Black Holes: The Membrane Paradigm

by Kip S. Thorne (Editor), Douglas A. MacDonald (Editor), Richard H. Price (Editor)

A pedagogical introduction to the physics of black holes. The membrane paradigm represents the four-dimemnsional spacetime of the black hole's "event horizon" as a two-dimensional membrane in three-dimensional space, allowing the reader to understand and compute the behavior of black holes in complex astrophysical environments.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Astronomy

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist and writer known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. Along with Rainer Weiss and Barry C. Barish, he was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.
A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009 and speaks of the astrophysical implications of the general theory of relativity. He continues to do scientific research and scientific consulting, most notably for the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar.

Reviews

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite nice, majority of theories is well explained and should not cause any difficulties for people who have nothing in common with this particular field of science. I recommend it!

[Oleg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another influential book which got me interested in astrophysics (when I was in a middle school).