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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book to excite and inspire SETI Believers..., 1 May 1999
By A Customer
Everyone who has ever glanced at the starry sky on a clear night has wondered if other, alien eyes were staring back at them from far across the Galaxy. After thinking about that for a while, many people develop an interest in SETI - the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence - and take a trip to a real or online bookstore to search for more information. Many, perhaps most of the SETI-related books concentrate on the actual search hardware and its history, past SETI searches, SETI personalities, and the chances of eventual success. Most of the existing books are content to finish neatly, with an optimistic message, and a declaration of how "wonderful" the detection of an alien signal would be. AFTER CONTACT is different. As its title suggests, it looks at what will happen *after* that momentous day.After working steadily through our preconceptions about extraterrestrials, and examining the psychological aspects of SETI - the book is very heavy on psychology, and although some sections are very challenging in places they provide invaluable insight into our collective hopes and fears about finding intelligent life Out There - it explores the possible nature of aliens, and considers the immense difficulties two - literally - alien civilisations would come up against and have to overcome when trying to communicate. But the most impressive section of the book examines what impact Contact would have on Mankind, its effect on our technology, military, political structures, religions and civilisation as a whole. This section is very hard to drag yourself away from, and demands to be read in one sitting. And then read again, immediately, because after completing it the first time your head is so full of ideas and possibilities it's impossible to sit still! Basically, AFTER CONTACT is a book for people who have already accepted the existence of ETIs, and want to know what will happen when the proof is detected which will convince everyone *else*. Anyone interested in the technical, psychological and intellectual challenges facing both the SETI community and Mankind in the approach to making Contact will find it a remarkably thought-provoking read. If you have ever read a book on SETI and sighed in disappointment after finishing it, because you *still* didn't know the answers to the questions which were bugging you, then this is the book for you. It contains the answers to all your questions - and answers to a million questions which haven't even occurred to you yet! It will become such a standard SETI reference work that WHEN we detect that first ET signal, and the TV is taken over by experts and talking heads, AFTER CONTACT will be there, on the desk, at Walter Cronkite's elbow. The only problem with the book is that it will turn you into a sleep-starved insomniac, because a) there will be such a fireworks display of ideas bursting in your head for days after that you won't be able to sleep, and b) you'll be standing out in your garden every clear night just looking up... and wondering what's Out There even more than ever...
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