Book · 2016 · Gravity waves
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
Why people recommend it
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space by Janna Levin is an engaging exploration of the groundbreaking scientific quest to detect gravitational waves and observe the universe through a completely new lens. Neil deGrasse Tyson enthusiastically praised the book on StarTalk Radio as the episode drew to a close, telling the author that he had been loving her work. Tyson also brought up Levin's expertise on the large-scale universe and black holes, successfully recalling the full title of her recent book to the audience and remarking that she articulated the subject better than anyone else ever had. The conversation highlighted both the scientific depth and the literary grace with which Levin captures the monumental human efforts behind modern astrophysics. Through these discussions, the book is framed not only as an informative account of cutting-edge physics and the scientists who pursue it, but also as a poetic tribute to one of the most exciting frontiers in our ongoing exploration of the cosmos.
Who recommended it
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Recommended
Neil deGrasse Tyson — 2 mentions
“So Janna, you're an expert on the large scale universe, on black holes, your recent book was Black Hole Blues, was that? - Yeah. You know you've said it better than anyone ever. I once got you to say the whole title which you might not remember was Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space”
“Janna it was great, and I've been loving your book, - Thanks it was fun. - [Neil] The Black Hole Blues.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“She has also written some incredible books, including "How the Universe Got Its Spots" on the topic of the shape and the size of the universe, "A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines" on the topic of genius, madness, and the limits of knowledge, "Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space" on the topic of LIGO and the detection”
“And the very fact that we're able to detect gravitational waves from the early universe is effing wild. Can you explain what gravitational waves are? And we should mention, you wrote a book about the humans, about the whole journey of detecting gravitational waves and LIGO with "Black Hole Blues" is the book.”
“And this is what Black Hole Blues was all about, I was writing it while they were on this campaign, yeah. - Your book. - And they hadn't succeeded while I was writing and I was really writing it, precisely ties in with what we were talking about earlier about the pursuit.”