"Originally published in the United Kingdom in 2022 by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers"--Title page verso

A brief history of black holes -- Unifying space and time -- Bringing infinity to a finite place -- Warping spacetime -- Into the black hole -- White holes and wormholes -- The Kerr wonderland -- Real black holes from collapsing stars -- Black hole thermodynamics -- Hawking radiation -- Spaghettified and vaporized -- The sound of one hand clapping -- The world as a hologram -- Islands in the stream -- The perfect code

At the heart of our galaxy lies a monster so deadly it can bend space, throwing vast jets of radiation millions of light years out into the cosmos. Its kind were the very first inhabitants of the universe, the black holes. Join Professors Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw in exploring our universe's most mysterious inhabitants, how they are formed, why they are essential components of every galaxy, including our own, and what secrets they still hold, waiting to be discovered