  Rapid infall of gas in the nuclei of galaxies could lead to the formation of
black holes by direct collapse, without first forming stars. Black holes formed
in this way would have initial masses of a few solar masses, but would be
embedded in massive envelopes that would allow them to grow at a highly
super-Eddington rate. Thus, seed black holes as large as 10^3-10^4 solar masses
could form very rapidly. I will sketch the basic physics of the direct collapse
process and the properties of the accreting envelopes.
