IV / White Holes
Book: White Holes by Carlo Rovelli
Genre: Science, Non-Fiction
Pages: 231
Subject: White Holes, Black Holes
A daring, poetic journey through the beauty of black holes and their calculated transformation into white holes.
Introduction
White Holes: Inside the Horizon by Carlo Rovelli is another masterpiece by the renowned theoretical physicist, who is well-established for combining nuances of poetry and science, delivering a captivating story that is both very enjoyable and digestible. Though white holes remain purely theoretical at this time in research, Dr. Rovelli paints a beautiful and concise picture of their existence, fiercely advocating for their reality.
Summary
Only Carlo Rovelli can write about the most complex of astrophysical objects in such a majestic way. This book illuminates the path into the black hole and through its fateful future by taking the reader through a journey into the forceful vortex and beyond. He dares to question: what happens next? Dr. Rovelli describes the moment his colleague Dr. Hal Haggard groundbreakingly concluded that time must reverse at the end of a black hole's life. Together, they arrived at the idea of white holes. In this book, he describes black holes in ways I’ve never read before, comparing them to ‘tunnels’ and showing the sequential stages of their lifespan. He reaches into their future and grasps something so paradoxical yet incredible that it solves some of the deepest questions about the structures and the universe.
Furthermore, Dr. Rovelli adopts a highly artistic approach to addressing this complex subject, weaving in nuances and lines from Inferno (Dante) along with other scriptures, seamlessly merging these two intriguingly parallel topics. He also explores the sharply contrasting arguments within the scientific community regarding black holes, such as whether the amount of information a black hole can hold is dependent on the size of its horizon.
However, I must confess: my favorite part of this book is the deep exploration of the concept, reality, and experience of time. Dr. Rovelli forces the reader to take a new, unnatural perspective on time, one that diverges from our usual understanding, in an effort to grasp the distinction between the past and the future, the reversible and irreversible, and where we “sit” in its domain. His take provocatively challenges our understanding of time, and lends a new and exciting take intrepretation of our relation to reality.
Relevance & Impact
The concept of white holes dances on the edge of what we know/hope to be true purely through theoretical calculations, a bucket that black holes sat in for decades before their existence was confirmed. This is highly relevant to the scientific community and has a tremendous impact on a vast plethora of research areas.
Favorite Quotes
“And like (black holes), it suggests that there are other ways of conceptualizing the impalpable fabric of reality.” (pg. 53)
“Gravitational attraction does not become repulsion by reversing the direction of time.” (pg. 78)
“The world is stranger and more variegated than we imagine.” (pg. 93)
“Sooner or later….. no trace will remain.” (pg.115)
“Because we ourselves are irreversible phenomena. We are children of time.” (pg. 122)