The Living Cosmos: Our Search for Life in the Universe

This is a great read. As an artist/non-scientist, thumbs up for accessibility! Good background history, but most of all I loved the up-to-date look at current missions to find life on other planets. The last third of the book was best of all, with all the many possibilities laid our virtually before our eyes. Big wide universe, let's go! And just when I didn't want the book to end, a heapful of awesome resources: books, websites, videos etc. Tantalizing stuff, a real charge for the imagination.

XXXXX "[Our planet`s] biology is like a pleasant valley that supports a rich biota. We can see how life developed in this valley from the simpler and hardier organisms that live on the high plateaus and rocky peaks. But how do we know it is the best or the only valley? There may be places beyond the horizon that [have an] even more [rich biota] or `lost worlds' with unfamiliar creatures. Similarly, our biology may be one of many possible `solutions' to the evolution of complexity [refers generally to sophistication of genes, metabolic pathways, brain architecture, or functions of an organism]. In different physical settings...other solutions may be preferred. Given the limitations of lab biochemistry [the chemistry of life], the answer will come only from astrobiology [the study of life in the universe]. Countless realizations of life may already exist in deep space." The above quotation is called the "biological landscape" which expresses the idea that terrestrial biology is one example of a wide array of potential biologies and not necessarily an optimal solution. It is found in this fascinating, easy-to-read, and sometimes humorous book authored by Chris Impey, a distinguished professor at the University of Arizona and deputy head of one of the largest astronomy departments in the United States. Note that this book is designed for a reader with little or no background in astronomy. The book itself is divided into seven parts: Part 1: HISTORY. That is, the history of how we've come to know our place in the universe. Parts 2, 3, and 4: LIFE. What we know about the evolution of life on Earth and what we can learn from the diversity and robustness of terrestrial fauna. Part 5: LIFE in our SOLAR SYSTEM. Discussion of the potential prospects for life in our Solar System. Part 6: OTHER WORLDS. Considers the exciting new research on planets not of our Solar System. Part 7: INTELLIGENT LIFE. Examines the potential for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Recognize that since our knowledge is very modest regarding this topic, then some of the material is speculative. But it is reasoned speculation, not science fiction or fantasy. To aid in understanding, there are illustrations peppered throughout. When I say illustrations, I mean black and white pictures, artist's impressions, charts, graphs, etc. I found these very beneficial. Throughout the main narrative you'll find words and terms like these: ALH84001, Allen Array, biobricks, biomarker, cryptobiosis, Dyson sphere, extremophile, habitable zone, Phylogenetic tree, quorum sensing, SETI, TPF, and zoo hypothesis. All these terms and many more are listed and defined in a handy glossary. I used this glossary to define some of the terms in the quotation above. (Note that the title of this review is a quotation by Thomas Carlyle, 1795 to 1881.) Finally, I did find a few (very few!!) errors in this book such as names being spelled wrong, etc. But these were minor when c

This book encompasses an absolute wealth of wide-ranging information, all centering on life in the universe. Starting with an overview of ancient Greek thought on the nature of the cosmos, the author presents a brief historical overview of astronomy and cosmology. Next, the evolution of the universe, including our galaxy, our solar system and our planet, is discussed leading to how life began and evolved on Earth. Since it is important to comprehend the nature and evolution of life on this planet to better understand life elsewhere, more than half of the book is devoted to the above issues. Past, present and possible future attempts to discover evidence of life in our solar system, the search for earthlike planets in other solar systems, the likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere in our galaxy and efforts to seek it out comprise just a subset of the vast number of exciting (astrobiology-related) topics covered in this fabulous book. The writing style is clear, authoritative, friendly and quite engaging. Although the material in this book is accessible to anyone, it may appeal the most to science buffs. One thing is certain: anyone reading this book is in for a treat!

As a professional biologist (for what that is worth) I am reasonably certain that earth is not the only abode of life. Earth is, however, the only example we have at present. Unfortunately, a number of writers, both scientific and non-scientific, have waxed enthusiastic about not only life on other planets, but technologically advanced life (the stuff of science fiction), which is much more problematic. Still, although I am highly skeptical about advanced technological civilizations within hailing distance (Ward and Brownlee in their book "Rare Earth" added to that skepticism), the thought of alien biological systems has certainly intrigued me. Now Chris Impey has written a bit more optimistic tome in "Living Cosmos" and, while he has not totally convinced me (I am now somewhere in between Ward and Brownlee and Impey on this issue), the book is certainly fascinating. Impey also has a good sense of humor and does not take himself as seriously as some writers on the subject. Based on the two books (and a few others) that I have read on the subject I think that the main problem is that civilizations may not be as long-lived as we would like. Thus we have not only a spatial problem (the nearest star is over 4 light years away and it is not a good candidate for a planet with life on it, as is true of most of the stars within several hundred light years), but a temporal one as well. First the technological civilization has to arise and then it has to stay in existence long enough for us to pick up its electromagnetic output and at a point when we can do so. Messages beamed at us that arrived in 1066 (or even in 1946)would not be readable by us. Also if such civilizations were a dime a dozen (something Impey does not imply) we would have heard from them by now. Still there must be earth-like planets with multi-cellular carbon-based life, or even non earth-like planets with life that we might not even recognize. These would be fascinating for a biologist to study. Life on earth is weird enough and it would be very interesting to find out how it had evolved on other planets! Impey has elegantly presented the history of and evidence for and against the idea of extra-terrestrial life, including all the blind alleys like Lowell's illusions about Mars and the "face" on Mars, as well as the "cells" in a Martian meteorite. He has done this I think without getting too attached to his own ideas. I think that I can agree with most, if not all, of his conclusions. I especially like his statement in the last chapter that science cannot give us meaning for existence. I wish more writers on science (as well as religion) were as open about this humbling fact - we don't know everything and it is unlikely that we ever will! Literal religions that adhere to such nonsense generally turn into oppression, but corrupted science may well do the same. The problem is not religion or science (they both have their functions) but the fact that most humans can become c