Black Hole
How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved
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Narrated by:
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Randye Kaye
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By:
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Marcia Bartusiak
About this listen
For more than half a century, physicists and astronomers engaged in heated dispute over the possibility of black holes in the universe. The weirdly alien notion of a space-time abyss from which nothing escapes - not even light - seemed to confound all logic. This engrossing audiobook tells the story of the fierce black-hole debates and the contributions of Einstein, Hawking, and other leading thinkers who completely altered our view of the universe. Renowned science writer Marcia Bartusiak shows how the black hole helped revive Einstein's greatest achievement, the general theory of relativity, after decades during which it had been pushed into the shadows. Not until astronomers discovered such surprising new phenomena as neutron stars and black holes did the once-sedate universe transform into an Einsteinian cosmos, filled with sources of titanic energy that can be understood only in the light of relativity.
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of general relativity, Black Hole uncovers how the black hole really got its name and recounts the scientists' frustrating, exhilarating, and at times humorous battles over the acceptance of one of history's most dazzling ideas.
©2015 Marcia Bartusiak (P)2015 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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In Calculating the Cosmos, Ian Stewart presents an exhilarating guide to the cosmos, from our solar system to the entire universe. He describes the architecture of space and time, dark matter and dark energy, how galaxies form, why stars implode, how everything began, and how it's all going to end. He considers parallel universes, the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life, what forms extraterrestrial life might take, and the likelihood of life on Earth being snuffed out by an asteroid.
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Crank alert: rejects modern cosmology
- By James Weisner on 03-20-17
By: Ian Stewart
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Our Mathematical Universe
- My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality
- By: Max Tegmark
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy, and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist.
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Wow!
- By Michael on 02-02-14
By: Max Tegmark
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Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work
- By: Kitty Ferguson
- Narrated by: Carole Boyd
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen Hawking is one of the most remarkable figures of our time, a Cambridge genius who has earned international celebrity as a brilliant theoretical physicist and become an inspiration and revelation to those who have witnessed his courageous triumph over disability. This is Hawking's life story by Kitty Ferguson, who has had special help from Hawking himself and his close associates and who has a gift for translating the language of theoretical physics for non-scientists.
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Not What it Appears
- By Heizenberg on 04-04-12
By: Kitty Ferguson
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Forces of Nature
- By: Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Brian Cox uncovers some of the most extraordinary natural events on Earth and in the universe and beyond. From the immensity of the universe and the roundness of Earth to the form of every single snowflake, the forces of nature shape everything we see. Pushed to extremes, the results are astonishing. In seeking to understand the everyday world, the colours, structure, behaviour and history of our home, we develop the knowledge and techniques necessary to step beyond the everyday.
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Complicated in its simplicity
- By Philomath on 06-13-17
By: Professor Brian Cox, and others
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The Day We Found the Universe
- By: Marcia Bartusiak
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of our most acclaimed science writers: a dramatic narrative of the discovery of the true nature and startling size of the universe, delving back past the moment of revelation to trace the decades of work--by a select group of scientists--that made it possible.
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Worth the Effort
- By Roy on 08-13-09
By: Marcia Bartusiak
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The Quantum Story
- A History in 40 Moments
- By: Jim Baggott
- Narrated by: Mike Pollock
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Utterly beautiful. Profoundly disconcerting. Quantum theory is quite simply the most successful account of the physical universe ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the 21st-century technology that we now take for granted. But at the same time it has completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at its most fundamental level.
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who's the target reader?
- By Hannah on 09-17-11
By: Jim Baggott
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About Time
- Cosmology, Time and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang
- By: Adam Frank
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The Big Bang is all but dead, and we do not yet know what will replace it. Our universe's "beginning" is at an end. What does this have to do with us here on Earth? Our lives are about to be dramatically shaken again - as altered as they were with the invention of the clock, the steam engine, the railroad, the radio and the Internet.
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More fluff than science
- By Ivan the Reviewer on 04-15-13
By: Adam Frank
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Spooky Action at a Distance
- The Phenomenon That Reimagines Space and Time-and What It Means for Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Theories of Everything
- By: George Musser
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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What is space? It isn't a question that most of us normally stop to ask. Space is the venue of physics; it's where things exist, where they move and take shape. Yet over the past few decades, physicists have discovered a phenomenon that operates outside the confines of space and time. The phenomenon - the ability of one particle to affect another instantly across the vastness of space - appears to be almost magical.
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Rambling but Asks Good Questions
- By Michael on 12-19-15
By: George Musser
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Einstein and the Quantum
- The Quest of the Valiant Swabian
- By: A. Douglas Stone
- Narrated by: Gabriel Vaughan
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Einstein and the Quantum reveals for the first time the full significance of Albert Einstein's contributions to quantum theory. Einstein famously rejected quantum mechanics, observing that God does not play dice. But, in fact, he thought more about the nature of atoms, molecules, and the emission and absorption of light - the core of what we now know as quantum theory - than he did about relativity.
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educational and fun
- By Amjad on 12-04-13
By: A. Douglas Stone
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The Universe in the Rearview Mirror
- How Hidden Symmetries Shape Reality
- By: Dave Goldberg
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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A physicist speeds across space, time, and everything in between showing that our elegant universe from the Higgs boson to antimatter to the most massive group of galaxies is shaped by hidden symmetries that have driven all our recent discoveries about the universe and all the ones to come. Why is the sky dark at night? Is it possible to build a shrink-ray gun? If there is antimatter, can there be antipeople? Why are past, present, and future our only options? Are time and space like a butterfly's wings? No one but Dave Goldberg, the coolest nerd physicist on the planet, could give a hyper-drive tour of the universe like this one.
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Good, but for whom?
- By Michael on 08-31-13
By: Dave Goldberg
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The Island of Knowledge
- The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
- By: Marcelo Gleiser
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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How much can we know about the world? In this audiobook physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing he reaches a provocative conclusion: Science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know.
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Island of knowledge
- By Joshua Kring on 07-26-15
By: Marcelo Gleiser
What listeners say about Black Hole
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Steven Petersen
- 10-28-18
Good science history - Solidified some black hole insights
Interesting history of how black holes came to be accepted as real rather than just theoretical objects. Also covered bits and pieces of the life histories of some of the key players in an interesting way. Helped give me some new insights into the nature of black holes, such as their startling similarities to fundamental particles. Left me wanting more on some of the less intuitive (less sensible? :-) aspects such as the theory that the size of the event horizon has an equivalence with a black hole’s entropy. Weird, wild physics!
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- @CyberSpaceSA
- 09-21-18
Well Written, Excellent Narration, Five Stars Plus
Black Hole, How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved by Marcia Bartusiak, was so well done that I did not want to miss a single word; so ended up listening to half of the book twice when I got distracted. This is a great book. Highly recommended.
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3 people found this helpful
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- David G.
- 03-22-19
I just found the book to interest me greatly. some of the history was surprising to me
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- serine
- 01-23-16
Great into to black holes
Excellent introduction to black hole science. Extremely clear and concise but reads a bit like a textbook. Even with its slightly dry tone, it is one of the most comprehensive books on black holes suitable for the nonscientist. There are many concepts associated with black holes that people tend to find confusing. This author has a gift for simplifying those concepts and packaging them for consumption by the masses. The chapter on quasars was absolutely fantastic. Definitely recommend to anyone who wants to know more about black holes.
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8 people found this helpful
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- C. Johnson
- 12-20-24
Fantastic!!!
I Loved every minute of this audiobook, and was sorry when it was finally over. Great book!
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