"Since 1960 the universe has taken on a wholly new face. It has become more exciting, more mysterious, more violent, and more extreme as our knowledge concerning it has suddenly expanded. And the most exciting, most mysterious, most violent, and most extreme phenomena of all has the simplest, plainest, calmest, and mildest name-nothing more than a black hole." --Isaac Asimov, The Collapsing Universe , 1977 From Clifford Pickover--the ingenious author...