Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology by David Darling ISBN: 0-465-01564-6 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Highly recommended book
Comment: David Darling's excellent new book does an effective job of presenting the main topics of astrobiology in a conversational writing style that is easy to read and understand. Without assuming prior knowledge on the part of the reader it clearly explains the very latest research with fascinating details and well-chosen examples that will hold the interest of experts as well as newcomers.
Life Everywhere explores the conditions assumed to exist on prebiotic Earth and the various explanations for how life arose. Supporters of the various hypotheses are lumped together as "surface, sunlight" guys (who believe in Darwin's "warm little pond") and "deep, dark" guys (who believe that life arose near hydrothermal vents). Each new discovery gives a new advantage to one team or the other. The book also discusses the possibility of life on other planets and moons in our solar system, and it gives the most convincing and clear explanation I've found for the possible role of comets in the origin of life's building materials.
The science in Life Everywhere is solid, and the treatment of opposing theories is open and even-handed, with the exception of the Rare Earth theory which, according to Dr. Darling, is a theory based more on theological conservatism than on scientific fact. Life Everywhere is not a large book, but it contains a wealth of up-to-date information about the new science of astrobiology. If you are interested in the scientific study of life's beginnings and limits and the search for life on other worlds, I strongly recommend Life Everywhere as the first book to read for anyone new to the subject. For anyone already familiar with the basics of astrobiology, this is still an interesting new look at a rapidly-evolving science.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Read for Beginners and Professionals Alike
Comment: How can David Darling's wonderful new book "Life Everywhere" appeal to both beginners who know nothing about astrobiology and seasoned veterans who have already read many books about extraterrestrial life? The key is a massive amount of fresh, up-to-date material coupled with superb organization, an exceptionally clear writing style, and the lavish use of anecdotes and examples that make otherwise difficult material fun and understandable. Get a headache thinking about planets or moons in orbit? Visualize a spinning dinner plate with a helping of mashed potatoes in the center and a used stick of chewing gum at the rim! Among other things, David explains how rather than narrowing the search for the origin of life astrobiologists keep finding interesting new ways that life may begin. He describes the formidable survival skills of such lifeforms as "Conan the Bacterium," and he explains emerging technology that will allow us to identify Earth-like planets in other solar systems and then monitor chemical processes would be highly suggestive of life. I particularly enjoyed his sure-to-be controversial analysis of the "Rare Earth" Hypothesis", and his chance discovery of how pre-Copernican thinking may influence science today. Finding Jupiter-sized planets and mashing-up Martian meteorites are important and worthwhile scientific activites, but if you think that astrobiology is little more than this, read David Darling's "Life Everywhere" and think again!
Rating: 4
Summary: "Politically Correct"
Comment: This is one of eight books on Astrobiology which were rushed out after the publication of Joseph's revolutionary and ground breaking text, in May of 2000. Like the other seven competing volumes, this text differs from Joseph's, in that it strictly holds to the "party" line, as approved by the United States government, and repeats, without any critical analysis, mainstream scientific dogma. Now, don't get me wrong. Although he avoids mentioning Joseph's book--which clearly triggered the writing of his own--Darling does an otherwise good job of provding a "politically correct" overview of the status quo. If you are interested in the views held by mainstream, government funded scientists, this is the book for you.
 |
Title: Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter Douglas Ward, Donald Brownlee ISBN: 0387987010 Publisher: Copernicus Books Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
 |
Title: If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life by Stephen Webb ISBN: 0387955011 Publisher: Copernicus Books Pub. Date: 04 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
 |
Title: Astrobiology by Monica M. Grady ISBN: 1560988495 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World by Peter D. Ward, Donald Brownlee ISBN: 0805067817 Publisher: Times Books Pub. Date: 13 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
 |
Title: Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life by David W. Koerner, Simon Levay ISBN: 019514600X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
