What would happen if you fell into a black hole? It’s a question that you want answered fast. After reading verbose academic articles all semester, Black Hole Survival Guide feels like a breath of fresh air. At a slim 190 pages (just 3 hours in the audiobook), author Janna Levin answers just that. Nothing else. No frills, no fuss.
Okay–I lied. There’s a bit at the beginning where the astrophysicist reminisces about how her wonder about black holes led her to pursue her career. And a bit at the end where she details the day the first image of a black hole was taken: the excitement, the awe, the tears. And it’s this personal, lively, and engaging tone that made this book so easy to read. And that’s not something I thought I’d say about a book about black hole theories!
The title of this guide is slightly misleading: there’s likely no chance you’ll survive a black hole. Probably. Levin discusses the different parts of a black hole, circling it in a dance before she takes you into it. The big black hole theories are discussed, from the boring (you’ll lose consciousness before you see anything), to the deliciously macabre (your legs will fall in at a different speed than your head, pulling your body apart limb from limb), to the weirdly existential (time will slow so much that you will see whole galaxies extinguish in the blink of an eye). Her prose is electric. Listening to her describe what it would be like to look out from the event horizon, I can picture myself there now. Just take a look at this video of her explaining black holes to people of different education levels.
Black Hole Survival Guide is a bite-sized romp into the world of the black hole. If you listen to the audiobook, it’s like an audio only NOVA documentary with a wry attitude. I don’t even want to spoil any more of the book than I already have. Dr. Levin doesn’t mince words, and neither will I. Just like with a black hole, you’ll really only understand it if you dive in headfirst. Go read it!
