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A review by realityczar
Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space by Janna Levin
3.0
Levin’s book is interesting. I was initially more interested in the science of gravity waves than the personalities behind the LIGO project. It turns out the more-or-less oral history that this book largely comprised of includes some intriguing elements. However, the story is also banal in long stretches, and the use of he-said/he-said counterpoints with unsatisfying resolutions causes the story to drag for stretches.
Levin writes well, even beautifully in places, but sometimes uses flights of rhetoric unsupported by the drama of the story and which, in turn cannot lift the narrative structure on its own. In places, the writing is desperately, almost incomprehensibly, overwrought:
For me, that paragraph is merely something to trip over on the way through the story.
Meanwhile, the science is inexplicably neglected. As far as I can tell, the “songs” of the subtitle are mostly a device for explaining gravity waves (though they can, in fact, be made audible). Unfortunately, that metaphor is only superficially explained, and while I cheer for the success of the efforts documented, I don’t feel like I understand them much better than I did when I picked up the book. I have a better understanding of office politics at Caltech, which is something, but I expected something altogether else from an astrophysicist and professor.
Levin writes well, even beautifully in places, but sometimes uses flights of rhetoric unsupported by the drama of the story and which, in turn cannot lift the narrative structure on its own. In places, the writing is desperately, almost incomprehensibly, overwrought:
Kip aspired to drive a snowplow, but his career redirected at the age of eight when his mother took him to an astronomy lecture. The introduction could not have been so fortuitous. As though too well inscribed with a mathematical ability nurtured under Utah’s firmament, Kip seemed destined for astrophysics. By the time he met his influential mentor, John Archibald Wheeler, no dreams of snowplows complicated his determination.
For me, that paragraph is merely something to trip over on the way through the story.
Meanwhile, the science is inexplicably neglected. As far as I can tell, the “songs” of the subtitle are mostly a device for explaining gravity waves (though they can, in fact, be made audible). Unfortunately, that metaphor is only superficially explained, and while I cheer for the success of the efforts documented, I don’t feel like I understand them much better than I did when I picked up the book. I have a better understanding of office politics at Caltech, which is something, but I expected something altogether else from an astrophysicist and professor.