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The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics | 
 enlarge | Author: Leonard Susskind
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 2039
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.6
ISBN: 0316016403
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.12
EAN: 9780316016407
ASIN: 0316016403
Publication Date: July 7, 2008
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Product Description
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 doing so put at risk everything we know about physics and the fundamental laws of the universe. Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics. THE BLACK HOLE WAR is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with their own sense of reality-effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.
A brilliant book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes, Leonard Susskind's account of the Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 THE BLACK HOLE WAR: MY BATTLE WITH STEPHEN HAWKING October 2, 2008
WELL WRITEN CHRONICLE OF A FAIRLY ARCANE SUBJECT. INTENDED FOR READERS WITH AN INEREST IN QUANTUM MECHAMICS, COSMOLOGY AND PHYICS IN GENERAL.
A new rewiring of the brain of physicsts September 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book tells the story of the "battle" between the author and Stephen Hawking regarding the latter claim that information is irretrievably lost in black holes.
This story is the extraordinary account of the paradigm shift that has occurred in physics in the last 25 years. Moreover, the book reads like a novel thanks to the various analogies and the anecdotes concerning the lives and personalities of the physicists involved. In summary, a very recommendable book for someone who wants to keep abreast of the advances in quantum gravity and cosmology, although the author discusses also the basic concepts of quantum mechanics and relativity.
Very strange things seem to happen in the vicinity of black holes and, as Susskind says, this needs rewiring of our brains, as we had to do before for relativity and quantum mechanics. When someone approaches and finally crosses a black hole horizon we have a similar situation as the famous Schrödinger's cat paradox. For the astronaut crossing the horizon, nothing happens (if the black hole is big enough so that he does not still notice the effect of the tidal forces). For the observer outside he deducts that the astronaut is fried to death. Believe it or not, this is not a contradiction in physics because the two of them will never be able to compare notes. Susskind calls this paradox black hole complementarity. The holographic principle and Maldacena's duality (well explained in an article in Scientific American not too long ago) are also part of the resolution of the battle for which Hawking finally conceded defeat in 2007.
Chapter 23 hints to a new duality that could indirectly provide experimental evidence for String Theory. Strings and hadrons behave in similar ways and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven is investigating the properties of the quark-gluon plasma which mirror, 20 orders of magnitude higher, the properties of fundamental strings. Quantum gravity in Anti de Sitter space would be similar to quantum chromodynamics. However, our universe is not an Anti de Sitter spacetime. In any case some light between the shadows is finally shining in quantum gravity.
 Simply clear and concise September 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Leonard Susskind has been added to my list of general science authors that I really enjoy. Because of this book, I'm actively seeking his other general science books. He joins my list, which include Michio Kaku and Lee Smolin.
Dr Susskind writing is clear and honest. His examples, especially when describing the simplified concepts of string theory are easy to understand due to his gifted narrative ability and clear examples. The chapters where he explains the scientific concepts make this book worth every bit of the book price. His narrative style is also honest enough to explain where he is coming from even if he disagrees with the idea or belief, unlike some other books like Stuart Kaufmann's Reinventing the Sacred, which appear a little less honest and much less straightforward.
The humor he displays is very special. His story about how many ways to wear a jogging t-shirt is one I have now used repeatedly with friends, coworkers and family to the amusement of all (geek/nerd humor at its best).
The story of his and others' disagreement with Stephen Hawkings concept of information loss in a black hole is intriguing in the sense it is interesting to view the politics and dynamics of an academic world where few mere mortals can understand some of the elaborate concepts and theories, no matter what re-wiring is done. The author admits even some of the advanced "masters" of the subject fail to understand the full implications of the paradigms.
 A fascinating tale signifying ... ? September 4, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The most important paragraph in this book is on page 422:
"Sceptics will point out that everything I have told you about the quantum properties of black holes -- from entropy, temperature, and Hawking radiation to Black Hole Complementarity and the Holographic Principle -- is pure theory, with not an ounces of experimental data to confirm it. Unfortunately they may be right for a very long time."
Susskind obviously believes that he, with help from others, has discovered important radical new physics in Black Hole Complementarity and the Holographic Principle. They are certainly radical new ideas, but of course they do not qualify as physics in the absence of experimental verification. Stephen Hawking's ultimate agreement with Susskind is no substitute for experiments.
The tale of this theoretical dispute is fascinating and a good read until the topic turns to string theory. From that point on I found it too vague and speculative to hold my interest. The book is worth reading to get one perspective on how theoretical physics is done today and I would say what is wrong with it. Without experimental guidance you cannot create new science.
Feynman he is not, even if he plays the bongo August 28, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Some arguments can be presented to the general public and some only to the specialist. In this books, in my opinion, there is confusion about the two issues. Hawking was capable of breaking down complex arguments and present them even to children, but Susskind, a great scientist, do not possess such gift. He talks about very trivial matters for a few pages and then he plunges into complex particle physic.
The war about which he speaks in the title, apparently was just a diffent view on a single (important) detail.
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