The Black Hole Wars

Summary and Reflection

The Black Hole Wars

Summary
The Black Hole Wars follows the author,
Leonard Susskind, and a handful of other
physicists as they try to prove their theory
surrounding black holes. This theory directly
contradicted another theory popularized by
possibly the most famous physicist in the world,
Stephen Hawking.

Summary (cont.)
Hawking proposed a radical theory that would
have violated one of the sacred laws in physics,
splitting the physics community into two groups.
The vast majority followed Stephen Hawking
and his revolutionary theory, backed by his
famous intellect.

Summary (cont.)
The other much smaller group was headed by
Susskind and a group of other theoretical
physicists. The book goes back and forth
between following his struggle and explaining
the science in layman's terms so the reader can
have a rough understanding of the opposing
theories.

Characterization
Leonard Susskind - The author and main
character that the book follows, he is steadfast
and persistent in his approach. He and his
team show an incredible amount of courage in
going against one of the greatest minds in
physics.

Characterization (cont.)
Stephen Hawking - The famous physicist isn't
necessarily the villain, but rather just on the
other side of these opposing theories. The
author does a great job of revealing Hawking's
personality as silly and humorous, while
simultaneously arrogant.

The Pop. Science Genre

In the pop science genre, the author usually
goes into a some kind of history of the subject
so the reader will have some context for the
events that are taking place. In the same light,
the author usually inserts chapters that explain
the science and teach the reader so that they
can better understand the other chapters.

The Science
In this book, Susskind discusses the Black Hole
Information Paradox. The problem boils down
to whether or not information is destroyed
inside of a black hole. If it did, it would go
against one of the pillars of modern physics,
the Law of Conservation of Information.

The Science (cont.)

We would have to rewrite physics books and it
would change how we view the universe. But
yet and still, this is exactly what Stephen
Hawking proposed. This controversial theory
caused an uproar in the physics community.

The Science (cont.)

Before tackling such an abstract theoretical
subject, Susskind introduces the basics of
physics first. He presents a fair amount of the
history of early physics which really allows the
reader to, not only roughly understand, but to
certainly appreciate the work that he and other
physicists do.

Reflection
I read popular science books mostly to learn
about the science, but this is my favorite
because of Susskinds entertaining writing and
his intriguing characterization of some of the
greatest minds modern physics has seen.

Reflection (cont.)
I particularly enjoyed reading about Stephen
Hawking and his personality. Ive read a short
biography of Stephen Hawking, but Susskind
writes of him like an old friend which really
humanizes such a grande and stoic figure like
Hawking.

Reflection (cont.)
I chose the powerpoint format because I believe it
most closely resembled my thought process and
how I approached this assignment. This
assignment required focusing on several different
aspects of the book and as I mentally separated
them into different sections, I thought it would be
appropriate to organize them similarly.