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On September 14, 2015, after fifty years of searching, gravitational waves were detected for the first time, and astronomy changed forever. Up until then, investigation of the universe had depended on electromagnetic radiation: visible light, radio, X-rays, and the rest. But gravitational waves--ripples in the fabric of space and time--are unrelenting, passing through barriers that stop light dead. At the two 2.5 mile long LIGO observatories in the US, scientists developed incredibly sensitive detectors, capable of spotting a movement 100 times smaller than the nucleus of an atom. In 2015, they spotted the ripples produced by two black holes spiraling into each other, setting spacetime quivering. This was the first time black holes had ever been directly detected--and it promises far more for the future of astronomy.

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Brian Clegg is a popular-science writer whose Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity were both longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. Also the author of Big Data, Gravitational Waves, The Graphene Revolution, and Quantum Computing for the Hot Science series, he has written for publications such as Nature, Physics World, The Times, The Observer, and BBC Focus. James Gillies has been a familiar voice across BBC television and radio for nearly a quarter of a century, having worked as an actor, a continuity announcer, a program narrator, and a newsreader. In 2013, he decided to shift his focus to his favorite part of the job--performance and storytelling--and has since narrated numerous audiobooks. He lives with his wife and two Norwegian Forest cats in the picturesque old weaving village of Kilbarchan in Scotland.

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