The discovery of life on other planets would be perhaps the most momentous revelation in human history, more disorienting and more profound than either the Copernican or Darwinian revolutions, which knocked the earth from the centre of the universe and humankind from its position of lofty self-regard. In Here Be Dragons, astronomer David Koerner and neurobiologist Simon LeVay offer a scientifically compelling and colourful account of the search for life beyond Earth.The authors survey the work of biologists, cosmologists, computer theorists, NASA engineers, SETI researchers, roboticists, and UFO enthusiasts and debunkers as they attempt to answer the greatest remaining question facing humankind: Are we alone? From their ''safe haven of scepticism'' the authors venture into the ''rough seas of speculation'', where theory and evidence run the gamut from hard science to hocus pocus.Arguing that the universe is spectacularly suited for the evolution of living creatures, Koerner and LeVay give us ringside seats at the great debates of Big Science. The contentious arguments about what really happens in evolution, the acrimonious UFO controversy, and the debate over intelligence versus artificial intelligence shed new light on the wildly divergent claims about the universe and life''s place in it. The authors argue that while no direct evidence of extraterrestrial life yet exists, habitats and chemical building blocks for life abound in the universe. A wealth of new astonomical techniques and space missions may provide this evidence early in the next century. Lucidly written and scientifically rigorous, Here Be Dragons presents everything we know thus far about the emergence of intelligent life here on Earth, and perhaps, beyond.
Industry Reviews
"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 may
be 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 will
learn 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 greatly
enjoyed 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 or
human 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
