BLACK HOLES: The End of the Universe?

by John Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1974

An attempt to dislodge the anthropocentric Man from his high horse by dazzling him with the prospect of nemesis: the miasmic, nihilistic ""black hole,"" ih which ""the fundamental laws governing our Universe appear to be destroyed, along with our usual concepts of space and time."" It is inevitable, despite any technological advances such as ""farming"" black holes for their energy, that we will all be devoured by a star whose gravitational field has turned in on itself, warping all space and time, eventually consuming the entire universe -- perhaps to generate a new one from the consequent ""white hole."" On cosmology, and on such matters as quasars, white dwarfs, hadrons, and particles of anti-matter, Taylor is informative. But he sets his sights too high when he tries to tackle such matters as ""time, precognition, causality, . . . the reason for the belief in God, . . . visits from outer space, . . . the problem of space,"" a heavy billing in any theater. He allows himself considerable speculation, but produces only sophomoric sensationalism. Perhaps, he suggests, our belief in God can be traced to prehistoric visitations by extraterrestrial beings -- could Satan's traditional horns have been antennae? One is tempted to remind Taylor of the scientific method even if he is an accredited physicist and mathematician.

Pub Date: April 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION