The author is brilliant and he is not shy to flaunt his incomparable brilliance: "Forty more seconds to go, and then, for the first time, people all over the world will marvel at the image of a giant black hole... Humanity's thousand -year journey of discovery...--today they all will be brought together...". He is also not shy to proclaim his Catholic-tinged Protestantism in every chapter and devotes the latter part of his book to his theological disquisitions.
His book can be read with interest by a person with no physics background at all as well as the ones with a significant background in physics and astronomy. It is also written clearly and with gusto--a rare combination, and both authors are Germans--for whom English is a second language.
Falcke's appropriation of all the history of Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to himself and his own efforts for funding leaves the reader with the bad taste in mouth, even if everything he tells is true. But if one wants to discard his pride, equal to his achievement, as a small nuisance, one can expect a wonderful travel among the stars and galaxies.
