| View Larger Image | If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life | Hardcoverby Stephen Webb (Author)
| List Price: | $27.50 | | Price: | $20.50 | | You Save: | $7.00 (25%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Springer | | Edition: | 1st Edition | | Page Count: | 288 Pages | | Publication Date: | October 04, 2002 | | Sales Rank: | 116,526th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780387955018
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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ACCESSORIES |
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"... a smart and energetic collection of essays on baseball statistics. Curve Ball doesn't play misty-eyed homage to baseball's traditions and conventional wisdoms.... This is great stuff.... Curve Ball makes clear how pleasurable [stats] can be, and arguably how important, to view the great American game with real precision." -- The Wall Street Journal "Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Must own!" -- Baseballnotebook.com "In [Curve Ball] Albert & Bennett explain the game in ways the conventional press -...
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| Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe
by Peter Ward (Author), Donald Brownlee (Author)
The sweeping diversity of complex life on Earth, Ward and Brownlee argue, evolved out of an extraordinary set of physical conditions and chance events that would be extremely hard to duplicate- though not impossible. Many planets throughout the vastness of the Universe may be teeming with microbial life, but advancement beyond this stage is very rare. Everyone with an interest in the possible extent of life in the Universe and the nature of life's evolution on our own planet will be fascinated...
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
FROM THE REVIEWS: "Webb offers coherent, understandable, and sometimes humorous coverage of a diverse range of topics. He provides readers with non-trivial insights into research fields they may not have encountered previously . . . I think everyone who has ever considered the possibility that other intelligent civilizations exist elsewhere within our galaxy will enjoy Where Is Everybody? They will find much to agree with, and much to argue about, in this very accessible volume." -SCIENCE "WHERE IS EVERYBODY? is a delightful mental romp. With a light-hearted, enthusiastic tone, Webb offers lively coverage of UFOs, crop circles, and the books of Erich von Däniken, the infamous proponent of the idea that aliens visited the Earth in the distant past. Science-fiction fans will enjoy the frequent references to Star Trek, and science buffs will appreciate mention of the ideas of Carl Sagan, Fred Hoyle, Frank Drake, and Freeman Dyson. This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever pondered the question, "Are we alone?" -ASTRONOMY "[Webb] is a polymath, able to write informatively - even authoritatively - on an exceedingly wide range of subjects, including physics, astronomy, biology, and neurobiology. His writing is encyclopedic in scope, lucid, often poetic - and in the end it is both enormously inspiring and a little sad if he's right, as I'm afraid he might be, in concluding that we are the only advanced civilization in the Galaxy. Readers are free to differ with Webb's conclusion, but they will be surprised to learn how convincing it is. I have read a good number of astronomy books this past year; but this is the one I regard as indispensable. If I were Robinson Crusoe - shipwrecked and lonely on an island in space - I would want this book with me." -MERCURY During a Los Alamos lunchtime conversation that took place more than 50 years ago, four world-class scientists agreed, given the size and age of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations simply had to exist. The sheer numbers demanded it. But one of the four, the renowned physicist and back-of-the-envelope calculator Enrico Fermi, asked the telling question: If the extraterrestrial life proposition is true, he wondered, "Where IS everybody?" In this lively and thought-provoking book, Stephen Webb presents a detailed discussion of the 50 most cogent and intriguing answers to Fermi's famous question, divided into three distinct groups: - Aliens are already here among us. Here are answers ranging from Leo Szilard's suggestion that they are already here, and we know them as Hungarians, to the theorists who claim that aliens built Stonehenge and the Easter Island statues. - Aliens exist, but have not yet communicated. The theories in this camp range widely, from those who believe we simply don't have the technologies to receive their signals, to those who believe the enormities of space and time work against communication, to those who believe they're hiding from us. - Aliens do not exist. Here are the doubters' arguments, from the Rare Earth theory to the author's own closely argued and cogently stated skepticism. The proposed solutions run the gamut from the crackpot to the highly serious, but all deserve our consideration. The varieties of arguments -- from first-rate scientists, philosophers and historians, and science fiction authors -- turn out to be astonishing, entertaining, and vigorous intellectual exercises for any reader interested in science and the sheer pleasure of speculative thinking. Stephen Webb is a physicist working at the Open University in England and the author of Measuring the Universe. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 48 reviews)
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Don't Beam Me Down Scotty, There's No Intelligent Life Anywhere by Redgecko (USA)  5 Stars
November 18, 2009
I enjoy reading about a diverse number of science topics and this book visits some of my favorites: geology (plate tectonics), astronomy (Jupiter, asteroids, particle horizon, singularities), biochemistry (structure of DNA, RNA, proteins, etc.) and paleontology (mass extinctions, snowball earth). Webb is a good writer and explains things fairly well, but I was still thankful for a background in most of the subjects or I may have been a bit lost at times. Some readers might struggle with the lengthy section on biochemistry, but it was brave of Webb to even try to explain as much as he did. He might have explained some astronomy terms better. I would have liked him to have delved a bit more into the differences between star types, e.g., red dwarf, white dwarf, neutron stars, quasars, etc., but that's minor criticism. The Notes and Further Reading section is an organizational highlight of the book and it gave me many excellent ideas for further study because, unlike a simple bibliography, he sometimes enthusiastically recommended a book. More than 1/3 of the book, the entire 5th chapter, is devoted to summarizing and restating, in Webb's own words, the book Rare Earth, one of my favorite science books of all time. I couldn't have been more pleased with the discussion. The concluding chapter is interesting because Webb cranks some numbers through the Drake equation to show why he thinks we are alone in the whole universe, or at least alone on this side of the particle horizon.
My only gripe, which I extend to most popular science books, is that the index is poor and it is difficult to reference topics that one may want to revisit. But the number of drawings are more numerous than contained in most books--better than Rare Earth by far and I gave that book a 5 star review.
I don't really care that Webb inserted his own opinions for each of the solutions to the Fermi Paradox, because at this point in our primitive understanding of astronomy, chemistry and physics, most things having to do with cosmology are pure speculation. I know that Webb's opinions really bugged a lot of readers, but they didn't phase me at all. The science of this complex subject matter will change radically as new knowledge is obtained in the coming millenniums.
This was a fun book to read, a page turner. I highly recommended it for the science buff looking for eclectic subject matter and the state of current SETI research (as of 2002).
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A mastery of many fields by G. Finley 5 Stars
November 10, 2009
Stephen Webb's book is truly a joy, and very thought provoking. He can discuss competently fields as varied as evolution, probability theory, the electromagnetic spectrum, cell structures, relativity, and many more.
I appreciated his reminders that each solution for why life is improbable cannot be the only solution to the Fermi paradox, as a seemingly infinite universe certainly does not have no other planets within a habitable orbit or with the right elements to make life work. But when you add each improbable step one after another, you begin to appreciate how truly amazing it is that life evolved on our planet at all.
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Seven solutions to Fermi's paradox by Ashtar Command (Stockholm, Sweden) 5 Stars
March 13, 2009
1. The aliens were here in the past. Unfortunately, the good people of Sodom had some pretty original ideas about hospitality, so the aliens left, never to return. They wrote about Earth in "The Hitch-hikers REAL Guide to the Galaxy", available all through the Milky Way, warning other aliens about our planet. It says: "Avoid that place like the plague on Rigel 3".
2. The aliens were here in the past. Their kids just loved the woolly mammoths. They still haven't gotten over that Palaeolithic killing spree of ours, so they won't be back any time soon. Cloning a woolly mammoth might do the trick, though.
3. The aliens are already here! However, they are body snatchers and shape shifters. They can't be distinguished from humans, not even under microscope. Their DNA is identical to ours, too. They have MELDED. "They" control the government. "They" control the media. "They" control FEMA. You get the drift. They also build subterranean tunnels under the Pacific to invade California with Hong Kong police officers. Only people with THE GIFT can recognize the aliens. Here are some sure signs: they are hook-nosed, have last names like Cohen and Dershowitz, speak English with a strangely foreign accent, and avoid beef sandwiches. YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, CITIZEN. I have personally seen ADL operatives shape shift into pink-colored reptilians, vaguely resembling the lizard whose scientific name is Lacerta agilis. They had those yellow triangles, too. THEY ARE HERE.
4. The aliens are already here! However, we can't see them because they are spiritual beings. They have reached a higher level of existence than ourselves. If you meditate like crazy every day for 15 years, and open up your Third, Fourth and Fifth Eyes, you will eventually see them. Taking acid or LSD might help, too. Or reading George Adamski's books. You will then see the aliens of the fourth globe on the sixth round, the third globe on the second round, and the sixth globe on the fifth round. You might even get a glimps of Paul the Venetian! This is ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE known only to REAL ADEPTS OF THE LIGHT.
5. We are the aliens. No kidding. But, you see, there was this galactic emperor named Xenu who had a penchant for ice cubes on top of volcanoes, and...
6. The aliens did exist once, but have all died. It's our fault. A cheeseburger accidentally got onboard a long-distance comet. I mean, how do you think that plague on Rigel 3 got started???
7. They aren't here - yet. You have no idea how long it takes to organize a million-alien invasion space fleet. Or the logistical problems involved. Not to mention those cheeseburgers. BUT THEY WILL ARRIVE ONE DAY, MR. FERMI.
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Where is everybody? Great question. by Victor E. Villagomez (Cedar Rapids, IA USA) 5 Stars
June 16, 2008
If your level of concsiousness is high and you posess a fair knowledge of science then you are going to enjoy this book. Are we the norm or the exception? Sure enough, both possibilities are thrilling. This book provides you with the most educated guesses that can be made, with the present knowledge of science, about this fascinating question. Furthermore, in this book you'll find arguments both in favor and against your favorite view, be it norm or exception. But what I enjoyed the most was the fact that the author, after so much time of entertaining the question himself, shares with you his own insight.
This is a great book, one of a kind.
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If the Universe is Teeming with Aliens. . . Where is Everybody? by Jeffrey A. Gruber (Burlington, WI)  4 Stars
February 08, 2008
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in SciFi. Not only is the book consciousness-expanding and thought-provoking, but the author uses a methodical, scientific approach to present his case.
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SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe
by Peter Ward (Author), Donald Brownlee (Author)
The sweeping diversity of complex life on Earth, Ward and Brownlee argue, evolved out of an extraordinary set of physical conditions and chance events that would be extremely hard to duplicate- though not impossible. Many planets throughout the vastness of the Universe may be teeming with microbial life, but advancement beyond this stage is very rare. Everyone with an interest in the possible extent of life in the Universe and the nature of life's evolution on our own planet will be fascinated...
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| Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction
by Kevin W. Plaxco (Author), Michael Gross (Author)
Astrobiology -- the study of the intimate relationship between life and the cosmos -- is a fast-growing field that touches on aspects of cosmology, astrophysics, and chemistry. In the first scholarly overview of this dynamic field, biochemists Kevin W. Plaxco and Michael Gross tell the story of life from the Big Bang to the present. Emphasizing the biochemical nature of astrobiology, Plaxco and Gross examine the origin of the chemical elements, the events behind the developments that...
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| Life Everywhere
by David Darling (Author)
To many people, the main question about extraterrestrial life is whether it exists. But to the scientific community, that question has already been answered: it does, and within our solar system. The new science of astrobiology is already being practiced at NASA's Astrobiology Institute and the University of Washington's new Department of Astrobiology. Life Everywhere is the first book to lay out what the new science of astrobiology is all about. It asks the fascinating questions...
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| Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials
by Michael A.G. Michaud (Author)
What are the implications for Humankind of alien civilizations that may be "out there?" In thinking about contact with extraterrestrials, we have to grapple with a host of philosophical, religious, and societal questions. The biggest is whether the outcome of contact will be beneficial or harmful. Will contact uplift us, bringing a golden age of wisdom and prosperity? Or will it demoralize, even destroy us? This thought-provoking book presents a rainbow of opinions expressed by...
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| The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World
by Peter D. Ward (Author), Donald Brownlee (Author)
“They deftly bring together findings from many disparate areas of science in a book that science buffs will find hard to put down.” —Publishers Weekly
Science has worked hard to piece together the story of the evolution of our world up to this point, but only recently have we developed the understanding and the tools to describe the entire life cycle of our planet. Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee, a geologist and an astronomer respectively, are in the vanguard of the new field...
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