Black Holes & Time Warps makes a bold claim: Einstein’s theory doesn’t just describe gravity; it maps the universe’s extremes.

Thorne shows how black holes marched from blackboard curiosities to one‑way trapdoors confirmed by observation. He blends lucid physics with the field’s living history—false starts, wagers, and the instruments that finally worked.

You’ll linger at event horizons and singularities, probe wormholes and time travel, learn why they require exotic matter, and meet the idea of “chronology protection”. Decades before gravitational waves were recorded, Thorne explains how to listen for spacetime’s ripples—and why it should succeed.

This is a study in scientific imagination disciplined by evidence, revealing how wild ideas become testable reality. If you want to understand today’s cosmic headlines—and how science actually progresses—this is a clear, captivating guide.