A review by andyh94
Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe by Jeff Forshaw, Brian Cox

2.0

Whilst the science presented in this book is sound, the way in which it is presented is unnecessarily complicated and obtuse. Even as an astrophysicist with a background in theoretical physics, coming to the end of my PhD, this book was near incomprehensible for a casual read. Admittedly, perhaps in written (rather than audio) form this book would have been more understandable, but with the academic "level" of language used in the book being so far beyond layman I am not convinced it would have been. Whilst I do not dispute that the physics of black holes is complex and intricate, the detail included in this book compresses concepts explained (at length) in undergraduate physics courses into dense, rapid fire paragraphs. Hardly the "presenting complicated scientific ideas in an engaging way" touted by the synopsis as being Brian Cox's hallmark style. A rebranding as a primer for undergraduate physicists studying relativity might be a more apt categorisation for this book.