BOOKS
A Crack in Everything
Once upon a time black holes were considered so ridiculous as to not even be the preserve of science fiction. Now we know they play a crucial role in the Universe and may even explain why you are alive and reading these words. A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviewed many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former scientist, he translated the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging page-turner in which the personal stories of the scientists are painlessly interwoven with some of the most complex ideas in physics to tell one of the great untold stories of science.
BOOK DETAILS
- Publisher: Bloomsbury US
- Publication date: June 6, 2024
- ISBN: 9781804544327
REVIEWS
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Whether you’ve heard a little about black holes, or find yourself having to answer them, this book is well worth a read. 5 out of 5 stars
BBC Sky at Night Magazine
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I don’t know another science writer who is as good a storyteller as Chown. He is a superb craftsman who really understands how to put across a narrative. Usually this skill is focused on the science, but here Chown applies it particularly to biography and history where it works even better: I’d say it makes this his best book yet.
PopularScience
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Chown’s account is new and accessible and the story – which deals with the death of stars in the distant cosmos and the enormity of certain scientific egos – is absorbing. An engaging, briskly paced account of how scientists came – relatively recently, and sometimes reluctantly – to concede that black holes exist.
The Times
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Chown’s writing is downright poetic. He wants us to think a little more tenderly of black holes. Through his eyes, you will see black holes for what they really are: vibrant, spinning hearts around which star matter whirls, coaxing the growth of galaxies and forming a path for the emergence of planets, even life itself.
The New York Times