Stephen Hawking found that Black Holes have a temperature.  It follows that if they have a temperature,
  they emit energy in the form of radiation, which implies that they are diminished during this energy loss.
  Before reading this book, I had thought of Black Holes as a sort of forever being, the ultimate final expression
  of matter and energy.  As Stephen Hawking showed, even Black Holes are just a transitory state, and slowly
  evaporate over time.  This idea sparked a holy war of sorts, because if Black Holes gobble matter, and then
  decay into nothingness, what happens to the matter?  Is it gone forever as if it never existed?  That was
  Stephen's argument.  The author of this novel explains, in quantum mechanics, string theory and the bazaar
  nature of our holographic universe the opposite, that the information is not lost forever.

  So what does a Black Hole have to do with information?  A black hole is the fundamental limit to how much
  information you can condense into some amount of space.  A 1kg brick contains 1Kg of information so to say.
  However you can compress that information much smaller until it becomes a black hole.  How much information?
  Well, you would think the information storage capacity is a product of it's mass, but in fact it's a product
  of the area.  If a library was packed full of books, how many books can it hold? well that depends on its area.
  However, when examining the constructs of our universe, it's as if you could only line the walls of the library
  with books.  Our universe appears to be a hologram, an image cast from the outer edges of space.
  

  The late great Hari Seldon, a mathematician of legend predicts the fall of the galactic empire.
  Barbarism rises as kingdoms forget how to use atomic power, instead, resorting to more antiquated resources.
  The foundation is established by Harri Seldon in preparation for the fall under the guise of seeding the galaxy with
  knowledge, and in so doing, reduce the duration of the barbarise days.