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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
Extraterrestrials
Everything we know about how planets form and how life arises suggests that human civilization on Earth should not be unique. We ought to see abundant evidence of extraterrestrial activity - but we don't. Where is everybody? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, science and technology writer Wade Roush examines one of the great unsolved problems in Is there life, intelligent or otherwise, on other planets?
This paradox (they're bound to be out there; but where are they?), first formulated by the famed physicist Enrico Fermi, has fueled decades of debate, speculation, and, lately, some actual science. Roush lays out the problem in its historical and modern-day context and summarizes the latest thinking among astronomers and astrobiologists. He describes the long history of speculation about aliens; the emergence of SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) as a scientific discipline in the 1960s, and scientists' use of radio and optical techniques to scan for signals; and developments in astrobiology and exoplanet research. Finally, he discusses possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox and suggests way to refocus SETI work that might increase the chances of resolving the paradox - and finding extraterrestrials.
This paradox (they're bound to be out there; but where are they?), first formulated by the famed physicist Enrico Fermi, has fueled decades of debate, speculation, and, lately, some actual science. Roush lays out the problem in its historical and modern-day context and summarizes the latest thinking among astronomers and astrobiologists. He describes the long history of speculation about aliens; the emergence of SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) as a scientific discipline in the 1960s, and scientists' use of radio and optical techniques to scan for signals; and developments in astrobiology and exoplanet research. Finally, he discusses possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox and suggests way to refocus SETI work that might increase the chances of resolving the paradox - and finding extraterrestrials.
240 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2020
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267 people want to read
About the author
Wade Roush
10 books6 followersWade Roush is a freelance science and technology writer, columnist at Scientific American, and host and producer of the tech-and-culture podcast Soonish. His work has appeared in Science, Xconomy, and MIT Technology Review. He is the editor of the science fiction anthology Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press).
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 26, 2020
Before opening this book I had the distinctly unnerving wish that I would find it full of blank pages - because this is the 'essential knowledge' series, and our knowledge of extraterrestrials is, well, non-existent (sorry Mr Mulder). To be fair though, inside we get the next best thing.
Wade Roush gives a readable, compact history of SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), plus attempts to communicate outwards and a touch of information on potentially inhabitable exoplanets. We also, inevitably, get that magnificent piece of speculation raised to the power of n, the Drake equation which supposedly gives us a feel for the potential range of numbers of planets in the galaxy inhabited by intelligent life (at least we know the range starts at 1) and much puzzling over the old Fermi paradox of why there is no evidence of intelligent life out there.
It's this last part that gets just a touch tedious - because it is all navel gazing speculation, it really can never go anywhere but round in circles, and it does rather a lot. Roush seems convinced that there should be interstellar travel going on all the time out there - although he briefly acknowledges that it may never be possible because of the vast distances involved, he then pretty much ignores that acknowledgement of what seems by far the most likely answer to Fermi's old question of where everyone is - too far away.
Because of the speculative parts (which everything except the history of SETI pretty much has to be), I struggled to enjoy this book - but the SETI parts provide a good background to what's been done to date. And, of course, if you enjoy some heavy duty speculation outside of fiction, the rest will engage you too.
Wade Roush gives a readable, compact history of SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence), plus attempts to communicate outwards and a touch of information on potentially inhabitable exoplanets. We also, inevitably, get that magnificent piece of speculation raised to the power of n, the Drake equation which supposedly gives us a feel for the potential range of numbers of planets in the galaxy inhabited by intelligent life (at least we know the range starts at 1) and much puzzling over the old Fermi paradox of why there is no evidence of intelligent life out there.
It's this last part that gets just a touch tedious - because it is all navel gazing speculation, it really can never go anywhere but round in circles, and it does rather a lot. Roush seems convinced that there should be interstellar travel going on all the time out there - although he briefly acknowledges that it may never be possible because of the vast distances involved, he then pretty much ignores that acknowledgement of what seems by far the most likely answer to Fermi's old question of where everyone is - too far away.
Because of the speculative parts (which everything except the history of SETI pretty much has to be), I struggled to enjoy this book - but the SETI parts provide a good background to what's been done to date. And, of course, if you enjoy some heavy duty speculation outside of fiction, the rest will engage you too.
February 27, 2021
Another hit in the MIT Essential Knowledge Series, before we start let me be transparent in telling you I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Extraterrestrials is the second book in the EKS I have had the pleasure of reading. The EKS strives to cover a broad range of topics in a concise way with language that the common reader can understand.
ET starts by introducing us to the Fermi Paradox, we know that with a universe this massive we can't be alone.... right? The Fermi Paradox "is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability". ET does a great job about introducing us to this concept before jumping into the history of SETI, aka the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This section composes about the first half of the book and covers the various ways scientist have looked for life across the universe. Whether than be radio frequencies, the "big ear" included, by analyzing light as it passes through the atmosphere of other planets, or by other optical electromagnetic devices. The author, Wade Roush did an excellent job in this section by weaving history into the talk about technology and radio frequencies to make sure that no part was overly dry or academic. However I do say this had to be my least favorite part, only because of what comes later. While Roush did the best possible job to avoid this section getting /overly/ dry, it none the less lost my interest in a few sections if I am being completely honest. But if we are being real here there is only so much you can do to spice up radio frequencies and I do not fault the author or the book here!
Where this book really stood out for me was the second half. We begin by examining the range that life can exist, namely by looking at extremeophiles to set the limits about what types of worlds can habor any type of life. With this knowledge we can then begin to imagine the range of worlds that would be apt to harbor this life. By doing some quick back of the envelope math we see there are tens of thousands of these planets in our galaxy alone that meet this criteria. So, again we come to the question, where is the life? Here we dive deeeeeppp into the Fermi Paradox and the question of great filters. To me it was absolutely fascinating to hear Wade explain the different philosophical approaches to answering this question and this is where the book had me glued to the pages.
Wade is also not afraid to make his own guesses and explore other solutions beside the Fermi Paradox.
All in all this was a highly engaging look at the search for life on other planets. I honestly wish I had something bad to say about it so I didn't seem like I was writing an overly positive review.
Extraterrestrials is the second book in the EKS I have had the pleasure of reading. The EKS strives to cover a broad range of topics in a concise way with language that the common reader can understand.
ET starts by introducing us to the Fermi Paradox, we know that with a universe this massive we can't be alone.... right? The Fermi Paradox "is the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability". ET does a great job about introducing us to this concept before jumping into the history of SETI, aka the Search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This section composes about the first half of the book and covers the various ways scientist have looked for life across the universe. Whether than be radio frequencies, the "big ear" included, by analyzing light as it passes through the atmosphere of other planets, or by other optical electromagnetic devices. The author, Wade Roush did an excellent job in this section by weaving history into the talk about technology and radio frequencies to make sure that no part was overly dry or academic. However I do say this had to be my least favorite part, only because of what comes later. While Roush did the best possible job to avoid this section getting /overly/ dry, it none the less lost my interest in a few sections if I am being completely honest. But if we are being real here there is only so much you can do to spice up radio frequencies and I do not fault the author or the book here!
Where this book really stood out for me was the second half. We begin by examining the range that life can exist, namely by looking at extremeophiles to set the limits about what types of worlds can habor any type of life. With this knowledge we can then begin to imagine the range of worlds that would be apt to harbor this life. By doing some quick back of the envelope math we see there are tens of thousands of these planets in our galaxy alone that meet this criteria. So, again we come to the question, where is the life? Here we dive deeeeeppp into the Fermi Paradox and the question of great filters. To me it was absolutely fascinating to hear Wade explain the different philosophical approaches to answering this question and this is where the book had me glued to the pages.
Wade is also not afraid to make his own guesses and explore other solutions beside the Fermi Paradox.
All in all this was a highly engaging look at the search for life on other planets. I honestly wish I had something bad to say about it so I didn't seem like I was writing an overly positive review.
August 11, 2022
Easy intro to SETI w/ explanations of the relevant history of the search from Anaximander to Kepler to Sagan, & concepts like the hydrogen line, extremophiles, the mystery of abiogenesis, whatever the hell 'Oumuamua was and possible solutions to the Fermi paradox
February 3, 2024
A good scientific summary about the search of extraterrestrial life history. However, I missed the development of some more radical theories or speculation.
November 25, 2020
“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.”
- Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winning physicist
Extraterrestrials examines the question raised by the (so-called) Fermi Paradox … i.e. if intelligent alien life is prevalent throughout the universe, why is there no evidence of its existence? The parsimonious answer is that it is both extremely rare (so rare, in fact, that Earth may be the only planet where it exists) and that space is (to quote Monty Python in ‘The Meaning of Life’) “So big. So absolutely huge. Gosh, we’re all really impressed down here I can tell you.” But that is an answer that many find unsatisfying.
If there’s one area in which scientists and Scientologists sound nearly the same, it’s the topic of intelligent alien life. Whether it’s scientists professing their belief that life exists wherever molecules of H2O are present on other worlds, or Scientologists professing their belief that Xenu flew a spaceship shaped like a DC-8 into a volcano, what the two have in common is a cognitive bias in which they each believe their fondest hopes and dreams … must … ABSOLUTELY MUST!! … be true, despite the fact that no evidence exists in support of their desires.
When Percival Lowell saw lines on the surface of Mars … THEY ARE CANALS BUILT BY MARTIANS!
When a repeating radio signal was detected on Nov. 28, 1967 … “WOW!” ALIENS MUST BE TRYING TO CONTACT US!
In 1976 when a drop of aqueous nutrient solution tagged with radioactive Carbon 14 was added to Martian soil, radioactive CO2 was released … MICROORGANISMS WERE THE CAUSE!
When scientists found liquid water on Mars (or Europa, or wherever) … SURELY THERE’S LIFE!
When NASA scientists discovered small anomalies in a potato-shaped lump of Martian rock in 1996 … THEY MUST BE FOSSILIZED MICROBES!
In 2012 NASA claimed to discover a new form of bacterial life that could thrive on arsenic … THIS OPENS THE DOOR TO EVER MORE EXOTIC ALIEN LIFEFORMS!
When astronomers identified a strange pattern of light near a distant star called KIC 8462852 … IT MUST BE A DYSON SPHERE OR A STAR SURROUNDED BY ALIEN MEGASTRUCTURES!
When an oddly shaped interstellar object named Oumuamua was sighted … IT MUST BE AN ALIEN SPACESHIP OR PROBE!
When astronomers detected fast radio bursts (FRBs) or radio signals dubbed perytons … ALIENS MUST BE TRYING TO CONTACT US! ONLY THIS TIME IT’S REAL! *
And while not ‘intelligent’, the latest in this long line of claims comes from the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus … IT’S THE PRODUCT OF MICROBIAL LIFE FLOATING IN THE PLANET’S ATMOSPHERE!
The problem is that none of the assertions above have held up to scrutiny (though the last has yet to be properly scrutinized). It’s like the boy who cried wolf … except the public never grows tired of it.
Time and time again, something is observed that is both new and poorly understood, and instead of making a factual statement that reflects the current state of our knowledge, i.e. “we found something interesting, but we don’t know what it is”, there’s a rush to judgement to explain the phenomenon in terms of ‘life’. It’s the same faulty reasoning exhibited by those who believe in Intelligent Design and resort to the God of the Gaps logical fallacy (we can’t explain it, therefore God did it) … except it’s perpetrated by individuals who should know better … scientists (we can’t explain it, therefore ‘life’ did it).
Baptist preacher William Miller taught his followers that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth on October 22, 1844. When that didn’t happen, the event became known among his followers as “The Great Disappointment”. But here’s the interesting thing … rather than conclude that Miller was simply delusional and a fraud … his followers doubled down. Per Wiki, “They contended that what had happened on October 22 was not Jesus' return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus' final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming.” And with that proclamation the Seventh-day Adventist Church was formed.
Weird right? But here’s the thing … this inability to admit that our fervent wishes are just that … wishes,
is a universal psychological trait shared by all humans. So, after years of searching for alien intelligent life, how do scientists explain the relentlessly persistent absence of evidence? Just like the Millerites before them they too concoct excuses to rationalize away the difference between what is and what they so fervently wish to be so:
- The aliens are shy and don’t want to be found
- They are listening to radio signals, but are unable to broadcast
- They are wary of Earth, given what they know of our species
- Alien technology is so advanced they’ve moved beyond radio and therefore can’t hear us
- Intelligent alien life is so foreign that communication is impossible
- The aliens are hibernating
- The aliens are so far advanced that they can’t be bothered to talk to us (it would be like a human trying to communicate with an ant suffering from dementia)
I could go on, but you get the idea. The real lesson isn’t whether aliens exist (there’s no evidence they do), it’s that the human brain has obvious points of failure. And that they fail over and over again, in precisely the same way, regardless of one’s background or education.
Anyway, the book Extraterrestrials by Wade Roush is basically a history of man’s search for alien intelligent life, the SETI project in particular. Unfortunately, I found it to be a surprisingly dry treatment of what could have been a fun and lively topic.
The bottom line … nada, zip, zero, zilch, bupkis, diddly, naught, nil, nothing has been found. With this lack of success many scientists have stopped talking openly about alien intelligence and have scaled back their hopes to the discovery of alien life of a more modest sort (which mainly takes the form of anomaly hunting for microbial biosignatures). But hope springs eternal in the breasts of a few diehards, and the search for alien intelligence continues. My advice for those engaged in this pursuit is to get used to disappointment, though I’ll happily eat my words if they prove to be incorrect … (they won’t).
* The peryton signal actually turned out to be the microwave oven in the facility’s break room.
SEE! … I TOLD YOU! … LIFE!
- Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize winning physicist
Extraterrestrials examines the question raised by the (so-called) Fermi Paradox … i.e. if intelligent alien life is prevalent throughout the universe, why is there no evidence of its existence? The parsimonious answer is that it is both extremely rare (so rare, in fact, that Earth may be the only planet where it exists) and that space is (to quote Monty Python in ‘The Meaning of Life’) “So big. So absolutely huge. Gosh, we’re all really impressed down here I can tell you.” But that is an answer that many find unsatisfying.
If there’s one area in which scientists and Scientologists sound nearly the same, it’s the topic of intelligent alien life. Whether it’s scientists professing their belief that life exists wherever molecules of H2O are present on other worlds, or Scientologists professing their belief that Xenu flew a spaceship shaped like a DC-8 into a volcano, what the two have in common is a cognitive bias in which they each believe their fondest hopes and dreams … must … ABSOLUTELY MUST!! … be true, despite the fact that no evidence exists in support of their desires.
When Percival Lowell saw lines on the surface of Mars … THEY ARE CANALS BUILT BY MARTIANS!
When a repeating radio signal was detected on Nov. 28, 1967 … “WOW!” ALIENS MUST BE TRYING TO CONTACT US!
In 1976 when a drop of aqueous nutrient solution tagged with radioactive Carbon 14 was added to Martian soil, radioactive CO2 was released … MICROORGANISMS WERE THE CAUSE!
When scientists found liquid water on Mars (or Europa, or wherever) … SURELY THERE’S LIFE!
When NASA scientists discovered small anomalies in a potato-shaped lump of Martian rock in 1996 … THEY MUST BE FOSSILIZED MICROBES!
In 2012 NASA claimed to discover a new form of bacterial life that could thrive on arsenic … THIS OPENS THE DOOR TO EVER MORE EXOTIC ALIEN LIFEFORMS!
When astronomers identified a strange pattern of light near a distant star called KIC 8462852 … IT MUST BE A DYSON SPHERE OR A STAR SURROUNDED BY ALIEN MEGASTRUCTURES!
When an oddly shaped interstellar object named Oumuamua was sighted … IT MUST BE AN ALIEN SPACESHIP OR PROBE!
When astronomers detected fast radio bursts (FRBs) or radio signals dubbed perytons … ALIENS MUST BE TRYING TO CONTACT US! ONLY THIS TIME IT’S REAL! *
And while not ‘intelligent’, the latest in this long line of claims comes from the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus … IT’S THE PRODUCT OF MICROBIAL LIFE FLOATING IN THE PLANET’S ATMOSPHERE!
The problem is that none of the assertions above have held up to scrutiny (though the last has yet to be properly scrutinized). It’s like the boy who cried wolf … except the public never grows tired of it.
Time and time again, something is observed that is both new and poorly understood, and instead of making a factual statement that reflects the current state of our knowledge, i.e. “we found something interesting, but we don’t know what it is”, there’s a rush to judgement to explain the phenomenon in terms of ‘life’. It’s the same faulty reasoning exhibited by those who believe in Intelligent Design and resort to the God of the Gaps logical fallacy (we can’t explain it, therefore God did it) … except it’s perpetrated by individuals who should know better … scientists (we can’t explain it, therefore ‘life’ did it).
Baptist preacher William Miller taught his followers that Jesus Christ would return to the Earth on October 22, 1844. When that didn’t happen, the event became known among his followers as “The Great Disappointment”. But here’s the interesting thing … rather than conclude that Miller was simply delusional and a fraud … his followers doubled down. Per Wiki, “They contended that what had happened on October 22 was not Jesus' return, as Miller had thought, but the start of Jesus' final work of atonement, the cleansing in the heavenly sanctuary, leading up to the Second Coming.” And with that proclamation the Seventh-day Adventist Church was formed.
Weird right? But here’s the thing … this inability to admit that our fervent wishes are just that … wishes,
is a universal psychological trait shared by all humans. So, after years of searching for alien intelligent life, how do scientists explain the relentlessly persistent absence of evidence? Just like the Millerites before them they too concoct excuses to rationalize away the difference between what is and what they so fervently wish to be so:
- The aliens are shy and don’t want to be found
- They are listening to radio signals, but are unable to broadcast
- They are wary of Earth, given what they know of our species
- Alien technology is so advanced they’ve moved beyond radio and therefore can’t hear us
- Intelligent alien life is so foreign that communication is impossible
- The aliens are hibernating
- The aliens are so far advanced that they can’t be bothered to talk to us (it would be like a human trying to communicate with an ant suffering from dementia)
I could go on, but you get the idea. The real lesson isn’t whether aliens exist (there’s no evidence they do), it’s that the human brain has obvious points of failure. And that they fail over and over again, in precisely the same way, regardless of one’s background or education.
Anyway, the book Extraterrestrials by Wade Roush is basically a history of man’s search for alien intelligent life, the SETI project in particular. Unfortunately, I found it to be a surprisingly dry treatment of what could have been a fun and lively topic.
The bottom line … nada, zip, zero, zilch, bupkis, diddly, naught, nil, nothing has been found. With this lack of success many scientists have stopped talking openly about alien intelligence and have scaled back their hopes to the discovery of alien life of a more modest sort (which mainly takes the form of anomaly hunting for microbial biosignatures). But hope springs eternal in the breasts of a few diehards, and the search for alien intelligence continues. My advice for those engaged in this pursuit is to get used to disappointment, though I’ll happily eat my words if they prove to be incorrect … (they won’t).
* The peryton signal actually turned out to be the microwave oven in the facility’s break room.
SEE! … I TOLD YOU! … LIFE!
January 29, 2023
As I child, inspired by Star Trek, I would gaze at the night sky and hope to see a UFO flying overhead. Today I better understand the distances involved and, at the same time, fear humanity is on a self-destructive path that will make the possibility of extraterrestrial life a moot point. So I came to Mr. Roush’s book as something of a skeptic, and he hasn’t changed my mind. The author makes a passionate argument for the likelihood of sentient life elsewhere, but, like religious zealots, he glosses over the obstacles and ultimately concludes his belief must be true simply because he doesn’t want to accept the alternative. It’s not until page 145 that he addresses the overwhelming distances involved in traveling, or even communicating, through interstellar space, but I don’t feel he gives this reality sufficient weight. As I write this, Voyager 1 has been traveling a little over 45 years, and in all that time it has traveled less than 1 light day. Not a light year, a light day. (For the curious, JPL maintains a fascinating Voyager mission status web site.) Multiply that out and you’ll quickly see that traveling to star systems 1,000 or 10,000 light years away would require tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Even communicating at light speed is not a viable means of interaction over such distances.
Perhaps even more significantly, Mr. Roush concludes his book where I feel he should have begun. Not until the final pages does he briefly acknowledge humanity’s extraordinary shortcomings (our violent nature, refusal to deal with climate change, greed/vanity, etc.), and the likelihood that “we need to...reconsider what we mean by intelligence…” When most people talk about “extraterrestrial intelligence,” what they really mean is a life form that behaves like humans. But the older I get, the more convinced I am that humans are among the least intelligent life on earth. Our ability to build weapons and contemplate our own navels is a backwards and futile means of measuring intelligence. I don’t claim to have the answers, but, while it provides some interesting history, I feel this book fails to ask the hard and necessary questions.
Perhaps even more significantly, Mr. Roush concludes his book where I feel he should have begun. Not until the final pages does he briefly acknowledge humanity’s extraordinary shortcomings (our violent nature, refusal to deal with climate change, greed/vanity, etc.), and the likelihood that “we need to...reconsider what we mean by intelligence…” When most people talk about “extraterrestrial intelligence,” what they really mean is a life form that behaves like humans. But the older I get, the more convinced I am that humans are among the least intelligent life on earth. Our ability to build weapons and contemplate our own navels is a backwards and futile means of measuring intelligence. I don’t claim to have the answers, but, while it provides some interesting history, I feel this book fails to ask the hard and necessary questions.
January 2, 2021
This is a decent summary and overview of most positions regarding extraterrestrials, including historical positions held in antiquity, showing that this fascination is roughly as old as humanity itself. Notably, the author does not mention the most current and interesting position, namely, the hyperspatial psychedelic one. This position does not reduce to the simulation hypothesis, but is somewhat analogous to the wormhole concept, with the exception that the psychedelic position thinks of the 'wormhole' as psychological and subjective, rather than physical and objective. Here subjects report experiencing some sort of hyperspatiality, irreducible to everyday conceptualisations of reality, in addition to communication with some form of qualitative 'other'. Survey from the British Association for Psychopharmacology here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full....
February 14, 2021
I am doing research for sci-fi writing and I wish every book about ET life or UFOs was like this one. The argument was completely logical, explained CONCISELY (seriously, scientists have a problem being concise), and it suggest many rebuttals if you disagree. On top of that, there was a bibliography AND a glossary. That likely won't be a big selling point for some, but if you're at all interested in actually learning and finding other sources, it's fantastic to include.
February 25, 2021
This is a really great intro book to Extraterrestrials — it opens up a lot of interesting, serious threads but also manages to be kind of fun.
The last bit about our cleaning our own house and our place in a cosmic society was really nice. A reminder that as an artist, when we finally make contact, our works will be a great welcome mat of the human experience (assuming ET's are into aesthetics lol). That was a touching finish.
The last bit about our cleaning our own house and our place in a cosmic society was really nice. A reminder that as an artist, when we finally make contact, our works will be a great welcome mat of the human experience (assuming ET's are into aesthetics lol). That was a touching finish.
October 8, 2021
This book is a concise and easy to read summary of the Fermi Paradox. It presents a thorough summary of data about what we’ve looked for, listened for, and experimented with so far in humankind’s attempt to communicate with extraterrestrials, and then goes on to talk about different theories of why we haven’t found anyone or anything yet. My only complaint was that more theories weren’t included to explain the endless possibilities of why we haven’t made contact.
June 29, 2020
I love this short introduction to the history and concepts behind today's SETI. Wade Roush starts by exploring man's fascination with the possibilities of life on other worlds, showing how that interest has developed into today's SETI program. He covers a lot of the big names in SETI such as Drake, Tarter, and Sagan, discussing their contributions to the field. He also spends a lot of time discussing the possibilities surrounding two of today's most prescient SETI topics: the Drake Equation and the Fermi Paradox. While this book will probably not satisfy someone who has spent years studying this topic in-depth, it did encourage me to read more about today's SETI efforts (and it definitely got me to add a lot of books to my "want to read" list). The book isn't highly detailed, but it's what I'd consider excellent for a layperson's introduction. I'd recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good introduction to the history and science of SETI.
December 31, 2023
يستعرض الكتاب التاريخَ الطويل للتكهُّنات حول الكائنات الفضائية، وظهورَ مجال البحث عن ذكاءٍ خارج الأرض بوصفه أحد التخصُّصات العلمية، واستخدامَ العلماء تقنيات الراديو والتقنيات البصرية للبحث عن الإشارات الخارجية، والتطوُّرَ في مجالَي علم الأحياء الفلَكية والبحث عن الكواكب خارج المجموعة الشمسية. ويحاول روش الإجابة عن بعض الاسئلة مثل: هل نحن لوحدنا في الكون؟ أين الآخرون؟ هل توجد حياة في الكون؟
June 29, 2024
An excellent book that addresses the epistemological reflection on humanity's perception of itself relative to its exterior (Universe) in History, gradually shifting from anthropocentrism and religion to heliocentrism and beyond, while exponentially expanding towards new scientific and philosophical horizons. It is not a book for dogmatists or fundamentalists, definitely.
October 11, 2024
the possibilities of the universe, even if they are so slim it was grim (pun intended)...i'm not a believer against statistics. interesting book, with information about the universe, good series, meant to be educational.
at least this book one can take seriously, as opposed to those about alien abductions and crop circle pranks.
at least this book one can take seriously, as opposed to those about alien abductions and crop circle pranks.
August 12, 2020
This is a fascinating journey through the efforts of science to locate other potential worlds and life. It explores the science up to now and seeks to answer why we haven’t crossed paths with other life.
April 25, 2021
This book is way more scientific than the type of books I normally read but has so much cool information in it (some of it way over my head). I really enjoyed it. In addition to space exploration info there was one part of exploring the depths of the ocean. I'd love to read more on that.
April 20, 2020
A fun read. I thought was a very informative, and very accessible, overview of the current state of SETI, astrobiology, and the hunt for exoplanets.
September 1, 2021
3.5/4 - Pretty interesting although somewhat dry.
P.S. To any extraterrestrials who might be browsing Goodreads, come pick me up whenever. It kind of sucks here.
P.S. To any extraterrestrials who might be browsing Goodreads, come pick me up whenever. It kind of sucks here.
November 14, 2024
great accessible read with lots of ideas for resolving the fermi paradox - read for novel research and it’s been probably the most helpful source i’ve read thus far
June 2, 2020
Хубав обзор на това какво се слупва в полето за наупбо изследване на радиосигнали.. И търсене на извънземни.
Общо взето доникъде са, но напредват.. И тересна и кратка книга. 4 часа. И а я в. Аудиок ига в сторител
Общо взето доникъде са, но напредват.. И тересна и кратка книга. 4 часа. И а я в. Аудиок ига в сторител
May 31, 2020
Good summary.
It’s deliberately short and that is a good thing. Easily readable in a day or so, you’ll get a great summary and one author’s optimistic perspective.
It’s deliberately short and that is a good thing. Easily readable in a day or so, you’ll get a great summary and one author’s optimistic perspective.
December 30, 2020
Where are they?
A brief but thorough and intelligent survey of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Lots of fascinating details and very readable. Finishing off with A long and well considered answer to one of the basic questions, ‘so where are they?’
Definitely worth a quick read.
The author more or less dismisses the notion that they might be hostile or malevolent, or murderously predatory.
Given the way life forms and societies evolve and interact - here and there - there is surely fat chance of that. Look at how we treat each other here and now. Better build orbital weapons platforms as well as telescopes. Once we detect them or infinitely worse they detect us everything changes.
The reason we haven’t detected them. They encrypt all their comms. Looks like noise. Who would be silly enough and naive enough not to do that. Whoops.
A brief but thorough and intelligent survey of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Lots of fascinating details and very readable. Finishing off with A long and well considered answer to one of the basic questions, ‘so where are they?’
Definitely worth a quick read.
The author more or less dismisses the notion that they might be hostile or malevolent, or murderously predatory.
Given the way life forms and societies evolve and interact - here and there - there is surely fat chance of that. Look at how we treat each other here and now. Better build orbital weapons platforms as well as telescopes. Once we detect them or infinitely worse they detect us everything changes.
The reason we haven’t detected them. They encrypt all their comms. Looks like noise. Who would be silly enough and naive enough not to do that. Whoops.
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