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Title: Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life by David W. Koerner, Simon Levay ISBN: 0-19-514600-X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Highly Recommended
Comment: In Here Be Dragons, Koerner & Levay take us on a journey through the quest for extraterrestrial life. Filled with interesting comments and interviews with researchers in a myriad of fields, this book gives a great overview of the most current research. Discussions include how life began on earth, SETI, the search for extra-solar planets, how evolution might lead to complex organisms, speculations on life as we don't know it, and cosmology and the anthropic principle. Find out what current researchers are thinking, where we might go with this search and learn some astounding facts from astronomy and biology that might lead you to believe that life might be common after all. All this information was presented in a well written and easy to understand format. I found the discussions on the origin of life particularly illuminating. Also, the sections on recent findings in astronomy were fascinating. The book was worth getting because it contained alot of info I haven't seen elsewhere. The only part of the book I didn't like were the first 4 or 5 pages that discuss a visit to a creationism museum.
Rating: 4
Summary: Personally, I think Fermi got it right.
Comment: This book's been on my shopping list for a while, so I was delighted to find it while strolling through a small bookstore in downtown Astoria. I put it in my shopping bag, along with "The Search for Life on Mars," (Malcolm Walker, Perseus Books, 1999). This is the sort of book that almost anyone with an interest in science and/or astronomy will enjoy. It's easy reading, and doesn't really require any prerequisite knowledge.
The book isn't about dragons. It's about the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. The title's taken from a phrase used by old cartographers to indicate unexplored regions of the earth. The play on words, obviously, is that the search for extraterrestrial life takes us into uncharted territory.
"Here be dragons" is a little like "Rare earth," (Ward, Brownlee, Copernicus press, 2000) with a different slant, and a different opinion held by the authors. While Ward and Brownlee are of the opinion that intelligent life is extremely rare in the universe, Koerner and LeVay tend toward the opinion that "...the resulting pressures [of evolution] may commonly foster a trend toward complexification and the ability to react and learn." In line with the hopes of SETI, Koerner and LeVay are of the opinion that "intelligence and technology is common in the galaxy." They find the Fermi Paradox (if intelligence were common in the galaxy, where are the extraterrestrials) "poorly conceived," though they admit their views may be grounded in faith as much as in reason.
The book's flow is both logical and predictable. It begins by describing the theories of the origin of life on earth, including hyperthermophiles and life at the extreme, near mid-ocean vents and hot springs. There's a brief review of Stanley Miller's experiment in the 50's, and how he synthesized many important organic compounds by simulating what he thought, at the time, was a realistic approximation of earth's early atmosphere. But our understanding of the early atmosphere has changed since then, and it looks like the experiment Miller performed doesn't match atmospheric conditions, as we understand them today. This has led scientists to look at other possibilities for the origin of life. For example, organic compounds have been found in space, so there is some speculation that the initial ingredients for life might have been extraterrestrial. Also, recent evidence suggests that our earliest common ancestors were hyperthermophiles, so deep-sea vents may be where life first arose.
Recent discoveries of the extreme conditions in which life exists on earth has led to new speculation about its possible existence on other planets. Mars, for example, might harbor life today, deep under ground (as it is found on earth). During a warmer and wetter past, Mars might even have supported life on its surface.
Throughout the book, the authors act as scientific investigative reporters. They use the book to teach, but also to give a representative view of what different scientists and researchers in various fields are doing. Ordinarily, I'd prefer to see authors be a little more forceful in presenting an idea or opinion, and then working to defend it. But the situation with Koerner and LeVay is different. Exobiology, unlike other branches of science, is one in which the principal subject of research has not been shown to exist. The field is so new that speculation and widely divergent opinions abound. In view of this state of flux, I think it's particularly valuable for their book to sample the broader spectrum of ideas.
After describing the conditions under which life arose on earth, and how it might exist on other planets, the authors proceed to describe the direction of evolution. The point of this discussion is whether evolution has any tendency toward greater levels of complexity, and specifically whether it drives toward the evolution of beings intelligent enough to build a radio transmitter. They sample the opinions of three scientists: Simon Conway Morris, Stephen Jay Gould, and Stuart Kauffman. While these scientists share common ground, they also draw different conclusions and place emphasis in different ways. Personally, I think Stephen Jay Gould comes closest to the truth. It seems obvious to me that the chances of finding intelligence on other planets (where "intelligence" means being able to design and build a system that can communicate with earth) is about as likely as finding a woodpecker (an example used in the book) or an elephant. Humans - in spite of the inflated opinion we have of ourselves - are not the end product of evolution. Our species represents a single point in a morphological phase space of nearly infinite expanse. While I suspect there are strange attractors in this space, it seems less than obvious to me that intelligence (of the sort possessed by humans) is so close to one of these strange attractors as to ensure its evolution during the lifetime of a given planet.
The authors have a pretty interesting chapter on SETI, as well as one about science and the religion of UFOs. They end the book with some exotic extrapolations and speculation of life on other planets, complete with philosophical discussions about cosmology, the anthropic principle, many worlds, multiple universes, and a whole bunch of other subjects that are as easily tossed about by novices and experts, alike.
The book is sparsely illustrated, with an ample index and extensive list of additional reading material. It's well written, easy to read, and entertaining. It's pure speculation (of course) about what we shall find of extraterrestrial life. The real scientific value is in its descriptions of the origin of life on earth, aspects of evolution, and the way it sets the mind to wondering.
Rating: 4
Summary: A well-written introduction and overview
Comment: Like several other books on extraterrestrial life and intelligence, this one surveys habitats and requirements for life, the nature of evolution, the evolution of the solar system and the search for life there, searching for life beyond our solar system, the modern scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence, possible exotic forms of life including machine intelligence, the Anthropic Principle, and UFOs. Here Be Dragons stands out from the others because it is interestingly written, with numerous well-chosen quotes from scientists. The book includes a few color plates and black and white illustrations.
Koerner and LeVay conclude that the search will be rewarded, and soon. One wishes that they had offered more speculations about what would happen after contact.
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Title: The Science of Aliens by Clifford A. Pickover, Clifford Pickover ISBN: 0465073158 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter Ward, Donald Brownlee ISBN: 0387952896 Publisher: Copernicus Books Pub. Date: 03 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology by David Darling ISBN: 0465015646 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings by Terence Dickinson, Adolf Schaller ISBN: 0921820879 Publisher: Camden House Pub Pub. Date: October, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Future is Wild by Dougal Dixon, John Adams ISBN: 1552977234 Publisher: Firefly Books Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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