Life on Other Worlds: The 20th-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate / Edition 1

by Steven J. Dick

Overview

Are we alone in the Universe? From the furor over Percival Lowell's claim of canals on Mars at the beginning of the century to the more recent controversial rock from Mars and the sophisticated Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), the prospect of otherworldly life has often titillated and occasionally consumed science and the public. The search for planetary systems, the quest to explain UFOs, and inquiries into the origin of life have fueled an abundance of popular and scientific literature. They have also provided Hollywood with fodder for some of the most popular films of our time, including ET, Aliens, Independence Day, and Contact. Lucid and accessible, Life on Other Worlds chronicles the history of the twentieth-century extraterrestrial debate. Putting the latest findings and heated controversies into a broader historical context, Steven Dick documents how the concept of extraterrestrial intelligence is a world view of its own—a "biophysical cosmology" that seeks confirmation no less than physical views of the Universe. The debate rests at the very limits of science, and attempts at confirmation only illuminate the nature of science itself. Dick shows that appreciating the history of the debate enables a better understanding of the nature of science, and is central to any forward-looking view of religion and philosophy. For anyone interested in a look over the edge of scientific discovery, Life on Other Worlds provides the exciting tale behind the greatest debate in the twentieth century. Dr. Steven J. Dick is an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S. Naval Observatory. He is the author of Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge, 1982) and Biological Universe (Cambridge, 1996).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521799126
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/19/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. From the physical world to the biological universe: Democritus to Lowell; 2. Life in the solar system; 3. Solar systems beyond; 4. Extraterrestrials in literature and the arts: the role of imagination; 5. The UFO controversy and the extraterrestrial hypothesis; 6. The origin and evolution of life in the extraterrestrial context; 7. SETI: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence; 8. The meaning of life; 9. Summary and conclusion: the biological universe; Select bibliographical essay; Index.

What People are Saying About This

Joshua Lederberg

Life on Other Worlds is a wondersome synthesis of scientific criticism, historical narrative and socio-philosophical analysis of a theme that has captured the human imagination since the first stargazers. -- The Rockefeller University

Editorial Reviews

"Amazingly comprehensive, as well as highly entertaining...I almost wish it would put an end to the outpouring of books on the subject; nothing more need be written, until the feared/long-hoped for moment of Revelation!" Sir Arthur C. Clarke

"Life on Other Worlds is a wondersome synthesis of scientific criticism, historical narrative and socio-philosophical analysis of a theme that has captured the human imagination since the first stargazers." Joshua Lederberg, The Rockefeller University

"First published in subject until new discoveries lead closer to or futher away from the moment when we know how alone we are in the universe" The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

"...chapters on the search for planets outside our solar system, UFOs and the SETI project...pack a good deal of information and make skillful use of tables and figures...illustrations throughout." Publisher's Weekly

"Amazingly comprehensive, as well as highly entertaining...I almost wish it would put an end to the outpouring of books on the subject; nothing more need be written, until the feared/long-hoped for moment of Revelation!" Sir Arthur C. Clarke, CBE

"Life on Other Worlds is a wondersome synthesis of scientific criticism, historical narrative and socio-philosophical analysis of a theme that has captured the human imagination since the first stargazers." Joshua Lederberg, The Rockerfeller University

"One of the most exciting stories of the twentieth is the search, observational and theoretical, for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Steven Dick in his Life on Other Worlds has told that story with accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness. He is to be congratulated for this achievement, especially for the accessibility of his presentations and for the balance with which he has handled a history that at many points has been filled with controversy." Michael J. Crowe, University of Notre Dame

"...Steven Dick has written an intelligent and sober book." National Post

From the Publisher

Dick, an astronomer and historian of science at the US Naval Observatory, offers an antidote to the sensationalism surrounding the search for extraterrestrial life in this overview of the history of theories of life on other planets, recent advances in planetary science, and the latest thinking on the likelihood of life in outer space. He also demystifies the agenda of sensationalists who seek to impose their own radical cosmology based on conjecture rather than scientific fact. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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