Life Beyond Earth

Rating:
Summary: Are we alone in the universe?
Review: Are we alone in the universe? Contemporary science is attempting an answer and Life Beyond Earth provides a companion to the two-hour documentary of the same name, examining the various approaches to the problem, including hundreds of photos and illustrations, and considering how life and intelligence began. A fine visual and text history of the search for life in the cosmos.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, thought-provoking book on the search for life
Review: I first encountered the writing of Timothy Ferris more than a decade ago, when I read Coming of Age in the Milky Way, a book about astronomy's origins and its memorable historic figures. It was one of the first astronomy books I bought, and it is one of only a small number of books that I have read a second or third time.

Since then, Dr. Ferris has written several highly acclaimed books. This, his most recent book,is a companion volume to the television documentary with the same name. It is an ambitious and thought-provoking work, written in an almost poetic style. The book is lavishly illustrated, containing hundreds of images, including many breath-taking space photos. It asks many questions, but the two main questions are "Are we alone?" and "Is anybody listening?"

Although Life Beyond Earth presents facts and theories, it is mainly an exploration of who we are, where we came from, and whether we are alone in the Universe. Although the book is based on the latest and most accurate research about life on Earth and in the universe, Ferris poses many more questions than he answers. If you have even the most basic knowledge of the topic, this book holds few new facts. Its goal is not to educate but to provoke thought and wonder. In this, Ferris succeeds.

Again, a single reading of this book was not adequate. The text was too tantalizing, the pictures too wondrous and distracting. According to Ferris, life is an "emergent property"--something that can only be studied as a system rather than as a collection of parts. Perhaps that applies to Life Beyond Earth also. It seems that I always read a Tim Ferris book more than once. I recommend that you do too.