clear, easy to understand. That sums it up. We checked this book out at the local library…probably 3…or 4…or 5, maybe more times. I lost count and eventually ordered it for my teen science junkie — last Christmas. She was overjoyed…and still is. The material is not really dated. The concepts apply today just as they did when the book was penned. If you want a good introduction to black holes, wormholes — and the differences between the two, with pictures, well then what are you waiting for? Click and buy.

⭐The book is far from boring! I love the author’s take on how he describd the aspects of such in this universe! I’m glad this was a requirement for my cosmology class or else I would have missed out. After reading the first chapter, I was stuck. I wanted to keep flipping and flipping. It’s definitely a good read. And a little mind tripping.The condition was perfect. No writings, brand new. And with the trial of amazon prime because I am a college student, the book arrived home pretty soon.

⭐I believe this book was written for the intelligent layman who wishes to know about the fascinating subject of black holes, wormholes and the possibility of time travel past and future. There are no mathematical formulas used and despite this the author still manages to clearly explain the subject matter . I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t want to put it down.I read the entire book in two sittings.

⭐Unfortunately, and unlike other kindle ebooks, you can’t change the font size – very disappointing. Jim Al-Khalili’s television shows are excellent.

⭐This is the best book I have read on these topics. It is not so basic that it is boring or so jargon’y/mathematical that you can’t comprehend. It is just the right level for those interested in these topics that keeps you engaged and wanting to learn more. The author’s passion for these topics is very noticeable, which keeps you hooked.I highly recommend this one.

⭐Try another book that goes even deeper in only 30 pages.It’s called “Everything About Black Holes” and it explains everything with science. It’s on Amazon.

⭐GOOD INTERESTING READ

⭐Excellent book..a must read!!!The book is quite informative, at the same time it’s fun reading. Explains most difficult concepts in simple words. Was also very happy to see that the author used a female (she) in examples while explaining concepts. Loved it!!

⭐This is absolutely the best book on this subject. Highest concepts of theoretical physics written in such a way that even a layman without any science background can comprehend. It’s an absolute delight reading this amazing book adorned with apt humour. It can’t go any better than this.

⭐Great book for in depth approachable knowledge of rather complex subjects

⭐Book is awesome and perfect condition thank you !!

Keywords

Free Download Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition in PDF format
Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition PDF Free Download
Download Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition 2011 PDF Free
Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition 2011 PDF Free Download
Download Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition PDF
Free Download Ebook Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines 2nd Edition