Shining star

Lee Smolin describes Janna Levin as one of the most talented and original of the young cosmologists. And she’s just written a book that proves it. In How the Universe Got Its Spots Levin not only tours the wilder reaches of cosmology, but she also bares her soul with an intimate account of her struggles to balance science against the demands of the heart. Lots of people face similar juggling acts, but it’s rare to find such an open account. Beginning as a series of letters written to her mother, the book mutated into a running diary of her life in the fast lane of…