Avi Loeb is the head of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University and is one of the world leaders in his field. He believes that ‘Oumuamua, an object detected in 2017 as it flew through our solar system, was advanced technology produced by an alien civilisation. Most scientists rejected the idea, but in this book Loeb makes a convincing case that we shouldn’t be took quick to dismiss this explanation.
The problem is that he makes that case very early in the book, and spends the rest of the time talking about his life growing up on a moshav in Israel, his parents, the second world war, where he goes on holiday with his family, his love of seashells, etc, etc. Surely he had enough material to fill up an entire book on ‘Oumuamua, but maybe his editors told him not to lay on the science too much. For whatever reason, this reads like a magazine article with some autobiography and unrelated musings about life tagged on.
On the other hand, it’s an amazing story and he may well be right.
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“Extraterrestrial” is extra silly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2021
“The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth”, the title of this book proudly proclaims. So you know immediately that you may be heading deep into Woo County. Author Avi Loeb, a Harvard professor in case you missed the 38 mentions of it while reading the book, presents his case that the mysterious space object known as “Oumuamua”, our first known interstellar visitor, was (and presumably still is) alien in origin. Whether he succeeds or not is, I feel, down to one’s own personal beliefs. Personally, I believe it is hogwash, but that’s just my opinion, and I must give a review of the book itself.Having been aware of the buzz around this book and read the wildly diverging reviews on Amazon, I felt I had to read it for myself so I could make up my own mind, having a cautious interest in the subject matter. This is what I always do in such cases and I recommend this approach to everyone.The first thing I noticed on the product page was that the book has already been translated into several languages. This isn’t always a good sign; so was “The DaVinci Code”. While some books deserve this kind of international recognition, here I suspect it is because of the author’s ego rather than a natural reason. Or a sympathetic publisher.From the introduction - “I submit that the simplest explanation for these peculiarities [of Oumuamua] is that the object was created by an intelligent civilisation not of this Earth.”Having read that sentence, you’ve probably already decided if you want to read Loeb’s book or not.The book starts in chapter 1 with an overview of the first observations and swift study of Oumuamua and a mild rebuke about keeping an open mind. (This happens a lot, sometimes not so mild.) In the second chapter, for some reason, Loeb tells us his life story and the history of Israel. These scenes will no doubt be awesome in the inevitable future movie version, probably directed by Ron Howard, but are barely relevant, save for the author wanting to show us what an amazing person he is. In fact the whole book screams out “please film this!”The book then returns to the subject as Loeb details the peculiarities of the object, and compares himself to Galileo, who initially nobody believed when he claimed the Earth orbited the Sun. Nothing beats staying humble.For fear of this review becoming longer than the book, my main takeaway from “Extraterrestrial” is that science believes one thing, Loeb believes another, therefore Loeb is right because his thing is “more exciting so stop being so closed minded”.I am sure Loeb would like to be seen as the new Carl Sagan. Unfortunately he comes across more like a discount Steven Greer. Carl Sagan wouldn’t have looked at a funny-shaped asteroid and convinced himself it was an alien mothership. I’m sure he’d have liked it to be, but jumping from wishing it was and thinking it is, is a dangerous leap. That’s fair enough, he’s not the first, but as for the book itself I can’t recommend it. It’s preachy, judgemental and more than a little crazy.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2021
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 6 March 2022
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 11 February 2021
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 February 2021
Having been aware of the buzz around this book and read the wildly diverging reviews on Amazon, I felt I had to read it for myself so I could make up my own mind, having a cautious interest in the subject matter. This is what I always do in such cases and I recommend this approach to everyone.
The first thing I noticed on the product page was that the book has already been translated into several languages. This isn’t always a good sign; so was “The DaVinci Code”. While some books deserve this kind of international recognition, here I suspect it is because of the author’s ego rather than a natural reason. Or a sympathetic publisher.
From the introduction - “I submit that the simplest explanation for these peculiarities [of Oumuamua] is that the object was created by an intelligent civilisation not of this Earth.”
Having read that sentence, you’ve probably already decided if you want to read Loeb’s book or not.
The book starts in chapter 1 with an overview of the first observations and swift study of Oumuamua and a mild rebuke about keeping an open mind. (This happens a lot, sometimes not so mild.) In the second chapter, for some reason, Loeb tells us his life story and the history of Israel. These scenes will no doubt be awesome in the inevitable future movie version, probably directed by Ron Howard, but are barely relevant, save for the author wanting to show us what an amazing person he is. In fact the whole book screams out “please film this!”
The book then returns to the subject as Loeb details the peculiarities of the object, and compares himself to Galileo, who initially nobody believed when he claimed the Earth orbited the Sun. Nothing beats staying humble.
For fear of this review becoming longer than the book, my main takeaway from “Extraterrestrial” is that science believes one thing, Loeb believes another, therefore Loeb is right because his thing is “more exciting so stop being so closed minded”.
I am sure Loeb would like to be seen as the new Carl Sagan. Unfortunately he comes across more like a discount Steven Greer. Carl Sagan wouldn’t have looked at a funny-shaped asteroid and convinced himself it was an alien mothership. I’m sure he’d have liked it to be, but jumping from wishing it was and thinking it is, is a dangerous leap. That’s fair enough, he’s not the first, but as for the book itself I can’t recommend it. It’s preachy, judgemental and more than a little crazy.
“Extraterrestrial” is extra silly
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 February 2021
“The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth”, the title of this book proudly proclaims. So you know immediately that you may be heading deep into Woo County. Author Avi Loeb, a Harvard professor in case you missed the 38 mentions of it while reading the book, presents his case that the mysterious space object known as “Oumuamua”, our first known interstellar visitor, was (and presumably still is) alien in origin. Whether he succeeds or not is, I feel, down to one’s own personal beliefs. Personally, I believe it is hogwash, but that’s just my opinion, and I must give a review of the book itself.Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 February 2021
Having been aware of the buzz around this book and read the wildly diverging reviews on Amazon, I felt I had to read it for myself so I could make up my own mind, having a cautious interest in the subject matter. This is what I always do in such cases and I recommend this approach to everyone.
The first thing I noticed on the product page was that the book has already been translated into several languages. This isn’t always a good sign; so was “The DaVinci Code”. While some books deserve this kind of international recognition, here I suspect it is because of the author’s ego rather than a natural reason. Or a sympathetic publisher.
From the introduction - “I submit that the simplest explanation for these peculiarities [of Oumuamua] is that the object was created by an intelligent civilisation not of this Earth.”
Having read that sentence, you’ve probably already decided if you want to read Loeb’s book or not.
The book starts in chapter 1 with an overview of the first observations and swift study of Oumuamua and a mild rebuke about keeping an open mind. (This happens a lot, sometimes not so mild.) In the second chapter, for some reason, Loeb tells us his life story and the history of Israel. These scenes will no doubt be awesome in the inevitable future movie version, probably directed by Ron Howard, but are barely relevant, save for the author wanting to show us what an amazing person he is. In fact the whole book screams out “please film this!”
The book then returns to the subject as Loeb details the peculiarities of the object, and compares himself to Galileo, who initially nobody believed when he claimed the Earth orbited the Sun. Nothing beats staying humble.
For fear of this review becoming longer than the book, my main takeaway from “Extraterrestrial” is that science believes one thing, Loeb believes another, therefore Loeb is right because his thing is “more exciting so stop being so closed minded”.
I am sure Loeb would like to be seen as the new Carl Sagan. Unfortunately he comes across more like a discount Steven Greer. Carl Sagan wouldn’t have looked at a funny-shaped asteroid and convinced himself it was an alien mothership. I’m sure he’d have liked it to be, but jumping from wishing it was and thinking it is, is a dangerous leap. That’s fair enough, he’s not the first, but as for the book itself I can’t recommend it. It’s preachy, judgemental and more than a little crazy.
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