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Product Description
Product Description
Written by acclaimed science journalist Surendra Verma, this work is a fast-moving and accessible narrative. It outlines the historical, fictional, speculative and emerging scientific views of the possibilities of other life forms. Is there anybody out there? Are there other life forms lurking in outer space - or are they already here? Surendra Verma investigates...The rate of expansion of our universe is mind-blowing: imagine a pea growing to the size of the Milky Way in less time than it takes to blink. In all this infinite space that we cannot even see, let alone explore, it seems certain that there is some life on other worlds. Sir Arthur C. Clarke declared that 'the universe is full of intelligent life - it's just been too intelligent to come here'. Journalist Surendra Verma brilliantly outlines the historical, fictional, speculative and emerging scientific opinions on what alien life might be like. From Aristotle to ET via radio, religion and reincarnation, this fast-moving narrative examines history and dispels myths before focusing on the possibilities lurking in space. In a popular and easy-to-read style, Verma uses current research to speculate what life is like on other planets, how we might communicate with them, and what Earth might seem like to visitors.
About the Author
Surendra Verma is a science journalist based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball (Icon, 2005) and The Little Book of Scientific Principles, Theories & Things (New Holland, 2006). He is not all dressed up and ready to meet aliens, but expects to hear the news of the discovery of microscopic life on other worlds within his lifetime.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for the layman,
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This review is from: Why Aren't They Here?: The Question of Life on Other Worlds (Hardcover)
Surendra Verma has done for me what many years of school couldn't. He's made Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry cool and interesting.Let's not beat about the bush, a lot of the book is Science, but it's good, interesting science, not the stuff you learn in school. My favorite chapters were "Messages" and "Questions", simply because they allowed Mr Verma to move beyond explaining the science and into theorising the possibilities out there. Very interesting read!
2.0 out of 5 stars
disappointing,
This review is from: Why Aren't They Here?: The Question of Life on Other Worlds (Hardcover)
I've recently read three books connected with Fermi's paradox- If there is intelligent life in the universe then why aren't they here. This book is the most disappointing of them, probably because it's written by a journalist rather than a scientist- and in places it shows. The whole approach seems to be to re-present a lot of snippets of information that the author has collected from various science journals. Whilst this might impress some with the width of the author's reading it does end up feeling like a magpie's collection bits of information, not all of it terribly relevant, rather than a coherent whole.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected,
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This review is from: Why Aren't They Here?: The Question of Life on Other Worlds (Hardcover)
Having had an interest in buying and reading books on related subjects that began with an interest started reading the facinating and insightful views of Carl Sagan, I bought this looking for further insightful exploration on this subject. I was dissapointed with how short the book was, and the lack of any meaningful look into the main subject of the book! The first half of the book provides historical backgrounds that I had read countless times before without really leading into the point of the backgrounds. There follows a barrage of summaries of various astrophysicists, authors, biologists on every possible account of life on other planets and why they are not here, including some so outlandish that they should't really be in the book. Unlike the Sagan books, the author does not take a particular standpoint as he takes you through these hypothses so you are left with a bewildering bombardmemnt of every conceivable idea on the same subject. This has a confusing effect as each is introduced by saying how the views of of the 'renowned' or 'respected' person, each of who has an entirely different view to the other. All in all, although there are intestesting sections, it did'nt inspire as well as other books on this subject.
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