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The Black Hole War
- My Battle to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's summary
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.
A brilliant book about the deepest mysteries of modern physics, The Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating listening.
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Everything, Absolutely Everything!
- By Gillian on 03-09-17
By: Stuart Clark
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The Physics of Star Trek
- By: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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What actually happens when the words, "beam me up, Scottie" are uttered? What "warps" when something travels at warp speed? Internationally renowned theoretical physicist and educator Lawrence M. Krauss provides matter-of-fact scientific explanations of the physics of Star Trek in this highly creative and informative guide for both the devoted Trekkie and the physics novice.
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Interesting Book. Quite Technical
- By Christopher B. on 12-07-04
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Calculating the Cosmos
- How Mathematics Unveils the Universe
- By: Ian Stewart
- Narrated by: Dana Hickox
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In Calculating the Cosmos, Ian Stewart presents an exhilarating guide to the cosmos, from our solar system to the entire universe. He describes the architecture of space and time, dark matter and dark energy, how galaxies form, why stars implode, how everything began, and how it's all going to end. He considers parallel universes, the fine-tuning of the cosmos for life, what forms extraterrestrial life might take, and the likelihood of life on Earth being snuffed out by an asteroid.
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Crank alert: rejects modern cosmology
- By James Weisner on 03-20-17
By: Ian Stewart
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Forces of Nature
- By: Professor Brian Cox, Andrew Cohen
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Brian Cox uncovers some of the most extraordinary natural events on Earth and in the universe and beyond. From the immensity of the universe and the roundness of Earth to the form of every single snowflake, the forces of nature shape everything we see. Pushed to extremes, the results are astonishing. In seeking to understand the everyday world, the colours, structure, behaviour and history of our home, we develop the knowledge and techniques necessary to step beyond the everyday.
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Complicated in its simplicity
- By Philomath on 06-13-17
By: Professor Brian Cox, and others
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The Island of Knowledge
- The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning
- By: Marcelo Gleiser
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
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How much can we know about the world? In this audiobook physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing he reaches a provocative conclusion: Science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know.
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Island of knowledge
- By Joshua Kring on 07-26-15
By: Marcelo Gleiser
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The Universe in Your Hand
- A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond
- By: Christophe Galfard
- Narrated by: Ray Chase
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
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Christophe Galfard's mission in life is to spread modern scientific ideas to the general public in entertaining ways. Using his considerable skills as a brilliant theoretical physicist and successful young-adult author, The Universe in Your Hand employs the immediacy of simple, direct language to show us, not explain to us, the theories that underpin everything we know about our universe.
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Awesome
- By AJ on 02-28-17
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The World According to Physics
- By: Jim Al-Khalili
- Narrated by: Jim Al-Khalili
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Shining a light on the most profound insights revealed by modern physics, Jim Al-Khalili invites us all to understand what this crucially important science tells us about the universe and the nature of reality itself. Al-Khalili begins by introducing the fundamental concepts of space, time, energy, and matter, and then describes the three pillars of modern physics - quantum theory, relativity, and thermodynamics - showing how all three must come together if we are ever to have a full understanding of reality.
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excellent book
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-21
By: Jim Al-Khalili
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Einstein's Cosmos
- How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time: Great Discoveries
- By: Michio Kaku
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
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A dazzling tour of the universe as Einstein saw it. How did Albert Einstein come up with the theories that changed the way we look at the world? By thinking in pictures. Michio Kaku, leading theoretical physicist (a cofounder of string theory) and best-selling science storyteller, shows how Einstein used seemingly simple images to lead a revolution in science. With originality and expertise, Kaku uncovers the surprising beauty that lies at the heart of Einstein's cosmos
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Mix of science and the man
- By B. Ruple on 11-03-13
By: Michio Kaku
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The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics
- A Math-Free Exploration of the Science That Made Our World
- By: James Kakalios
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
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In The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics, James Kakalios uses examples from comics and magazines to explain how breakthroughs in quantum mechanics led to such technologies as the World Wide Web, pocket-sized computers, mobile phones, and MRI machines.....
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The exhibits are missing from Audible
- By David on 12-13-10
By: James Kakalios
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Infinite Powers
- How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe
- By: Steven Strogatz
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
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Infinite Powers recounts how calculus tantalized and thrilled its inventors, starting with its first glimmers in ancient Greece and bringing us right up to the discovery of gravitational waves. Strogatz reveals how this form of math rose to the challenges of each age: how to determine the area of a circle with only sand and a stick; how to explain why Mars goes "backwards" sometimes; how to turn the tide in the fight against AIDS.
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Not written to be read aloud
- By A Reader in Maine on 02-21-20
By: Steven Strogatz
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The Theory of Everything
- The Origin and Fate of the Universe
- By: Stephen Hawking
- Narrated by: Michael York
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
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Hawking takes us on a fascinating journey through the telescopic lens of modern physics to gain a new glimpse of the universe--the nature of black holes, the space-time continuum, and new information about the origin of the universe. He uses this scientific basis to come up with a "unified theory of everything" that the author claims will be "the ultimate triumph of human reason."
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Shares a lot of text with a Brief History of Time.
- By Roc Myers on 01-07-15
By: Stephen Hawking
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What listeners say about The Black Hole War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Dixon
- 07-22-08
Good, yet disappointing
Is the book what it promises to be? Yes and no. Susskind succeeds in giving us the blow for blow conflict between his theory and that of Stephen Hawking. His writing is clear and personal, and he simplifies the explanations of physics concepts as well as I could have hoped. My big disappointment, comes about an hour into the book. He goes from describing science to suddenly going into Mormon history and religion in general. First off, he needs to do a little more research into Mormonism. In fact, I think he owes Mormons an apology for how he describes the founders of their religion. He got it dead wrong. I know. I am a Mormon and have studied Mormonism far beyond what he claims to have studied. But beyond insinuating that Mormons are deluded fools, he goes further to deride all people who believe in a Creator, informing us that God was killed by Darwinism. Thanks for the religion lesson. Stick to science.
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42 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michael
- 03-21-10
OK OK You Win!
This is a strange book that, it seems to me, reeks of envy of Hawking and has an astounding lack of perspective. The author goes on for quite a while discussing the mathematics and physical features of black holes in anti-de Sitter space. He does throw in a line at the end about it all having nothing to do with OUR universe...but why then go on and on in a book for a non-scientific audience? This war was not very thrilling (and not much of a war). The author was indeed completely correct about conservation of information in black holes, the rest of the book is filler, two words would have sufficed "I Win!"
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Martin
- 09-05-09
Great story, great narration
I found this audiobook to be very entertaining, packed with so much information that I'll have to listen to it several times. The narrator was so well prepared that he sounded like he might have been the author. If you love science, you've got to love this book, because Susskind interweaves the work of scientists old and new. If you're religious, you might feel offended by Susskind's up-front atheism, but I found it refreshing.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Matthew
- 10-19-09
Good, but has its flaws
If this is your first layman's physics book you may want to try something else, but those who read about physics often will probably enjoy it. The book contains a lot of fascinating discussions and explanations making the physics of black holes, the holographic principle, and some aspects of string theory a little more graspable. The story is initially engaging but I lost interest toward the end as it delved deeper into string theory. My biggest complaint would be the tone of the book; It can be at times over-dramatic about the "war" and Hawking and physics in general.
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18 people found this helpful
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- wendy
- 08-31-11
great!
What made the experience of listening to The Black Hole War the most enjoyable?
Loved it! This was a wonderful audiobook. Only part I didn't really like was that the formulas were read out loud slowly... it was just akward. This is where it would be cool to have sync-with-images audiobook so you could see the formulas on your ipod as you listened.
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17 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gregory
- 11-30-08
Great book
If you are serious about trying to understand some of the most complex and amazing concepts of quantum physics without having to learn all that pesky math the book is for you. I look forward to re-reading it.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall
- MYOB
- 09-06-08
The Black Hole War
An excellent book. The authors knowledge appears to be unquestionable. As an "amateur", I was sometimes confused on some subjects but overall understood most of the explanations. The audio book would be more pleasant to listen to if the tracks were started at the end of a word instead of in the middle of them.
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- F
- 03-19-15
Frustrating
That said, I have some specific problems with this book.
First, at times the author wanted to make sure that he spoke to an audience that is not at all familiar with science, but at times he assumed the reader knew things that they very likely were completely unfamiliar. E.g., he took the time to explain scientific notation, even if he later failed to consistently use it. Sometimes he was folksy, saying things like "this ain't that." At other times, however, he would reference neutrinos, quarks, etc. . . . with no mention of what those were or how they related (or did not relate) to the subject matter.
Second, I found the author's tone to be rather self-indulgent. I guess I should have been tipped off by the title - the author's motivation for writing the book was that he thinks he is smarter than Stephen Hawking. And I was troubled that, after a long discussion of quantum mechanics, he suggested that his reader was not going to understand it anyway. (Then why bother to have attempted it, or not to have tried harder to make it clear?) Sadly, the writing is such that even a usually great narrator like Ray Porter read the book with a condescending air.
Third, I find that some anecdotes about scientists and their lives are wonderful,. For example, Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" was wondeful in explaining the science and describing the scientists behind the science. However, the author's little stories about one-upping Richard Feynman at a deli, missing part of a lecture because he got caught up in listening to students talking in the cafeteria (after running 15 miles, wanting chicken soup that was hot but not very good, etc.) were tiresome.
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Overall
- Thad
- 09-30-08
Well delivered and fascinating
This is a great book to hear. Susskind is a good story teller while delivering a complex subject in wonderful metaphors.
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- Alex
- 08-19-08
Excellent book, less talking down to though please
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to read many more books on the same topic. The only negative thing I can say about it is that it seems that he talks down to the reader a lot in this book.
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