Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide (Paperback)

by Clifford A. Pickover (Author)
Key Phrases: event horizon circumference, black hole ages, gravitational blueshift, Program Code, Kip Thorne, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Clifford Pickover, an extraordinarily prolific and polymathic research scientist at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, has consistently been one of the most creative writers about computer graphics, scientific visualization, and mathematical models of natural and physical systems. This latest offering is classic Pickover in its wealth of information, ideas, bold speculations and and propositions -- including proposed "hands-on" experiments with black holes -- which just may turn out to be plausible. Recommended. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Black holes. They're exotic, violent, mysterious-a paradoxical phenomenon not easily understood. Acclaimed author and computer artist Pickover (Mazes for the Mind, LJ 12/92) has succeeded in presenting a skillful and entertaining explanation. Through a lively dialog between imaginary space explorers, he invites the reader to participate in experiments, puzzles, and computer programs that investigate and reveal the properties of black holes. Unfortunately, to travel this realm you need a science degree for a passport. Though filled with thought-provoking literary quotations and amusing real-life analogies designed to make science accessible to the lay reader, this text is loaded with mathematical formulas and weighty topics like gravitational time dilation, blueshift, and wave recoil. Despite its good intentions, it is way over the general reader's head, but it could become a cult classic for computer junkies and the scientifically literate. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.
Valerie Vaughan, Hatfield P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471197041
• ISBN-13: 978-0471197041
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #518,741 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GET THE BOOK AND BEGIN YOUR OWN TRAVEL!, January 1, 2000

By	Reinaldo Olivares (MARACAIBO, ZULIA Venezuela) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide (Hardcover)

For over five years I've been a fond of classic physics, cuantic physics, cosmology and astrophysics. I've read the books of some of the greatest writers of these branches of science, among which I remember Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies, Roger Penrose, Albert Einstein, etc. All of these books are very complete if we talk about the information exposed by them, but they have a common characteristic (I don't know whether is a defect in fact), is highly recommendable to have a certain level of scientific knowledge in order to make good use of its content. The book featured by Clifford A. Pickover "Black Holes: A traveler's guide" is totally different to those that I've read before. Is a complete, funny and, overcoat, is easily understandable by anybody. At the beginning of each chapter there are presented dialogs (between the reader and an alien called Mr. Plex) with the purpose of giving the main idea of what is coming up next. In the same way, almost all chapters make reference to simple formulas that describe the most relevant aspects about the behavior of black holes. Besides the main subject (black holes), the author took charge of showing in a briefly manner another "not less important" subjects of astrophysics and cosmology. I had never understood many of the formulas presented until I read this book. When you begin to read it, you begin a journey to the marvelous structure of one of the strangest and most fascinating things in the whole universe, a black hole. Is the best book that I've ever seen about this topics and I believe that somebody difficultly overcome the clear, precise and funny style of writing of Clifford A. Pickover. GET THE BOOK AND BEGIN YOUR OWN TRAVEL!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy trails...., March 16, 2000

By	D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The term "black hole" was coined by the Princeton physicist John Archibald Wheeler. What, exactly, a black hole is (if there even is such a thing) has been a source of debate and confusion for decades. Clifford Pickover inserts you as the main character of this book. You are on a spaceship (complete with aliens) way the heck in the future & your ship is near a black hole. So, you & your friends decide to do a close (literally) study of the cosmic anomaly.

The story is entertaining & has many didactic features. Pickover also inserts some humor so as to make the book enjoyable as opposed to a dense treatise of rather complex mathematical concepts. Also, at the end of each chapter is a section called "The science behind the science fiction." It is a detailed account of what we presently know (or think we know) about the notions which were presented in the narrative.

And, the concepts are many. We learn of various weird things that happen in & near a black hole, such as time slowing, the "shrinking" of one's perspective due to the singularity & the mind-numbing gravitational power which is projected by black holes.....a gravity field so immense that the escape velocity exceeds light speed. We learn how black holes were predicted by Einstein's theory of Relativity as well as how the many principles of quantum mechanics come into the picture when one is attempting to understand the nature of singularities.

Much of this book is speculation, but it is educated speculation. The conjectures on what happens inside of a singularity, as well as the possiblity of wormholes which lead to other universes & dimensions is exciting & based on our best available current knowledge of the cosmos. As an added bonus, there is a chapter in the back of the book in which many of the world's leading cosmologists answer questions posed by the author on various topics about & related to black holes. There are also computer animation pictures of some of the more dazzling geometrical effects that are generated by black holes. For anyone who is planning to visit a black hole anytime soon, this book is a must.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book for General Readers, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide (Hardcover)

This book is full of useful information about black holes that is presented in a fun manner. The dialog at the beginning of each chapter makes the reader understand the topic fairly easily. The equations were added for a more scientific approach, but you don't have to understand them to understand the theories. This book is very good for readers interested in Black Holes, but not the physics of them. I would not suggest this book to people who have studied physics or astrophysics if they are looking for a mathematical explanation of Black Holes. It often repeats itself because it is guided towards people with an interest in the subject but are not really interested in the math and physics of it all.

Overall it is an excellent overview of Black Holes, and a joy to read!