Person
Janna Levin books: every book Janna Levin wrote and recommended
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Janna Levin appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Janna Levin
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How the Universe Got Its Spots
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A madman dreams of Turing machines
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Black Hole Survival Guide
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MAPPING PERCEPTION; ED. BY GILES LANE
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Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
Janna J. Levin is an American theoretical cosmologist and a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in astronomy and physics with a concentration in philosophy at Barnard College and a PhD in theoretical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Much of her work deals with looking for evidence to support the proposal that our universe might be finite in size due to its having a nontrivial topology, alongside research on black holes and chaos theory. On podcasts, Levin discussed several science-related books and plays. She mentioned Steven Strogatz's The Joy of X Mathematician while discussing her podcast's title. She brought up Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen to talk about the historical relationship between nuclear physics and war, mentioned Neil deGrasse Tyson's Death By Black Hole while discussing space books, and talked about the naming history of Leon M. Lederman and Dick Teresi's The God Particle during a conversation about physics.
Books recommended by Janna Levin
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Copenhagen
Discussed“You might know this play "Copenhagen" by Michael Frayn. There's this line that he attributes to Bohr. And Bohr was the great thinker of early foundations of quantum mechanics, Danish physicist, where Bohr says to his wife, "Nobody's thought of a way to kill people using quantum mechanics."”
Where to get it
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Death By Black Hole
Death By Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson is a collection of accessible science essays exploring astrophysics, cosmic phenomena, and the mysteries of the universe.
Discussed“yeah so don't you have a book titled death by black hole i've always wanted to steal that title from you”
Where to get it
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The God Particle
Discussed“he wanted to write a call his book the goddamn particle because i hadn't found it yet and his publisher made him change it to the god particle which he said ended up alienating two groups those that believed in god and those that didn't”
Where to get it
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The Joy of X
The Joy of X by Steven Henry Strogatz is an engaging popular mathematics book that guides everyday readers through the hidden beauty and profound everyday relevance of mathematical concepts.
Discussed“Oh, that's a beautiful title. Yeah, Quantum Magazine. So, the story is my friend Steve Strogats, who's the original host of the show. It's a by Quantum Magazine from the Simons Foundation, wonderful science magazine. His book was called The Joy of X Mathematician.”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (10: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And you've also written a bunch of books. I have two with me like right now. The black hole survival guide. I mean, it's like it looks tiny but it's dense like a black hole. Spoiler alert. It does not end well.”
“I have two with me like right now. The black hole survival guide. I mean, it's like it looks tiny but it's dense like a black hole.”
“And my favorite book I like to pronounce the black hole blue. I love that. That's the British cover.”
“So what's the novel? A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines. Maybe the title's too long.”
“a Madman dreams of Turing machines”
“so my first book is about whether or not the universe is infinite or finite it's a question we don't know the answer yet how the universe got its spots”
“so so how the leopard got its spots is actually a very similar mathematical problem because you're asking about enzymes being higher low in the developing embryo and it turns out that the shape and the size of the animal and like whether it's tubular or when no spots or hitting it that it will determine what kind of spots”
“so so how the universe got it spots as a similar mathematical problem we're solving for hot and cold spots in a particular geometry when the universe was like a developing embryo basically and this goes back to Alan Turing who solved some of these problems for the animal”
“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.”
“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.”