Gripping ... very, very well written ... I reached the beautiful ending of this book with a little sob of gratitude ... heartbreaking ... brilliant

It is hard to imagine that a better narrative will ever be written about the behind-the-scenes heartbreak and hardship that goes with scientific discovery. Black Hole Blues is a spectacular feat – a near-perfect balance of science, storytelling and insight … It is as inevitable as gravity that this book will win a swath of awards

Astonishing … superb … Ms Levin is able to tell the tale so soon, and so well, because she has had privileged access to the experiment. She has also known the experimenters for several years … Ms Levin is herself a scientist, which explains her access, but more than that she is a writer … readers feel as if they are sitting in on her interviews or watching over her shoulder as she describes two black holes colliding … A splendid book that I recommend to anyone with an interest in how science works and in the power of human imagination and ability

A superb storyteller. This is the most vivid account I can remember of science policy in action … I’ll be surprised if anyone brings out a more readable book on gravitational waves in the near future

The definitive account of how we completed the hundred-year hunt for gravitational waves … Punchy, witty, timely and deeply insightful; I haven’t read a better book on the realities of doing science

A remarkable achievement that potentially opens up a whole new chapter in our understanding of the cosmos and, with perfect timing, Janna Levin’s elegant and lucid book is here to tell us how it was done … the human drama is compelling … The main protagonists … comprise as fascinating a triumvirate as you will find anywhere in scientific literature. Levin, a distinguished astrophysicist in her own right, writes eloquently, sometimes even poetically, about the search for what she calls gravity’s music

Taking on the simultaneous roles of expert scientist, journalist, historian and storyteller of uncommon enchantment, Levin delivers pure signal from cover to cover … Levin harmonizes science and life with remarkable virtuosity … exposing the invisible, incremental processes that produce the final spark we call genius … As redemptive as the story of the countless trials and unlikely triumph may be, what makes the book most rewarding is Levin’s exquisite prose

The most important development in astronomy since the invention of the telescope ... [Levin] excels in conveying the personalities of the scientists and their professional and personal struggles ... With the success of Ligo, we stand at the dawn of a new era in astronomy, Levin says in her excellent book

Brilliant and timely

Explains in clear terms the scientific heart of this achievement and the deep and personal fascination that pursuing it has held for several generations of scientists. She also captures the cost of getting to this point, both financial – this is big science in its truest sense – and, in many cases, personal … the plot is too compelling … genuinely painful to read in places … illuminating ... interesting

A beautifully written account of the quest to open the ‘gravitational-wave window’ onto our universe. As a participant in this wonderful quest, I applaud Janna Levin for capturing so well our vision, our struggles, and the ethos and spirit of our torturous route toward success

Riveting. Janna Levin immerses us in the heady world of scientists straining to detect gravitational waves, the faintest whispers in the universe. Keenly observed and lyrically written, her account of this quest will move you

If Hunter Thompson had taken a break to get a PhD in physics and then become obsessed with gravitational waves, he might have written a book like this

Levin is a master of storytelling […] this book […]keeps the reader hooked in awe page after page. Black Hole Blues is a captivating study of the process of scientific discovery.

Levin brilliant captures the immense challenges of today’s big science, from the clash of huge egos to the final triumphant proof of a century-old theory

Homo Deus is a sweeping, apocalyptic history of the human race, which reads more like a TED-talk on acid.

Harari is an intellectual magpie who has plucked theories and data from many disciplines - including philosophy, theology, computer science and biology - to produce a brilliantly original, thought-provoking and important study of where mankind is heading.

Like its predecessor, which sold in its millions, Homo Deus will have a world audience. Taking over where Sapiens left off, it looks forward to where history, ethics and gargantuan biotech investment might lead us - to the end, Harari thinks, of death, suffering and the very idea of being human.

A remarkable book, full of insights and thoughtful reinterpretations of what we thought we knew about ourselves and our history... One measure of Harari’s achievement is that one has to look a long way back – to 1934, in fact, the year when Lewis Mumford’s Technics and Civilization was published – for a book with comparable ambition and scope.

Harari is an exceptional writer, who seems to have been specially chosen by the muses as a conduit for the zeitgeist… Fascinating reading.

This provocative book analyses our present state – and makes startling predictions about the future.

Sapiens was a paean to humanity’s powers of collective imagination…with darker notes on how these mega-stories might direct our new, transformative, information and biological technologies. “Is there anything more dangerous than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods who don’t know what they want?” was Harari’s closing line. Homo Deus tries to answer that question, with all the pedagogic and encyclopaedic brilliance of its predecessor.

An often thought-provoking and always elegantly written book.

Brilliant, mind-expanding…explores where Homo Sapiens might go from here, via his signature blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between.

His reasoning is laid out with a lucidity that makes it a joy to read.

Yuval Noah Harari is the most entertaining and thought-provoking writer of non-fiction at the moment. In Homo Deus he covers broad terrain, touching on everything from Zen Buddhism to the Second World War to how bats read the frequency of echoes, to explore the largest most difficult and sometimes frightening subject of all: our own future. As with Sapiens you finish the book feeling much wiser, but not having noticed any hard work along the way. I loved this book.

Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we’re going

Challenging, readable and thought-provoking… He has provided a smart look at what may be ahead for humanity.

Exhilarating.

Original, compelling, and provocative.