Crush

Close Encounters with Gravity

James Riordon

$65

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

MIT Press
16 December 2025

Science: general issues

The fascinating story of gravity, from its intimate role in our daily lives to its cosmic significance.

The fascinating story of gravity, from its intimate role in our daily lives to its cosmic significance.

Gravity is at once familiar and mysterious. It's the reason for the numbers on your bathroom scale, the intricate dance of the stars and planets, and the evolution and eventual fate of the universe. In Crush, James Riordon takes readers on a tour of gravity from its vanishing insignificance on the microscopic scale to its crushing extreme inside black holes.

From the moment we lift our heads as infants until the moment we lie down and ultimately surrender to its pull at the end of our lives, we labor under the burden of gravity. It has guided the shape and structure of our bodies over eons of evolution and sculpted the Earth as it cooled from a blob of molten rock. As Riordon explains, the stars couldn't shine without gravity holding them together. Even the atoms that make up you and everything around you were forged in stellar furnaces that gravity built. It took Einstein to realize that gravity is not, in fact, a force at all, but instead the curvature of space and time.

A fascinating and memorable read, Crush examines our personal relationships with gravity; explores gravity's role in making the universe uniquely hospitable for life; and even reveals how the mundane flow of water in your kitchen sink offers a glimpse into the secrets of black holes.

By: James Riordon
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780262050982
ISBN 10: 0262050986
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 16 December 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

James Riordon is a writer with the Earth Science News Team at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center. A former president of the DC Science Writers Association and the cofounder of the Southwest Science Writers Association, he has written for Science News, New Scientist, The Washington Post, Scientific American, Physics Today, and Quanta Magazine, and is a coauthor of Ghost Particle (MIT Press).