The Black Hole War

My Battle to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics

By: Leonard Susskind

Narrated by: Ray Porter

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

A brilliant book about the deepest mysteries of modern physics, The Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating listening.

©2008 Leonard Susskind (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Prepare to have your brain evaporated

Anti-deSitter space...
D branes...
Hairy black holes...
A universe foaming at every point with strings...

Good times.

More than physics

Even if you know little to nothing about physics this is a great insight into how great creative minds work. You will also learn something about the basic nature of the universe. Very well read and easy to listen to.

Brilliant

Would you consider the audio edition of The Black Hole War to be better than the print version?

Not necessarily better... different. It's brilliantly written but the narration has to be the best reading I have ever heard in ANY genre.

What did you like best about this story?

As a student of Professor Susskind I already know how good a teacher he is but this book affirms his bone fides as a storyteller as well Again, Ray Porter's reading is brilliant!

Which scene was your favorite?

Talmudic law on whether or not it's OK to fill a toilet paper holder on the Sabbath :-)

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A physics book? Ummm... no.

QUANTUM EDUCATION

I knew nothing about black holes, quantum mechanics/physics, string theory. I'm not saying I'm now an expert but I'm no long totally clueless. This was a very entertaining and compelling read.

The best advanced physics book for laypeople

Listening to this book is a must for any amateur physicist; amazingly well-written book for a person who is somewhat familiar with quantum physics and general relativity. The audiobook is equally good). However, this should not be the first advanced book an outsider reads in modern physics. But this book answered all the small questions that I collected over time while gathering general knowledge in both quantum mechanics and general relativity. Every scientific sentence in the book is written so thoughtfully that one may listen to the book many times and understand more and more. The personal story of Susskind is also great, I thought. I could imagine how a contemporary of Hawking could feel given the celebrity status given to him; with his limiting disability and mystifying abilities this disability unleashed in him. I knew that Susskind was at least as big as Hawking in theoretical physics, but not many outsiders know of him; at least not as many that know of Hawking. As an academic and social scientist, I could feel his frustration in every personal sentence he wrote. In the end, we, academics, are also human beings.

Great explanations of mind bending science

Great book about a fascinating scientific “war”. Susskind does a great job explaining the massively complicated nature of black holes and quantum physics. Still, it will melt your brain

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.

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.

Great Book

Suskind does a good job explaining Quantum Mechanics and String Theory while chronicling his adventure battling with Stephen Hawking and the rest of the Physics community about black holes. Also get a strong sense of Susknid's charachter. Great narration.

Informative if you have the background

My rating is not the fault of the book but of my limited quantum education. The chapters build in complexity from difficult to almost almost impossible without an advanced physics degree. Without one, I comprehended less and less. I hope that subsequent listenings will increase my knowledge, but I tend to doubt it. Still, what I did understand is fascinating.