Physics of black holes. Transl. from the Russian by V. I. Kisin and E. M. Yankovsky (Q1210862)

This book is devoted to the physics of black holes, and so the emphasis is on motivation, intuitive understanding and discussion of the physical consequences rather than on mathematical rigour and completeness. This task being set, the authors deal with it in a very satisfactory manner. A good survey of all aspects of this field of research is given, from the basic definitions over particle motion and perturbations, uniqueness theorems, black hole electrodynamics to quantum effects and thermodynamics, to mention just a few topics covered by the 13 chapters. Also the mathematically move demanding subjects like uniqueness theorems are properly treated in that the main ideas and the results are presented. Part of the material is obviously based on the author's own research papers. What is completely missing is astrophysics - but that would certainly fill a volume in its own. Overall, the material is well presented, although the tendency of explaining complicated subjects in an ``intuitive'' way makes a few passages not always an easy reading for those who do not share the authors' intuition. It is not a book for beginners, but the more advanced reader will find it very useful, since the main ideas are stated and the extensive bibliography of more than 600 references gives easy access to a more detailed presentation (also for the mathematical aspects of black hole theory).