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Conjuring the Void: The Art of Black Holes
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 18, 2026
I really like how this book explains how black holes work, scientific theories, and the history surrounding their discovery in a way that's pretty easy to follow. Naturally, I had to re read a page or two only because I'm not 100% used to the lingo, regardless, I did learn a good amount. Despite its size it really isn't as daunting as it looks since most of the pages are taken up by pictures and I was able to read it pretty quickly.
As for the art portion, I really liked how the pictures were big enough to see the details and the author does a good job incorporating philosophy and culture into the book as well, and how different beliefs shaped people's view and interpretation of black holes. I feel the author organized the information well and makes a pretty good timeline of events, and I liked how she'd start off a chapter with science then the following chapter about art. It helped my brain buffer and really absorb the knowledge.
My only critique is that near the end of the book, the art history was more focused on and shifted the balance of the book. As a result, I feel like some topics weren't as well explained as they were in the beginning like the LIGO apparatus or the theory on how scientists believed two supermassive black holes merged to cause gravitational waves, or even how sound is recorded in space. I feel that those segments in particular were a bit under developed but I did enjoy, and learn from, this book way more often than not.
As for the art portion, I really liked how the pictures were big enough to see the details and the author does a good job incorporating philosophy and culture into the book as well, and how different beliefs shaped people's view and interpretation of black holes. I feel the author organized the information well and makes a pretty good timeline of events, and I liked how she'd start off a chapter with science then the following chapter about art. It helped my brain buffer and really absorb the knowledge.
My only critique is that near the end of the book, the art history was more focused on and shifted the balance of the book. As a result, I feel like some topics weren't as well explained as they were in the beginning like the LIGO apparatus or the theory on how scientists believed two supermassive black holes merged to cause gravitational waves, or even how sound is recorded in space. I feel that those segments in particular were a bit under developed but I did enjoy, and learn from, this book way more often than not.
August 26, 2026
I texted my mom, about 2/3rds of the way into reading this book: "this black hole art book causes me to have an existential crisis every five seconds."
This might be my favorite book of all time now. I'm writing my own works these days that have a "science component to the magic" and this book was enthralling, seeing how many other artists all throughout history, all from different continents/genders/ages, who have seen scientific developments and thought: 'I HAVE to make art trying to figure that out'. I think the pacing here is great, where in the timeline we get scientific development about black holes, then we get pages about artists who tried to recreate that theme in art/dance/sculpture/writing.
Science is profound. It IS artistic. It's not anti-religion, even, in my opinion. And I think that's never more true than just how SPIRITUAL all of the works of art listed in this book are. What a treat that we get a book that did its best to understand what the authors' processes and inspirations were; I'm still going to interpret all the art the way I want to, but I LOVE hearing about what the creators were thinking/going for, and this book does a good job bridging that for us.
This might be my favorite book of all time now. I'm writing my own works these days that have a "science component to the magic" and this book was enthralling, seeing how many other artists all throughout history, all from different continents/genders/ages, who have seen scientific developments and thought: 'I HAVE to make art trying to figure that out'. I think the pacing here is great, where in the timeline we get scientific development about black holes, then we get pages about artists who tried to recreate that theme in art/dance/sculpture/writing.
Science is profound. It IS artistic. It's not anti-religion, even, in my opinion. And I think that's never more true than just how SPIRITUAL all of the works of art listed in this book are. What a treat that we get a book that did its best to understand what the authors' processes and inspirations were; I'm still going to interpret all the art the way I want to, but I LOVE hearing about what the creators were thinking/going for, and this book does a good job bridging that for us.
June 8, 2026
LOVED this the art is so cool and the science and history is so interesting
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews