[Fletcher] has knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.” — New York Times Book Review
“A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.” — Nature
“Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.” — Science
“In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.” — Wired
“With stakes this high and writing this lucid, readers will be drawn into the narrative as easily as matter being drawn toward the event horizon itself... This is scientific storytelling at its best.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Engaging . . . captivating and informative.” — Booklist
“Fletcher manages to humanize a complicated scientific project while providing readers with a comprehensive guide to the cosmos.” — Library Journal
“A thoughtful and riveting ethnography of an ambitious project to map the sacred boundary of our local black hole, at the heart of the Milky Way, drawing attention to the psychological drives that inspire us scientists to quest for the exciting discoveries that await...” — Priyamvada Natarajan, Astrophysicist, Yale University, author of Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos
“Mind-bending and suspenseful, Einstein’s Shadow tells a story about the immense black holes that pierce galaxies, and the humans trying to take their picture. Fletcher is there with them every step of the way, capturing the thrill of a wild and beautiful quest.” — Jason Fagone, author of The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies
“Fletcher has crafted an extraordinary narrative, explaining the most mind-bending physics with impressive clarity and vividly bringing to life a mostly unsung band of characters who are turning the crazy-sounding idea of taking a picture of a black hole into a reality.” — Michael D. Lemonick, author of The Perpetual Now and Mirror Earth
[Fletcher] has knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.
New York Times Book Review
A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.
Engaging . . . captivating and informative.
In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.
Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.
Fletcher has crafted an extraordinary narrative, explaining the most mind-bending physics with impressive clarity and vividly bringing to life a mostly unsung band of characters who are turning the crazy-sounding idea of taking a picture of a black hole into a reality.
Mind-bending and suspenseful, Einstein’s Shadow tells a story about the immense black holes that pierce galaxies, and the humans trying to take their picture. Fletcher is there with them every step of the way, capturing the thrill of a wild and beautiful quest.
A thoughtful and riveting ethnography of an ambitious project to map the sacred boundary of our local black hole, at the heart of the Milky Way, drawing attention to the psychological drives that inspire us scientists to quest for the exciting discoveries that await...
A compelling behind-the-scenes story of scientists struggling as much with funding and competition as with the challenges of seeing Sagittarius A*. . . . Address[es] the seeming absurdities of [the] subject with authority and wit.
Engaging . . . captivating and informative.
In the paradoxical nihilism of black holes, we might discover the biggest, grandest truths about the universe.
Ambitious and richly detailed . . . a refreshingly fast-paced account of this extraordinary scientific enterprise.
This is all explained expertly and clearly by Fletcher…who carries the reader along on a journey of scientific triumphs and bureaucratic nightmares, of abstruse physics and interpersonal politics, all the while conveying the visceral joy of research. His occasional missteps…are more than made up for by the strength of his writing. He has a knack for deft, accurate explanations that are quick to read and easy to understand, with memorably vivid language. His excellent prose and a powerful story fuel this shining quasar of a book.
The New York Times Book Review - Adam Becker
08/13/2018 Fletcher (Bottled Lightning), Scientific American’s chief features editor, falls short in his attempt to engage readers in the story of a group of astronomers, led by astrophysicist Shep Doeleman, “on a quest to take the first picture of a black hole” that began in 2012. Noting that “no one has ever gotten a direct look” at one, Fletcher makes plain the effort’s value, citing how important it could be to reconciling Einstein’s theory of relativity with quantum mechanics. He starts intriguingly, by grounding the project in human vanity, recounting a discussion among astronomers working on the Event Horizon Telescope—an array of radio telescopes spread over several continents—that he realized was actually about “who gets their name on Nobel Prize.” Unfortunately, despite the author’s best efforts, making the phenomenon of black holes comprehensible proves an uphill battle. Unlike the best popular science books, this narrative doesn’t make the scientific concepts sufficiently clear to the lay reader. (Oct.)
★ 2018-08-13
A veteran science journalist builds a fascinating narrative based on his exclusive access to a group of astronomers bent on photographing a black hole, a near-impossible feat of Nobel Prize proportions.
For more than five years, Scientific American features editor Fletcher (Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy , 2011, etc.) followed astronomer Shep Doeleman and his team of intrepid scientists as they assembled the largest array of radio telescopes in the world, the Event Horizon Telescope, in the hope of imaging a black hole. The author excels at bringing to life not just the researchers and experimentalists, whose quirks and passions add much to the story, but the cutting-edge science driving their epic quest. Despite their ubiquity in popular culture, black holes have never been directly observed. A mountain of theoretical evidence posits that they exist in abundance in the universe. Most intriguing is that scientists are almost positive that a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* lies in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Getting a picture of Sagittarius A* is Doeleman's white whale. Not only would it be the first direct evidence of a black hole; it also may reveal long-sought-after secrets of the universe—maybe even hint at a so-called "Theory of Everything." With stakes this high and writing this lucid, readers will be drawn into the narrative as easily as matter being drawn toward the event horizon itself. The hypotheses, experiments, team-building, and bureaucratic wrangling that Fletcher so beautifully describes perfectly encapsulate modern science, and it's a rare treat to have an insider's look at an ongoing endeavor this monumental. The author also includes a helpful guide to acronyms and abbreviations and a cast of characters.
Supermassive black holes, a virtual telescope the size of the Earth, trailblazing astronomers who test the boundaries of modern science—this is scientific storytelling at its best.