Kip S. Thorne

This book had a profound impact on me when I first read it back in 1998, so much so that I feel it is worth reposting a review I wrote on Amazon.com around the time of reading. I was so happy to hear Professor Thorne was one of the recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Once a reader embarks on the journey of discovery through this book, it is hard to turn back. Thorne manages to keep one interested, with each topic and chapter logically following from the last. He uses numerous diagrams, photographs and simple language to enlighten the reader. For example his illustration of how stars of various mass 'die' gives a masterful introductory explanation into white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes in one diagram!
This book not only describes complex cosmological phenomena, but gives concise accounts of the people involved and their political and social influences. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the mysteries of space and leaves the reader contented that he now has at least some comprehension of phenomena that everyone seems to have heard about (quasers, pulsars, neutron stars, black holes) but few understand.… (meer)

In the opening, Thorne explains that the book was originally written as prose and adapted to verse to better suit the art with which it’s paired. I don’t know that the adaptation to poetry was done well, though, of course, I don’t have the original prose to compare. Some attempts to sound more poetic or fit the meter came off as amateurish.
I enjoyed the art for the most part. There were certain spreads and pages that I felt could have made better use of the space or could have been work-shopped to produce a more compelling composition, but generally, I thought the style worked with the subject.… (meer)