What a fascinating book!

The term ‘black hole’ is now so much a part of the modern day lexicon, including in 2024 when it was used to emphasise the state of the public finances by the new Labour government, that it brings the reader up short when s/he realises that its everyday use largely stems from scientific predictions about the consequences of taking Einstein’s theories to their logical conclusion in the unusual conditions that occur when giant stars begin to suffer the inexorable effects of gravity under a particular set of circumstances.

As this book elegantly recounts, from the first predictions about the possibility of such weird phenomena by Einstein and Schwarzschild in 1916 countless scientists have sought to tease out just what these predictions meant and then to explore the ‘visible’ universe in an effort to detect them. From the coining of the term ‘black hole’, popularised by astronomer John Wheeler in 1967, to the first discovery in the 1970s of an object now recognised as a black hole on to the first ‘images’ of a black hole first seen in April 2017, Chown takes the reader on an exciting exploration that looks at the contributions made by so many different scientists. Along the way, the author carefully explains that the exploration necessarily uses the radio spectrum of electromagnetic radiation since this is the only effective means of ‘seeing’ through the dust, gas and debris that prevents light from being easily detected from these (mainly) distant objects. The creation of radio telescopes the size of the earth that is necessary to explore the finer details of the structure of these distant objects is worthy of a book.all on its own.

It is a measure of the skill of Chown that the book can be read by anyone with a reasonable layman’s awareness of science - it doesn’t require degree level knowledge of astrophysics! It will be a hard to please reader indeed who doesn’t finish this book with a sense of awe over the ability of scientists to probe the details of barely imaginable objects many hundreds of light years away. Readers may also be reassured that the black hole in our galaxy seemingly poses no threat to the inhabitants of planet earth.
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Strongly recommended.

Very interesting book about black holes. Goes into lots of information (some of it above my beginner's head I'm afraid), but detailed all the same. Lots of theory, a bit of maths and plenty of tidbits about black holes.

“A Crack in Everything” by Marcus Chown is an enthralling exploration of the profound and often surprising cracks in the foundations of our understanding of the universe. Chown, a seasoned science writer, masterfully navigates the labyrinth of modern physics, revealing how seemingly minor anomalies can lead to revolutionary insights.

Chown's ability to distill complex concepts into engaging narratives is exceptional. Each chapter delves into a different scientific conundrum, from the mysteries of quantum mechanics to the perplexing nature of black holes. He illustrates how these cracks not only challenge our comprehension but also drive scientific progress. His writing is both lucid and captivating, making intricate theories accessible without sacrificing their inherent wonder.

The book is more than a collection of scientific oddities; it’s a celebration of curiosity and the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Chown's passion for his subject shines through, inviting readers to appreciate the beauty of the unknown. A Crack in Everything is a testament to the idea that in science, as in life, the most profound truths often emerge from the smallest imperfections. For anyone with a thirst for understanding the universe's enigmas, this book is an absolute delight.

I have always had an interest in astronomy, so approached this book on Black Holes with enthusiasm.
The author has a stylish, not to say humorous, presentation.
A lot of the descriptions of physics, quantum theory and relativity were way over my head. However the book is very readable and the history of science is fascinating.
It is worth reading for the mind-boggling statistics and comparisons to things we do understand.

In a scintillating amalgam of history of science and scientific biography, Chown narrates the (mostly) linear origin story of black holes as scientific concepts and cosmological entities. The diversity of characters, the details of their lives, all brings the big subject at hand into neat focus.

There’s obviously science and some light maths, but there’s also biographic detail that brings the last 120 years to life, presenting not only the birth of black holes as theory but also the motivations behind the scientists who contributed to their discovery. The real world is never far away from the breathless descriptions of seat-of-your-pants number crunching, whether we’re talking the horror of the First World War and poor Schwarzschild’s rare disease, or the languor of a 1960s Dallas swimming pool as the unlikely jumping off-point for a disastrous conference that announced a seismic solution to a problem unsolved by Einstein.

The book works at both the huge, practically unimaginable cosmological scale and the minutiae of the human, bolstered by the author’s personal interviews with living protagonists and the letters, papers and oral histories of those who have already passed. There is a whiplash effect when the narrative flips between these two scales but perhaps that’s the secret of this book: that black holes need observers trying to understand what they are before they can be black holes. In a universe without observers, who would know that any of it existed?

Without an academic science background, the book can be appreciable for its relatively common sense descriptions of the mysteries and reality-warping natures of black holes, and the biographical detail keeps the narrative going, giving a clear sense of why theoretical science and then searching for the measurable evidence is a pursuit worthy of human effort.

A solid four stars.