Contents

  Acknowledgements xv

  List of illustrations xvii

  1 What is a black hole?

  2 Navigating through spacetime

  3 Characterizing black holes

  4 Falling into a black hole . . .

  5 Entropy and thermodynamics of black holes

  6 How do you weigh a black hole?

  

  7 Eating more and growing bigger

  8 Black holes and spin-offs

  Further reading

  Index