Intelligent Life in the Universe

I was very happy to find this book on a visit to a local used book store (where interestingly enough I also found a copy of the first book published under John F. Kennedy's name being "Why England Slept"). Though I've been a big Carl Sagan fan since reading Cosmos, Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain, Contact and his other eighties works back during my college days I was always curious to see if he was just as good when he first started writing. And the answer of course was...duh, of course yes. Though admittedly one third of the book (relating to cosmic origins) is dated because it was written over forty years ago, the remaining two thirds -- relating to the origins of life generally and speculations on the possibilities of life elsewhere -- actually hold up amazingly well. Sadly, as it relates to the later topic, being the search for intelligent life elsewhere, part of the reason why Sagan's book still holds up is because of the paucity of research that has actually been done. In this way, this wonderful book becomes both a commentary on Sagan's abounding foresight and the lack of foresight so obvious in those academicians who've failed to follow in his able footsteps.

I used this book as an undergrad in a 400 level Astronomy class. At the time, the book was a real challenge for me in that I wanted to understand the mathematical and physical foundations of intelligent life. By the end of the course, and the book, I was, and have remained, absolutely convinced that intelligent life is plentiful in the universe, at least as can be "proved" mathematically using our physical laws. I was also convinced that human type life is in fact highly unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere in the universe. Finally, it is likely that many of this other intelligent life is perhaps vastly superior to our own. No, I'm not a nut, and I'm not a scientist, but I am convinced, even in the absence of physical evidence. Read this book, you'll make your own mind up. One warning, this is not "light reading". It is a college level textbook, that if you stay with it, will reward you in the end. What a shame we have lost such a great mind as Carl Sagan. To date, no one has stepped up to replace him.

I first read this book in the early 1970s, and have read manysince then, and it pained me somewhat to find that the book is now out of print. I can honestly say this is still, without any doubtin my mind, the *best* starting place for the study of astronomy,cosmology, astrobiology/xenobiology (call it what you will) andall things extraterrestrial. The book gives you all the background information available at the time of its publication to understandproblems that are still profound to this day, in a step by stepmethod that is both an absorbing read and and a good bit of education in itself. Invaluable for both its conclusions and for the historical background it gives to current issues, well illustrated and beautifully far reaching, I most highly recommend this rare and wonderful book.

of life elsewhere inthe universe. I read it first sometime in the late Sixties or early Seventies as an undergrad in engineering/physics/math. Carl Sagan created a wonderful book which has stayed with me over the course of almost 30 years now. Tim Niles

ALTHOUGH WRITTEN OVER 20 YEARS AGO, THIS IS THE MOST COMPLETE BOOK DISCUSSING SCIENTIFICALLY THE POSSIBILITIES OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN TTHE COSMOS. FROM THE EXTREME DIFFICULT POSSIBILITY OF LIFE BEING SPREAD FROM PLANET TO PLANET ACCIDENTALLY TO THE MORE REASONABLE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE BEING CREATED IN SITU IN EACH PLANET, OR, FROM THE POSSIBILITIES OF DIFFERENT CHEMISTRY BASED LIFE IN EARTH TO A HYPOTHETICAL LIVING BEING WHICH CHEMISTRY IS BASED IN SILICIUM FOR EXAMPLE, YOU NAME THE TOPIC AND YOU WILL FIND THAT THE AUTHORS WROTE SOMETHING ABOUT. I'D SAY THAT A CHAPTER REGARDING THE PHYLOSOFICAL / SOCIOLOGICAL IMPLICATION OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IS MISSING, BUT AGAIN THIS IS A BOOK WHO HELPS TO ÖPEN DOORS, AND I AM SURE THAT MANY OF THE BOOKS WRITTEN IN THE LAST YEARS HAVE SOMEHOW BEING BASED IN THAT HYSTORICAL AND AMAZINGLY COMPLETET BOOK.