Destiny or Chance: Our Solar System and Its Place in the Cosmos

Having just finished the book, and enjoying it immensely, I was curious what the general consensus was on this work. I was a bit surprised at the negativity aimed at the book. The negative reviews appear to come from students dismayed with the writing style. They should have read the Introduction. For more scholarly purposes, Taylor refers the reader to his more properly cited and thorough work, Solar System Evolution (1992). This volume's style is more akin to a museum tour, with meandering asides and conjectures. Taylor's references to subjects past and further-on are no trouble, if one reads to book front-to-back. I can see how students picking through the book "salad-bar" style would become frustrated. For a book intended for the layman, the style is very effective. As a casual read, it was intruiging and entertaining. Taylor brought me to a more comprehensive view of our Solar System, and its strange members. He goes to great efforts to keep his writing accessible, and scientific jargon to a manageable level. As a nit-picky student of English, I'll confess to not seeing all the "typos" mentioned in prior reviews. Either I missed them, or the other readers are in error. One glaring error I did notice was a picture and caption reference to a "Brontosaurus." This term has been out of favor for decades, and is only seen in books for children. The correct word is "Apatosaurus." For a good view of the present state of knowledge of the origins of the Solar System, I'd recommend this book.

Destiny or Chance is an interesting look at the question of how we got here. Whether or not we are here by accident is an important question as it deeply influences how we view ourselves and other people. Taylor takes us through many (what he sees as) amazing coincidences that got us here in an interesting journey. The order in which he presents the material is a bit different, but it is logical in retrospect.As for the conclusions he offers, I must respectfully disagree with him. He shows clearly that our presence here is either the most amazing of coincidences or a clear miracle, but he chooses the coincidence. He then spends a little time complaining that we don't spend our limited time here better. I find that inconsistent, though -- if we are here by accident, there is no higher calling to direct our lives. It is only if we were put here by a higher being (read, God) that anyone has a right to say that better should be expected of us.Nevertheless, it is an interesting read full of sometimes startling facts.

Mr. Taylor has presented an excellent analysis of the possible sequence of events that resulted in the creation of Earth and subsequent life. He has brought together many of the concepts I had been wondering about for the past several years. It seems very unlikely that "little green men" will be visiting us soon, but we will still pour a lot of money into the search. Taylor's writing style is not as good as I would have liked; he has too many cases of "talking about this later". Overall, though, this is well worth your time.