What happens when something is sucked into a black hole? Does it disappear? Three decades ago, a young physicist named Stephen Hawking claimed it did, and in do

“[A] skillfully told history of the quest to find black holes.” —Manjit Kumar, Financial Times Black holes are the best-known and least-understood objects

A theoretical astrophysicist explores the ideas that transformed our knowledge of the universe over the past century. The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant

The ideas presented in this book are new scientific theories based largely upon a spate of very recent astronomical observations. These theories include: a cosm

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Most appealing... technical accuracy and lightness of tone... Impeccable.”—Wall Street Journal “A porthole into anoth