Here Be Dragons

“A wide-ranging, well-written, and very wise examination of the fascinating search for life in the universe, filled with the latest information from the frontiers of scientific investigation and philosophical thought.”–Ben Bova, author of Return To Mars and Immortality and President Emeritus of the National Space Society”Here Be Dragons presents an astronomer’s and a biologist’s perspective on the decades-old search for life elsewhere in the cosmos.“–Dallas Morning News”This is a properly thought out book reviewing the accomplishments of exobiologists and future endeavors. Koerner and LeVay are well versed in the field and present the data in an unbiased, truly scientific viewpoint.“–Meteoritics & Planetary Science”A wide-ranging, well-written, and very wise examination of the fascinating search for life in the universe, filled with the latest information from the frontiers of scientific investigation and philosophical thought.“–Ben Bova, author of Return To Mars and Immortality and President Emeritus of the National Space Society”It is the question of questions: Are we alone? In a dazzling tour de force David Koerner and Simon LeVay not only bring us completely up to date with the relevant science but skillfully channel the character and enthusiasm of many of the principal practitioners into a compelling narrative, spiced with the occasional puncturing of self-inflicted pomposity. The pace is gripping and the torrent of new scientific insights allows us the first glimpse of what maybe a cosmic sythesis. The extraordinary discovery of new and remote Solar Systems, and a deepening appreciation of the manifold wonders of life on Earth, suggest that within few years we really willlearn if we are part of the Galactic Club or–as some fear, and others hope–we are marooned on a uniquely beautiful planet. If you thought science was stale and narrow, then this is the book to correct your illusions.“–Simon Conway Morris, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, and author of The Crucible of Creation”Here Be Dragons provides a wide-ranging overview of one of the most exciting new fields of science: astrobiology, or the study of life in the universe. Koerner and LeVay discuss the many differing scientific perspectives on extraterrestrial life objectively and clearly, at the same time distinguishing between constructive scientific speculation and the popular pseudo-sciences of UFO’s, alien abductions, and so-called “creation science”. I greatlyenjoyed reading the book and will recommend it to my friends, both researchers and armchair scientists.“–David Morrison, space scientist”Their heady tour skips from ‘extraterrestrial environments’ right here on Earth where NASA scientists are investigating extreme environments believed to resemble conditions on other planets or moons, through the SETI Institute in California, whose radio telescopes scan the skies for transmitting civilizations, to Bios Group, a Santa Fe start-up company that uses complexity theory to explore the intrinsic rules underlying the growth of evolving organisms orhuman institutions….Koerner and LeVay have a gift for helping the uninitiated over technical terrain.“–Publishers Weekly”Astronomer Koerner and biologist LeVay plot scenarios for extraterrestrial life in this sharp, enthusiastic, and skeptically temperedoverview of ‘cosmic biology’“–Kirkus Reviews”Koerner and LeVay have a gift for helping the uninitiated over technical terrain.“–Publishers Weekly”By the end of Here Be Dragons you will have learned a great deal about terrestrial life and its hypothetical or inferential relationship to life ‘out there,’ intelligent or otherwise.“–Wired”Clearly displays the authors’ enthusiasm for their subject, especially for the way it illuminates our lives.“–Science News”Recommended”–Choice

David Koerner is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. Simon LeVay is an Independent Consultant and former Associate Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

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