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On 14 September 2015 two detectors in the United States picked up a tremor in space-time from two black holes colliding more than a billion years ago. Janna Levin, a theoretical cosmologist at Barnard College in New York, had been interviewing the physicists who built those detectors, and her book about them came out the following year. She works on black holes, chaos and the shape of the universe, and writes about them in unusual forms: unsent letters to her mother, a novel about two mathematicians, a survival guide illustrated by a painter. She is also director of sciences at Pioneer Works, an arts and science centre in Brooklyn. This guide covers her four key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2002–2020 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Janna Levin has written four books: How the Universe Got Its Spots (2002), the novel A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006), which won the PEN/Bingham Prize, Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space (2016) and Black Hole Survival Guide (2020). Start with Black Hole Blues, the story of the decades-long hunt for gravitational waves; read on for what each book does and the order that works best.
Where to Start with Janna Levin
If you want the story behind a scientific breakthrough
→ Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space (2016) — the people who built LIGO.
If you want a short, illustrated introduction to black holes
→ Black Hole Survival Guide (2020) — about 160 pages.
If you want a novel
→ A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006) — Turing and Gödel, the prize winner.
If you want to know how big the universe is
→ How the Universe Got Its Spots (2002) — her first book, on a finite universe.
4 Janna Levin Books, in Order
How the Universe Got Its Spots
Written as letters to her mother that were never sent, the book becomes a diary that runs Levin’s own life alongside her research. It covers gravity, infinity, topology, the Big Bang and the hot spots it left behind, and argues that the universe may be finite, with no edges. Princeton University Press reissued it in 2023.
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
A novel that alternates between the lives of Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel, two mathematicians who never met, told by an unnamed narrator. Levin said the core stories are true. It won the 2007 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Fellowship for Writers and was runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first work of fiction.
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
The history of LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, which detected gravitational waves on 14 September 2015, about a century after Einstein predicted them. Levin draws mainly on conversations with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne and an earlier taped interview with Ron Drever, and covers the rivalries, the risk of failure and the early pioneer Joe Weber. Weiss and Thorne shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for the detection.
Black Hole Survival Guide
A short guide to black holes for non-scientists, about 160 pages, asking the reader to imagine what an encounter with one would be like and explaining how black holes shape galaxies. It includes 23 paintings by the artist Lia Halloran.
In What Order to Read Janna Levin
The four books stand alone, so you can read them in any order. Publication order shows her moving from the shape of the universe as a whole, in How the Universe Got Its Spots, to black holes and the people who study them.
The two black hole books pair well: Black Hole Survival Guide explains the physics in a few hours, and Black Hole Blues tells the human story of how black holes were finally heard. A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines is the odd one out, a novel about logic and mathematics rather than astrophysics.
A reading path
1. Black Hole Survival Guide (2020)
2. Black Hole Blues (2016)
3. A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006)
4. How the Universe Got Its Spots (2002)
The years · 1967–2020
Quick facts about Janna Levin
- Known for
- Janna Levin is known for writing about black holes, gravitational waves and the shape of the universe in literary forms, and for her research on black holes and the topology of space.
- 1967
- Born in Texas
- 1993
- PhD in physics, MIT
- 2016
- Black Hole Blues
- Born
- 1967, Texas, United States
- Education
- BA in astronomy and physics, Barnard College, 1988; PhD in physics, MIT, 1993
- Teaches
- Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Barnard College, Columbia University
- Also
- Director of sciences at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
- Honours
- PEN/Bingham Prize (2007); Guggenheim Fellowship (2012)
- Television
- Presented the PBS NOVA film Black Hole Apocalypse (2018)
The red mark is 2016: Black Hole Blues, her history of the hunt for gravitational waves.
How Janna Levin Writes: Science in Personal Forms
Levin rarely writes straight exposition. How the Universe Got Its Spots began as letters to her mother and became a diary of her life as a cosmologist; she told New Scientist in 2002 that she “wanted to do something honest and sincere, which wasn’t about pressing a scientific premise.”
She builds on true stories but allows herself invention. A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines is fiction whose core events about Turing and Gödel are real; in a 2007 interview with The Brooklyn Rail she said, “Sometimes you have to step outside of the perfect linear logic of biographical facts.” Black Hole Blues is reporting, built from long conversations with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne and written in scenes.
Sound and image run through her work. In her 2011 TED talk she describes the universe as having a soundtrack played on space itself, and Black Hole Survival Guide sets her text beside 23 paintings by Lia Halloran. She has written essays for art exhibitions in England and runs the science programme at Pioneer Works, a Brooklyn arts centre.
Watch
The sound the universe makes
At TED2011 Levin explains how colliding black holes ring space-time like a drum, recording some of the most dramatic events in the universe.
Frequently asked questions about Janna Levin’s books
How many books has Janna Levin written?
Four: three works of popular science and one novel, all covered on this page.
What are Janna Levin’s books in order?
How the Universe Got Its Spots (2002), A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines (2006), Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space (2016) and Black Hole Survival Guide (2020).
Where should I start with Janna Levin?
With Black Hole Blues, the story of the physicists behind LIGO and the first detection of gravitational waves. If you want something shorter first, Black Hole Survival Guide is about 160 pages.
What is Janna Levin’s most famous book?
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space (2016), published the year after LIGO’s first detection of gravitational waves. Her novel A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines is her most awarded book.
Is A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines a true story?
It is a novel, but Levin has said its core stories about Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel are true. The two mathematicians never met; the book alternates between their lives, with an unnamed narrator.
What prizes has Janna Levin won?
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines won the 2007 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Fellowship for Writers and was runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. She was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2012.
What is Black Hole Blues about?
The decades-long effort to build LIGO and detect gravitational waves, told through physicists including Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Ron Drever. The detection came on 14 September 2015; Weiss and Thorne shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for it.
Has Janna Levin been on television?
Yes. She presented the PBS NOVA film Black Hole Apocalypse, first broadcast in January 2018, and gave the TED talk “The sound the universe makes” at TED2011.
Is Janna Levin a scientist?
Yes. She is a theoretical cosmologist and the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College, Columbia University, with a PhD from MIT (1993). Her research covers black holes, gravitational waves, chaos and the topology of the universe.
Is Janna Levin still alive?
Yes. She was born in 1967 in Texas and lives in New York.
Footnotes
- Janna Levin — Wikipedia
- Levin, Janna — Encyclopedia.com
- 2007 PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers — PEN America
- Black Hole Blues — Publishers Weekly review
- Review of Black Hole Blues by Sheila Rowan — Nature, 2016
- Black Hole Survival Guide — Penguin Random House
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I’d like to convince you that the universe has a soundtrack and that soundtrack is played on space itself, because space can wobble like a drum.”
— Janna Levin, “The sound the universe makes”, TED2011
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