What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed that it did — and in doing so put at risk everything we know about the fundamental laws of the universe. Leonard Susskind and Gerard ‘t Hooft realized the threat and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking’s theories of black holes with their own sense of reality — an effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong and Susskind and ‘t Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.
Susskind's book melds memoir, reportage, and cutting-edge science to tell how a disagreement between him and Stephen Hawking, among others, about a seemingly minor topic--the permanent loss of "information" in black holes--revealed a contradiction in theoretical physics that would be resolved only after several breakthroughs. In a remarkably skilled reading, Ray Porter goes beyond Susskind's mostly deft, engaging, and (reasonably) comprehensible writing to add energy and nuance to passages that could have been dry, and to render the sometimes VERY challenging material with admirable clarity. Porter adds proper--even illuminating--emphasis and intonation to passages a layman could hardly be expected to understand, never mind express correctly. This is a resourceful, intelligent reading of a fine book. W.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
About the Author
LEONARD SUSSKIND is the Felix Bloch professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University. The author of The Cosmic Landscape, he is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of numerous prizes, including the science writing prize of the American Institute of Physics for his article in Scientific American on black holes.
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