Product Description
This timely book is suitable for the general reader wishing to find answers to some of the intriguing questions now being asked about black holes. Although once recognized as the most destructive force in nature, following a cascade of astonishing discoveries, the opinion of supermassive black holes has undergone a dramatic shift. Astronomers are discovering that these objects may have been critical to the formation of structure in the early universe, spawning bursts of star formation, planets, and even life itself. Fulvio Melia is Associate Head of Physics and Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He is author of Electrodynamics (University of Chicago, 2001), and a forthcoming title, The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy (Princeton).

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 4 reviews)

Very concise introduction to the field by Brandon Wilkening (Bloomington, IN United States)

5 Stars
May 16, 2007
This is a very concise, well-written review of the research that has been done on supermassive black holes over the past few decades. The book is deliberately targeted at non-specialists; it didn't contain a single equation, as far as I can recall, and is written in a highly accessible style. I have absolutely NO scientific background, I never even took physics, but I found the book pretty easy to follow. Those with significant background in physics might be disappointed with the lack of mathematical exposition, but this book is a great place for novices to begin. Melia focuses on a number of topics: the nature of supermassive black holes, how they were discovered and how they are detected, theories of how they are formed, their role in galaxy formation, their release of plasma jets, and their ultimate fate. The last chapter also contains a fascinating digression on whether our universe itself is a black hole; I found this to be the most technically challenging part of the book, but it was thought-provoking. I finished the book feeling very excited about the technological advances that are allowing cosmologists to peer deeper and deeper into the cosmos with increasing accuracy. Melia does a great job of explaining the instruments scientists use to detect black holes, and he discusses a number of projects that are likely to be completed in the next few years. Finally, the book contained a number of terrific images that really helped me to follow the narrative. In conclusion, this book is a great place to start for those who want to learn more about these fascinating celestial objects, and at 130+ pages, it is a fairly quick read.

Darn good by Marten Maier (Heidelberg)

5 Stars
May 26, 2004
O.k., so I didn't know what to expect, but I bought the book because I had heard that the 2005 Annual Issue of Astronomy magazine had chosen it as one of the best astronomy books of the year. I would have to agree with their choice. Melia introduces supermassive black holes in a novel fashion. Sure, we first came to know of their existence because of the weird behavior of some galaxies. But he shows how in the past few decades, they've come to represent a totally new and dominant category of objects throughout the universe. It now seems that many of them were here long before galaxies formed, and it looks like they were responsible for the formation of galaxies and structure in the universe. But the most amazing thing of all is what observational cosmology is now telling us. Is it true that the universe itself may be a giant black hole? Melia's book has the best discussion of this that I have yet seen. After reading this, I feel like I'm right on the edge of what astrophysicists know.

Great Show!

5 Stars
January 27, 2004
Last week I was fortunate to hear Prof. Melia speak on the subject of his two new books, this title, and "The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy" and was so impressed I rushed out to get copies of both. I was not disappointed. Both books are very well written, and beautifully produced, with color images throughout. His style is similar to that with which he presented the subject at our amateur astronomy meeting---clear, lively, and thoughtful.I am recommending these to all my friends and relatives. They're the best astronomy books I've read in years, and am looking forward to reading more from him in the years to come!

Great Show!

5 Stars
January 23, 2004
Last week I was fortunate to hear Prof. Melia speak on the subject of his two new books, this title, and "The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy," and was so impressed I rushed out to get copies of both. I was not disappointed. Both books are very well written, and beautifully produced, with color images throughout. His style is similar to that with which he presented the subject at our amateur astronomy meeting---clear, lively, and thoughtful.I am recommending these to all my friends and relatives. They're the best astronomy books I've read in years, and am looking forward to reading more from him in the years to come!

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy by Fulvio Melia (Author) Could Einstein have possibly anticipated directly testing the most captivating prediction of general relativity, that there exist isolated pockets of spacetime shielded completely from our own? Now, almost a century after that theory emerged, one of the world's leading astrophysicists presents a wealth of recent evidence that just such an entity, with a mass of about three million suns, is indeed lurking at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way--in the form of a supermassive ''black hole''! ...
	The Galactic Supermassive Black Hole by Fulvio Melia (Author) Here, one of the world's leading astrophysicists provides the first comprehensive and logically structured overview of the many ideas and discoveries pertaining to the supermassive black hole at the galactic center known as Sagittarius A. By far the closest galactic nucleus in the universe, Sagittarius A alone can provide us with a realistic expectation of learning about the physics of strong gravitational fields, and the impact of such fields on the behavior of matter and radiation under...
	Cracking the Einstein Code: Relativity and the Birth of Black Hole Physics by Fulvio Melia (Author), Roy Kerr (Afterword) Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity describes the effect of gravitation on the shape of space and the flow of time. But for more than four decades after its publication, the theory remained largely a curiosity for scientists; however accurate it seemed, Einstein’s mathematical code—represented by six interlocking equations—was one of the most difficult to crack in all of science. That is, until a twenty-nine-year-old Cambridge graduate solved the great...
	Black Holes: An Introduction by Derek Raine (Author) This introduction to the fascinating subject of black holes fills a significant gap in the literature which exists between popular, non-mathematical expositions and advanced textbooks at the research level. It is designed for advanced undergraduates and first year postgraduates as a useful stepping-stone to the advanced literature. The book provides an accessible introduction to the exact solutions of Einstein’s vacuum field equations describing spherical and axisymmetric (rotating) black...
	NOVA: Monster of the Milky Way Starring: Stacy Keach; Peter Thomas (VI); Don Wescott Directed By: Nova Join NOVA on a mind-bending hunt for a monster lurking at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. For a long time, black holes were dismissed as pure science fiction. Even Albert Einstein could not bring himself to accept them, despite pioneering the theory o