Recent research has led to a cascade of new discoveries about black holes and supermassive black holes. These chasms in space-time don’t just vacuum up everything that comes near them; they also spit out huge beams and clouds of matter. In short, black holes blow bubbles.

In Gravity’s Engines, astrophysicist Caleb Scharf not only explains how these bubbles form but also how they play a key role in sculpting the Universe as we know it. As it turns out, these bubbles profoundly rearrange the cosmos around them—regulating the production of stars, limiting the size of the greatest galaxies, and even helping set the stage for the creation of life. They do so by pushing deep into the galactic gas clouds, preventing them from coalescing into new stars. Because having too many stars packed too tightly together makes a region too volatile for life to evolve, this regulating effect plays a powerful role in determining which regions of space can breed habitable planets.

Erudite, engaging, and filled with revelations, Gravity's Engines is a spellbinding look at the little-known creative side of black holes. It sheds fascinating light on the inner workings of the cosmos.