Product Description

This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. The book emphasizes the consequences of contact rather than the search, and takes account of popular views. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.

Customer Reviews (7)

objective but narrow-sighted
If one is narrowly focused in ruminating about the notion of Extra-Terrestrial contact, this book ought to advance and instill a much broader range of consideration within all facets of the subject.

Michaud covers a lot of bases, but seems to maintain the ideal that contact has yet to be found. This seems somewhat contradictory to his, otherwise, comprehensive evaluation of the possibilities of contact, as there are mountains of literature chronicling verifiable sightings by upstanding eye-witnesses, physical evidence of landings, the abduction phenomenon, and declassified military documents concerning the subject of extra-terrestrials. While Michaud devotes countless pages to possible scenarios of contact in the future, he offers the reader little - if any - possibility that contact may have already occurred. To the serious and educated ufo researcher, this is laughable.

It is my conjecture that Michaud is either unaware of all the documentation supporting present visitation or he is simply turning a deaf ear to it:"out of sight, out of mind," as the old saying goes. I suppose this is to be expected coming from a member of SETI. Nonetheless, the book is remarkably inclusive on almost all other accounts and worth reading for anyone interested in pondering such ideas with a rational mind.

Thought provoking yes.Concise or well organized, not so much.
This book is most definitely well researched.The author goes to great pains to present every possible angle to the reader and provide them with famous lines from greats in the field like Carl Sagan.The ideas presented can be quite interesting, and likely new to anybody who is not already involved in the science behind the search.The downfall of the book is that the author says the same things a hundred different times in several different chapters.It gets old, repetitive, and boring quite quickly.I honestly feel the 376 pages of text could have been done in far fewer, but somehow a smaller book would have appeared less informed/intelligent/scholarly.The history in the beginning is interesting, but once you get into the thought provoking hypothesizing middle and end, it drones.I can't recommend any other options, and if you can read dry school texts that remind you of English grammar class in high school and enjoy it, this book may be worth while.I was fighting to finish this book, constantly bored with it, and I love to read.Could have been a great read, but the organization and repetition makes you brain wonder what else there is in the world it would rather be doing.

A Deeply Flawed,Onesided Survery of SETI
Sadly, Michael A.G. Michaud uses outdated arguments and information to present a rather one-sided view of SETI that fails to examine the total impact contact with alien civilizations.Once rather curious arguement that Michaud makes is that Humanity shouldn't delude itself into thinking that aliens will act like Humans - but they - the aliens - will commit the Human act of opening up a dialouge.With apologies to David Brin, I think the words of my favorite science fiction character, the B-9 Enviromental Robot, is appropriate here to paraphase:"This book does not compute."

Joseph Baneth Allen

Absolutely required reading for SETI enthusiasts
Before the publication of David Grinspoon'sLonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life (2003), which I highly recommend (see my review), I was frankly starved for speculations and information about the search for extraterrestrial life.With this volume however I think I am sated.This could be called the mother of all SETI books and then some.

The text runs to 376 dense pages.There are 72 pages of "References," although I wish there were a separate bibliography in which the works referenced were presented alphabetically by author.I don't find this newfangled practice of omitting a bibliography convenient.Regardless Michaud seems to quote just about anybody even remotely connected with SETI including many scientific lights, Carl Sagan, David Darling, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Drake, Seth Shostak, Jill Tarter, Frank Tipler, et al., along with scifi literary illuminati like Olaf Stapledon, not to mention religious people, politicians, and even a poet or two.

He begins with what he calls "a condensed history of speculations...up to 1959" which is followed by "brief descriptions of the scientific searches" for ETs and their signals, and then he launches into a step by step consideration of the Drake equation.He brings us up to date on the latest thinking.As most SETI knowledgeable people know, the Drake equation on the probability of there being intelligent life elsewhere has been given a big boost in recent years by the discovery of planets revolving around other stars, and by our learning just how inhospitable environments can be and still harbor microbial life, as in deep ocean vents and far down into the earth's crust.To me this last discovery is especially exciting because (as Michaud points out) it greatly increases the number of places in the cosmos where life could be thriving--around brown dwarfs (or maybe even ON them!), in interstellar space, in dust clouds and of course under frozen surfaces, such as exist on Europa.

Skeptics as well as wide-eyed optimists are quoted.The UFO controversy is examined.Consequences of contact are explored, etc.But with all the speculations, learned and otherwise, we are still left with just one example of life from which to extrapolate.So, interesting as all this material is, it is not nearly as interesting as just one itty-bitty, bonafide example of extraterrestrial life would be.I hope I live long enough for one to be found.

To conclude let me concentrate on a couple of issues that I find most interesting.

First, the issue of colonization of the galaxy.I prefer to ask not Fermi's "Where are they?" but "Why should they?"

The assumption that there is an innate propensity for life to reproduce ad infinitum is one that is hard to argue with when applied to life on earth.The assumption that life elsewhere will have a similar urge is also reasonable.However when we look at the average lifespan of species on this planet we realize that something like a million years is the norm.How much of the galaxy could a species that exists for a million years colonize?Further qualify this by asking what is the average lifespan of a species that leaves the environment to which it is adapted?It may well be that if we ourselves go space-faring, we may find artifacts of extinct ETs but not the ETs themselves.

There is also the question why would intelligent beings want to live in hostile environments?Some of their kind, like some of our kind, might very well volunteer for the uncertainties of a lifetime in space and a lifetime in space for their progeny, but most probably would not.And how massively advanced does a civilization have to be to go space-faring, confident that nothing will go wrong over the span of a hundred years, a thousand years, ten-thousand years...?Humans as presently constituted would find living on a spaceship for even months at a time very difficult.Think of how our ideas have changed since the time of Shakespeare, a mere four hundred years ago.By the time the space travelers are gone a generation or two, it is possible that they may change their minds about the virtue of the mission.

As Freeman Dyson said, "Interstellar travel...is essentially not a problem in physics or engineering but a problem in biology." (p. 130)He might well have added "psychology."

Another issue is that of sending out probes or self-replicating "Von Neumann machines" that would terra form the galaxy while endowing the new turf with the seed of their makers.But again, why would they?Darwinian biological creatures tend to reproduce to the carrying capacity of their environments; but any creatures that have the intelligence to colonize space would presumably be beyond such biological imperatives.In fact, the real question is why would any advanced society want to create more of its kind?It seems to me more likely that such creatures would want instead to observe life forms different from themselves in so far as possible.Michaud recalls that Andrew Clark and David Clark characterized sending out self-replicating probes as "galactic vandalism."Michaud adds that such probes could end up threatening the civilization that made them. (pp. 170-71)It's possible that sufficiently complex self-replicating machines could "evolve" into something with intentions very different from that of their creators.

There are historical examples of civilizations reigning in their exploratory and reproductive instincts, such as the Chinese before the European Age of Exploration, and the declining birth rates today in industrialized countries.It may very well be the case that once biological creatures reach a certain level of understanding, they stop all activity because there is no desire to do anything.If we build machines that have an intelligence vastly superior to ours, unless somehow the desire to continue is built into them, why would they continue?

I don't think anyone really interested in SETI can afford to miss this exciting book.

A True Service
Michael Michaud has performed a service for the specialized as well as the lay reader with this comprehensive review of who might be out there, how do we find out and how might we react.The subject is inherently difficult not only for its immense scope and implications but also for its nearly inextricable linking with the world of science fiction and fantasy.Michaud remains objective throughout and this cold objectivity makes his story all the more fascinating and compelling.The book is free of sensationalism, making no play at all on the science fiction aspects of the subjects.Nevertheless, the author doesn't shy away from popular subjects like space colonization and interstellar flight.

In thirty-three unnumbered chapters the author organizes his presentation under such headings as Searching for Intelligence; Probabilities of Life, Intelligence, Civilization, Technology and Science; Direct Contact, Why Don't We See Them?; a marvelous exposition on Reformulating the Problem; Contact Scenarios, Fears, Dangers; After Contact; and Some Conclusions Drawn.

The arrangement of headings, different typefaces and boxes in the text make the information easily accessible.The language is clear, never pedantic. ... Read more

Product Description

"Original, delightful, and full of ideas."--Robert Kirshner, Harvard University, author of "The Extravagant Universe"

One of the hottest areas in science today is what we are learning at the place where physics meets biology. Among many revelations from this exciting cutting edge of research, Fred Adams relates an idea that would be a radical change in the way we think of the genesis of life. Specifically, life didn't start as pond scum in some primordial oozing lake, but rather in a deep biosphere underground, protected from the continuous bombardment of the Earth's surface that astrophysicists are now certain must have been occurring when life emerged. The genesis of life was IN our planet, not on it! What are the fundamental laws of physics? What was the big bang? How did galaxies form? How did stars form? How did planets form? How did life evolve? Once there was gravity, was life inevitable? Are we alone in the multiverse? A theory of everything is not just about the universe anymore, now it is about the living multiverse.

Customer Reviews (3)

Unfair To Book Consumers
While this is a good book, it is little more than a re-issue of the author's previous book "The Origins of Existence" (which I enjoyed). I find it disturbing and frankly insulting that the author and publisher do not make this fact more transparent to consumers. Why should readers have to pay twice for the same material? Also, I get a bit turned off by science books that attempt to make parallels (even superficially) with religious scripture, as they (sometimes unintentionally) perpetuate the false notion that science and religion are compatible. At any rate, I would recommend this book or the author's previous book for up-to-date views of contemporary cosmology and "the big picture". But readers beware: they are one and the same!

Well chosen topics, not so well written...
I like this book. It is enlightening and contains a multitude of information put together in a well defined format.
However...
I found the book quite difficult to read, both because of its use of the language and by the convoluted way the author went about explaining concepts. To give an example, I have studied thermodynamics and have come across dozens of descriptions of entropy but this one seemed the hardest to get through.
Some places you get fed the simplest information. And I understand why, since the author cannot assume every reader have the proper background.
But: You read two paragraphs describing analog vs. digital information, and then you get a sentence like this: "In one theory, the high-energy space-time of the background is subject to quantum fluctuations that cause small portions of the space-time to attain high potential energies for the inflation field."
I don't know if it's just me, but I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find many people who lack the knowledge of the former concepts but can understand the latter (sentence).
So again, it is a good book, not well written. I'd say read it, but it's not ecstasy.

An old book renamed
It appears "Our Living Multiverse" is a reissue of "Origins of Existence". So far, I've been unable to locate where this is mentioned by the publisher. It's a shame such a great book was reissued under a new name without clearly so stating in its description. ... Read more

Product Description
We are connected to distant space and time not only by our imaginations but also through a common cosmic heritage. Emerging now from modern science is a unified scenario of the cosmos, including ourselves as sentient beings, based on the time-honored concept of change. From galaxies to snowflakes, from stars and planets to life itself, we are beginning to identify an underlying ubiquitous pattern penetrating the fabric of all the natural sciences--a sweepingly encompassing view of the order and structure of every known class of object in our richly endowed universe.

This is the subject of Eric Chaisson’s new book. In Cosmic Evolution Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. Guided by notions of beauty and symmetry, by the search for simplicity and elegance, by the ambition to explain the widest range of phenomena with the fewest possible principles, Chaisson designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures. He shows us that neither new science nor appeals to nonscience are needed to understand the impressive hierarchy of the cosmic evolutionary story, from quark to quasar, from microbe to mind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Chaisson Informs Us That 'Vitalism Has No Scientific Merit:'
I quote: "life likely differs from the rest of clumped matter only in degree, not in kind. We admit no vitalism, no special life force that would set animate beings manifestly apart from all other forms of inanimate complexity [p.122...] a 'life force' [...] something akin to vitalism or vis vitae [p.149...] no one has ever discovered anything akin to an elan vital, or special life force, that would truly set aside life from all other organized systems [p.217]."This is in keeping with the perspective of modern biology as concerns 'the stuff of life:' until there is evidence to support the idea, vitalism is merely an archaic, superstitious figment.

Thought-provoking look at evolution
This is an enjoyable big-picture examination of evolution in light of thermodynamics, i.e. how can order increase despite the 2nd law of thermodynamics?You will need to recall some calculus and some basic physics in order to follow the thread of the discussion.Chaisson does an excellent job of laying out the subject, looking at the evolution of complicated structures, e.g. the universe, stars, galaxies, planets, life, brains, societies.He actually works through the numbers on several examples in order to give you a better feel for the subject of evolution, and for thermodynamics.If you have an interest in things cosmological, I strongly recommend this book.

Illuminating and rock-solid
Professor Chaisson has succeeded in providing a narrative of the Universe, one that is elegant and satisfying, and at the same time based on a rock-solid, quantitative approach.

This book has finally reconciled for me the vexing question of how complexity and disorder (entropy) can increase simultaneously.I knew that total entropy must increase, per the 2nd law of thermodynamics.What I did not realize is that the maximum POSSIBLE entropy of the Universe is increasing even faster, due to the expansion of the Universe.So now I have a way of visualizing the amount of complexity in the Universe - it is the difference between these two entropies.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the clear identification of the phases of the Universe: Radiation Era->Matter Era->Life Era.The idea that we, as intelligent life, can give birth to a thriving, universal Life Era is visionary and uplifting (and part of the basis for Reason for the Common Good).

Cosmic Evolution is extremely well-researched, quantitative, and most of all, illuminating.

Worth the Effort
This book was not written for the lay reader of science, such as myself. At times the writer sounds as if, chalk in hand, he is giving a lecture to astrophysics third-year students - the only thing missing is the pronunciation of the equations. Those uncomfortable with formulas will find the middle of the book slow going.

The payoff, for those who persevere, is two or three new ideas. And that's why we read books like this. ... Read more

Product Description
Wernher von Braun is known to many as a brilliant pioneer of rocketry who left Germany in 1945 to become a key advisor in America's space program. Until now, few realize the bloody legacy he left behind. The Nazi Rocketeers tells the story of how von Braun and his fellow scientists abandoned their initial dreams of space exploration in favor of creating the devastating V-2 ballistic missile. This weapon enabled the Nazis to precipitate mass destruction and loss of life. Contrary to previous accounts, this history proves that von Braun and his colleagues were not forced under duress to turn their rockets into weapons of war. They were, in fact, highly ambitious members of the Nazi movement who willingly put their creation to lethal use. In return, honors were bestowed on them from the Third Reich and Hitler himself. Perhaps the most shocking revelation is the collaboration between the scientists and the SS in the exploitation of concentration camp slave labor for the building of the V-2 missiles. In addition to addressing an overlooked portion of World War II study, this book is a sobering testament to the consequences of corrupted genius. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A 20th century Faustean pact.
Operation Paperclip allowed top Nazi scientist and engineers who were clearly involved in death camp "use of labor" and members of the Nazi party to immigrate to the US. At the time the US State Department opposed and strongly disapproved of the policy but eventually these "spaceflight scientists and Engineers" where relocated and made US Citizens by the assistance of Operation Paperclip and the US military-industrial complex (on the pretext of the Cold War). These Scientists and Engineers conveniently expounded the propaganda that they where members of the Nazi party strictly to facilitate their spaceflight dream. A Faustian pact if you ever saw one. One of the most prominent members of this group if not the most prominent member was Werner Von Braun. Von Braun co-operated with the SS in the infamous Dora cave complex. Von Braun immigrated to the US with offers of full US Citizenship by the US military-industrial complex. These so-called V-2 scientist and engineers exploited death camp inmates with the full knowledge that these inmates will possibly die in the Dora V-2 cave complex. What, to advance the course of spaceflight, rubbish! Most inmates did die horrible deaths at the hands of the SS camp guards.If anyone douts this I challenge you to research post-war Paperclip documents and Nuremberg war crimes documents.If we are to uphold our Democracy and maintain a Democratic society with morality and human decency, I think it is important that we look at books like "The Nazi Racketeers: Dreams of Space and Crimes of War" and start making questions.To maintain a true Democracy requires very hard constant work and vigilance.

The Nazi Rocketeers
I thought the book covers a lot on the effort of the Nazi's to build a new weapon to win the war, but obviously it cannot cover every little fact in the story about the team that build the V-2's. It was very interestingly how the SS finely took charge of the V-2 program in the end. The book is worth the time to read. I thought it was very interesting reading.

Wernher von Braun
I got this book since the Dora Concentration Camp was liberated by the 3d Armored Division during WWII and my father was in the 3d Armored Division at that time.Even though I learned a lot from the book that I did not know, to me the author was very biased against Wernher von Braun due to his participation in developing the V-1 and V-2 rockets that did so much damage to London.

The way I look at it, Wernher von Braun joined the SS just to keep his dream alive of building rockets to go into space.He was successful in that attempt when he joined NASA where the Saturn rocket was built that took man to the moon.There is nothing in the book that I could find that definitely states that von Braun even went to the concentration camps though he did go to the factory in the mountain where the rockets were built and could see first-hand the conditions under which the prisoners worked.

The one thing about this book is that the whole chronology of the Nazi rocket program is laid out from beginning to end so you are not looking backwards to find something that happened at one space in time.That makes it a lot easier to find out how the Nazi rocket program developed over time up to the end of WWII.What is not played out is the further development of the rocket program after the scientists came to the United States where they proceeded to be the forefathers of the United States journey into space.

What is not brought out in detail is the way the United States used the Nazi rocket scientists to further develop the rockets that put man on the moon, satellites in orbit that we now depend on for everything from television, communications, weather forecasting, etc.And, let us not forget the satellites that have gone to the various planets in our solar system and beyond to learn more about this rock in space we live on.I would like to see abook devoted to the Nazi rockets scientists who more then likely were the developers of this technology.

And,I wold like to see a more unbiased biography of Wernher von Braun come out that pertains to the contribution he made to the United States rocket program.

My "Fair and Balanced" View of The Nazi Rocketeers
I learned quite a bit about recorded history that I previously knew nothing about prior to reading this book.I think it is a necessary read for both critics and admirers of von Braun and gave the book 3 stars to help balance the statistics.

I count myself as a life long admirer of Werner von Braun and went into engineering because of his inspiring work as well as the many public appearances he made on TV in the 50's when discussing the space program before there was one.

The notes written by the author demonstrate his passion and feelings about the many poor souls who suffered injury or death from the V-2 assembly effort at the terrible work camps and the ultimate delivery of these weapons in England and particularly London.His feelings are clear and the perspective from which he drafted his thoughts on von Braun are very understandable.

From my read of this book the record does give one pause and cause to think about what was done in order to advance early rocket work by von Braun.I believe that the scientists and engineers who worked on the Manhattan Project were against the use of the atomic bomb, but fully supported and applied their talents to make the bomb to help end a war.I also believe that they had some faith in their basic form of government which according to what I have read, General Dornberger and von Braun did not.

For what my opinion is worth it does appear that von Braun certainly compromised his values to help make his rocket dream a reality. I think the book provides both sides of the story by accurately documenting history, at least as it was recorded.We will never know exactly what happened or what von Braun's thoughts were.

The record shows that von Braun was a brilliant engineer, manager, and spokesmen for all forms of rocket research in both Germany and the United States and was a loyal citizen of his adopted country until his death. While a member of the Nazi party he was jailed for his interest in developing space flight and then released through the efforts of General Dornberger. The record is mixed.The book was still a very valuable read and I would recommend it.

Very biased historical revision of Von Braun
Piszkiewicz does a good job with getting the historical documentation down but fails miserably when he outs his obvious anti-Von braun spin to them.He constantly speculates without facts about Von Braun's thoughts, beliefsand motives, always casting them in a negative manner.He goes into detailabout Himmler's attempts to eliminate Von Braun and the danger that posedand still castigates Von Braun for not acting to help the Dora workers.Hededicates the book to the V2 and Dora victims which seems to be why hewrote this revisionist tale.It is his way to find someone to blame andVon Braun seems to be as good as target as any for the author to attack. He admits the V2 was not an effective weapon yet he ignores the huge drainon resources that it had on the German war machine.This drain was praisedby Winston Churchill for keeping more planes and guns off the field ofbattle, saving lives.He also twists quotes and facts out of context, asin for a historian.This book is not about history so much as it is anattempt to discredit Von Braun.No documentation or factual evidence isever presented to show Von Braun could have done anything to help the Doraworkers.Von Braun was not a saint but neither was he a war criminal. ... Read more