Black Hole Survival Guide

“Black holes are special because there’s nothing there,” astrophysicist Levin (How the Universe Got Its Spots) observes playfully at the start of her enthusiastic cosmic survey. She begins with how Einstein’s general theory of relativity, in predicting that gravity can bend light and space, laid the groundwork for first the conceptualization, and later the discovery, of collapsed stars so massive that their gravity prevents even light from escaping. Then, with palpable excitement, Levin goes over facts and features of black holes, from the event horizon and the bizarre quantum mechanics involved when black holes “evaporate,” to their surprisingly common occurrence throughout the universe; the Solar System currently orbits one at the center of the Milky Way, while simultaneously being pulled toward another in the Andromeda galaxy. She shares plenty of vivid details, from how quasars represent “the entire core of an ancient galaxy shining energetically [over] billions of light-years,” to how producing the first image of a black hole was equivalent to “reading the date on a quarter in San Francisco from New York City.” Readers couldn’t hope for a more fascinating intro to a family of cosmic objects whose existence promises still more wonders to be discovered. (Nov.)