Why Aren't Black Holes Black? - Softcover

Hazen, Robert M.

3.72

36 ratings by Goodreads

9780385480147: Why Aren't Black Holes Black?

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385480148 ISBN 13: 9780385480147

Publisher: Anchor, 1997

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Current news articles and science books give one the distinct impression that the great questions of science have been answered, and we have reached the "end of science": the great forces of the universe are known, and the basic building blocks of life have been discovered. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. While countless books have explored the at times breathtaking breakthroughs in science over the last two centuries, none has explored the vast- and crucial-questions for which we do not have answers. After all, these are the burning issues and questions driving current research across the globe. What are the great questions upon which the vast machinery of science is spinning its collective gears?

In Why Aren't Black Holes Black? scientists Robert M. Hazen and Maxine Singer (President of the Carnegie Institution) take us into the worlds of chemistry, physics, earth sciences and biochemistry, to explore the secrets for which science does not have an answer-and the relentless, coordinated efforts to bring those secrets to light. From the origins of the universe and the nature of life, to the consuming search for a unified field theory and quest to plumb the composition of the earth's core, Hazen & Singer take the reader on a fascinating journey into the realm of the unknown. Written in the mini-essay format that made books like Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things and Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? New York Times bestsellersWhy Aren't Black Holes Black? is popular science at its best and most entertaining.

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Review:

In Why Aren't Black Holes Black Robert Hazen poses a dozen of the most fundamental questions facing scientists today, then uses them as a springboard to review what is and isn't understood about these topics. As the title suggests, the first few questions deal with cosmology, but its scope ultimately proves far broader. The book covers everything from how atoms combine to the biological origins of memory to the possibilities for futuristic energy sources such as fusion. There's a particularly fascinating section on the composition of the earth's core, and throughout the book, Hazen manages to weave in not just scientific facts but also a sense of the history and personalities behind them.

Review:

It is therefore very refreshing to read Why Aren't Black Holes Black? by Robert M. Hazen and Maxine Singer, which looks at the questions science has so far failed to answer--a timely counterweight to the many books that stress the successes of science. Hazen is an earth scientist and his co-author a biochemist, so they are well placed by their intellectual background to survey the whole range of the sciences, not just concentrating on particle physics, cosmology or evolutionary biology, the subjects of so many recent popular books on science. -- The New York Times Book Review, Michael Redhead

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