Black Holes

by John G. Taylor

In addition to the basic information needed to understand what a black hole is, this book also explains what the existence of black holes might mean for the future of our solar system and planet. Scientists' latest findings about the interiors of black holes and our changing understanding of the forces of nature are included in this first-time trade paperback edition. This examination of space and time asks us to contemplate the paradox of a beginning with no beginning and a future with no future.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Physics, Astronomy

199 pages

First published August 28, 1973

About the author

John Gerald Taylor was a British physicist and author.

Reviews

[Wee Lassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fascinating book - but I think I could have done without that opening monologue about how we have to stop worshipping at the feet of the unknown. Not that it wasn’t thought provoking but it did come off a bit like someone’s religious parents didn’t hug them enough as a child.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened to get this book (precisely the 1975 edition) at a very random second-hand sale occasion and I had never heard of Professor John G. Taylor before. The title of the book obviously intrigued me massively, but in my often active low-expectations attitude I was oscillating between expecting not to understand much (although being fascinated by the scientific topics, my scientific knowledge and scientific capabilities are not great) or being disappointed by bad writing. Well, that was swiftly swept away already in the first pages.

The author begins with an introduction to science and its mission of unraveling of the seemingly infinite mysteries of the universe(s) reasoning that the human being can either try to constantly continue to dig deeper through science in order to answer previous questions and to find more and more questions and answers (the image of the turtle standing on top of another turtle standing itself on another turtle and so on ad infinitum often appeared in my mind while reading) OR just give up and accept that we cannot possibly grapple the mysteries of infinity and therefore be content that all the answers are possessed by God and that that should be enough. In this introduction he unexpectedly touches a topic that passionately inflames my curious soul, id est, the unbelievable and mind-blowing descriptions found in pretty much all the ancient scriptures of all religions and "myths" of ancient cultures. And he does so through its extremely scientific and logical mind, which makes it all the more exciting and satisfactory.
After that, he dives deeply into some of the most interesting aspects of our truly incredible and more than mind-blowing universe, in a language that is so entertaining (although, of course, the topics themselves happen to have an extreme level of "hooking up" force), pleasant, and especially "simple", as he manages to make very difficult concepts (at least for someone "like me") truly understandable.
It was also part of the enjoyment of the read to sometimes check what is the scientific position today of some of the theories or profiles discussed by the author, and seeing that he unfortunately died in 2012 I regret that he could not write further about the lastest developments, in the field of black holes especially.

100% recommended!

[Magdalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all - oh boy, do I love space!
Second of all, I am very aware that this book is outdated, but it was nice to hear how much more we know now or how the views and theories changed, not only on the black holes but the workings of the universe in general. (Also, for some reason thinking about the vast expanse of the universe and how we see galaxies that are long gone and look into the direction of new stars being born yet remaining invisible for us because they are light-years away somehow eases my existential crisis... and I'm on the sci-fi train right now).
It was a fun read, even though it read more like science fiction piece or speculative philosophy essay rather than a true popular science volume. Harvesting energy from black holes grown on space farms like carrots? Speculating about future races being able to go beyond the event horizon survive and come back? Time travel? Gods being actual aliens? This universe being just one of many in an endless cycle of collapsing and being brought to existence once again? All excellent space opera premises. All as possible as they are impossible.
It was interesting, thought provoking and easy to understand, even for someone like me who is interested in astrophysics but lacks the technical knowledge.

[Folkert Wierda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book 1975, I was 16 or 17 and wanted to study astronomy. I now do, working on a PhD on blazars, a particular type of Active Galaxy, ergo: Black holes. I was browsing through my library and found it. It was a fun read. No one writes in that style anymore, which is a pity. It is nice to read what we already knew (microwave background, exoplanets, e.g.) and what was not yet discovered (inflation, dark matter, dark energy). Not a good read if you want to know about black holes, as it is dated and there are better updated titles, but a fun read for those who know about the subject and want to look back a bit.

[Larry Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

good intro

[Behrooz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the first time I started to understand the Black Holes.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was always fascinated by the black holes and I always loved when the topic was presented on down to earth, simple way. This is one of those books that tries to be readable and tries to relate to science fanboys like me. Still many parts of the book where to heavy for my little brain and I didn't understand a thing, but that is my problem not the authors. Biggest flaw of the book is, you guesed it, issue of science and religion. To the author religion is bunch of superstitions of dark ages and science is fun, cool and far bether than religion. First three chapters prominently speak of science and religion, and author tries to disprove religion in most superficial way possible, it screams how he doesn't understand faith even in the most basic form. He is way to dismissive and representative of scientism.

[Zach S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good, but I think it could have been a lot shorter. Black Holes were an extremely new discovery when this was published (1975). The book does drone on at times and some of the info is no longer relevant/true since our understanding of black holes has advance. I loved this book because I have a deep fascination with the topic. If you lack that fascination I don't think you'd enjoy this book.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Question - why would I read a book on black holes first published in 1973, and with such a provocative title?
Answer - because I just remembered that I read this book in 1974, and found it mildly entertaining.
And the good news is that today on June 8th 2026, the universe hasn't imploded. But even better, God "made the stars also" (Genesis 1v16), and Jesus holds all things together. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without His express command ;-)

[Bill Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

A popular science book of its time. Written in the early 1970s it is somewhat dated, and the facts are sketchy, knowledge of the field having moved on considerably since this was written. That said, I felt this book had far too little real science, and much too much religious speculation to be really worthwhile. Not one I would recommend.

[Opal · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is inconsistent philosophically, and also it gets boring.

[David Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The physics is fine (if dated), but the philosophical musings and "ancient aliens" nonsense is cringeworthy...

[Aleksandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

czytanie tego w 2022 to ponury żart

[Stephen Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a narrative easier to read than Hawking's A Brief History of Time.

The book gets progressively denser which makes sense if you begin to understand Black Holes.

Published in 1974, I thought it might be like reading a guide to the new amazing electric typewriter, but much of it stands up today and given we are talking essentially about the unknowable that is not a great surprise.

The author is tolerant and broad minded and weaves the idea of a God or Gods sympathetically through his book.

The religious minded might find this book a comfortable introduction to the topic of creation and obliteration.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little difficult to understand. It used very big and complicated words. I had to stop and look up some words in the dictionary before I could continue reading the book. Most of the time, I could use context clues to help me find the meaning. Sometimes if neither of those methods would work, I would just look at the sentence really carefully and try to figure out what it said. Also, this book was written in 1973. That made some of the concepts in the book, not as strong. Like a statement that the author used in order to explain what technology would be like in the future. “It would be dangerous to predict much beyond that time because of the speed of scientific developments today: Looking back thirty years ago-1942-and comparing it with today-atomic and hydrogen bombs, space ships sent to the moon and planets, the drawing of the age computer, and many other changes- We see that scientific change progresses to rapidly even to begin to hint at where science an it’s applications will be in 2003” (Taylor 189). This made that whole chapter seem less insightful, mainly because it’s 2009, and we already know what “Science and its applications” (Taylor 189) were in 2003. Although this book was difficult to understand, it was still an amazing read. I was worried about talking about this book because it really has no plot line, but I feel I can, and I would defiantly recommend this book, but only to people who have a wide sense of vocabulary, and love to understand the universe.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much when I read it in the late 70s. I'd been devouring a lot of science fiction, having moved from the space operas of E.E. "Doc" Smith to the "harder" SF of Isaac Asimov and, particularly, Larry Niven, and was now wanting learn more about the facts behind the stories.

What I remember most about reading this book, however, is not the contents, but an incident that happened while I was reading it. I was waiting one winter evening at a bus stop when some passing yobs, presumably astounded at seeing somebody with a book outside of school, demanded to know what I was reading. I told them the title of the book and one of them made a vulgar comment about vaginas. Do I remember the comment because I enjoyed the book, or do I remember the book because of the comment?

On reflection, I think I remember the incident because I thought I was going to get beaten up for just for reading a book. I wasn't, though.

[Gary Cann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've had this book on my bookshelves for longer than I care to remember, but never read it. So I tried. The first couple of chapters, dealing with human belief systems, were interesting, but then... Science was so far from my radar and interests at school to not even be described as 'not a strong point' but space and science fiction were a fascination. John Taylor's book, unfortunately, was just too scientifically detailed for me to be able concentrate and as a result, has joined a small band of books on my 'couldn't finish' shelf.

[AndrewP · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early work on the subject.

[Metin Sryr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read! Suggest to everyone who like science books.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction. Most of the science well explained.