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    Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life
    Unavailable
    Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life
    Unavailable
    Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life
    Ebook649 pages9 hours

    Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life

    By David Grinspoon

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    It's been nearly four decades since Carl Sagan first addressed the general public from a scientist's perspective, confronting the possibility of extraterrestrial life. We've learned a lot in those years, and planetary scientist David Grinspoon is well prepared to explore this field with a new generation of readers. In Lonely Planets, Grinspoon investigates the big questions: How widespread are life and intelligence in the cosmos? Is life on Earth an accident or in some sense the "purpose" of this universe? And how can we, working from the Earth-centric definition of "life," even begin to think about the varieties of life-forms on other planets?

    In accessible, lively prose, and using the topic of extraterrestrial life as a mirror with which to view human beliefs, evolution, history, and aspirations, Grinspoon takes readers on a three-part journey.

    History is an overview of our expanding awareness of other planets, from the observations of seventeenth-century natural philosophers to modern-day space exploration. It traces the history of our ideas on alien life to the earliest days of astronomy, and shows how these beliefs have changed with humanity's evolving self-image.

    Science tells the story of cosmic evolution and the evolution of life on Earth. Here, Grinspoon disputes the recent "Rare Earth hypothesis," which argues that Earth is unique for sprouting advanced life-forms, maintaining instead that life is likely to be well adapted to a wide variety of planets. He questions conventional assumptions of what is required for a planet to come to life, scrutinizing current ideas and evidence for life on Mars, Venus, and the moons of Jupiter, and challenging readers to think about other life-forms that may exist on other worlds.

    Belief discusses the limits of our abilities to conceptualize or communicate with intelligent aliens living on planets circling distant stars. Grinspoon speculates on what intelligent life might become, eventually, on Earth and elsewhere, and the implications, both scientific and philosophical, of these far-future evolutionary possibilities.

    Written with authority and edge, and rich in personal,often amusing anecdotes, Lonely Planets explores the shifting boundary between planetary science and naturalphilosophy and reveals how the search for extraterrestrial life unites our spiritual and scientific quests for connection with the cosmos.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 17, 2009
    ISBN9780061748615
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Lonely Planets

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      Great read and a brilliant reference
    • 4/5
      This book was *so* great. A really awesome nutshell history of planetology and astronomy, and a lot of different ideas about alien life to chew on. Grinspoon is a logical, brilliant pop science writer with some of the funniest footnotes I've ever read. He discusses everything from the fanatically logical mathmatical theories behind SETI to thoughts about cosmic consciousness and ufology, all with a rational eye and infinite compassion.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      There is about one book a decade that when you finish it you just sit there for 10 minutes and think "Wow!" Trinity by Leon Uris was such a book. As was How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn. Lonely Planets is another that did that to me. I finished it after reading for an hour and a half in a coffee shop. My coffee was cold. My leg had fallen asleep. And my mind was in some other place. Wow, indeed.This is a book that was recommended to me by an astronomer who had been reading my book list and thought I would enjoy this book. It is an absolutely honest and unflinching look at planetary science today. (Well, as it was in 2003. As I read the book I kept finding news articles that relate to the story.) This is a book that unsettled me because it changed some of my ideas about what I thought I knew and believed. I hope Grinspoon plans a sequel. It will be VERY high on my list!

      1 person found this helpful