A Brief History of Black Holes

And why nearly everything you know about them is wrong

By: Becky Smethurst

Narrated by: Becky Smethurst

This audio edition is narrated with dazzling enthusiasm by the author, Dr Becky Smethurst.

Right now, you are orbiting a black hole.

The Earth orbits the Sun, and the Sun orbits the centre of the Milky Way: a supermassive black hole, the strangest and most misunderstood phenomenon in the galaxy.

In A Brief History of Black Holes, the award-winning University of Oxford researcher Dr Becky Smethurst charts five hundred years of scientific breakthroughs in astronomy and astrophysics. She takes us from the earliest observations of the universe and the collapse of massive stars, to the iconic first photographs of a black hole and her own published findings.

A cosmic tale of discovery, Becky explains why black holes aren’t really ‘black’, that you never ever want to be ‘spaghettified’, how black holes are more like sofa cushions than hoovers and why, beyond the event horizon, the future is a direction in space rather than in time. Told with humour and wisdom, this captivating book describes the secrets behind the most profound questions about our universe, all hidden inside black holes.

'A jaunt through space history . . . with charming wit and many pop-culture references' – BBC Sky At Night Magazine

Critic reviews

A jaunt through space history . . . with charming wit and many pop culture references

A fantastic read . . . there's certainly a lot to suck you in (unlike black holes, of course)

A lot of astrophysics is packed into this neat little book (Jim Al-Khalili on Space: 10 Things You Should Know )

Bite-sized, cutting edge science delivered with enormous enthusiasm (Chris Lintott on Space: 10 Things You Should Know)

Excellent primer and updater

An excellent book that entertainingly tells the full story of black holes as we know them to date. I thought I knew most of this material already, but there was much I’d either never heard, had forgotten, or has been superseded since I was getting my physics degree.

science and the art of inspirational storytelling

this is surely one of the best science books I have read. it is a great science history book as well as a great astronomy book. I believe the author could become a next Carl Sagan and Jacques Cousteau for bringing people into science and bringing science into people's lives in a very positive way.

the up-to-date information

really enjoy Becky's work. both written and pod cast.
her humor brings the work the humanity we appreciate.

beautiful

Dr. Becky nararates it herself, you can feel the passion for the content. flawless.

Entertaining and Informative

This is the way to learn. Dr. Becky tackles enormous subjects and explains them so that most anyone can grasp and comprehend them with a smile.