Moulin reviewed The Eerie Silence by Paul Davies
None
3 stars
A sober discussion about the search for signs of extraterrestrial life in the universe. Davies is deeply involved in SETI so he knows a lot about the subject from experience. Because of his involvement you might be worried he would use the whole book arguing for the existence of intelligent life "out there", but he is rather skeptical about it himself.
He is quite practical about the whole search. For one thing he suggests different ways we could find life which originated separately from the strand we and all the animals we know of did. Finding life to have begun two times on earth would certainly give the life variable in Drake's equation a big boost upwards.
It is a good book, but I have to say I recommend [b:If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... Where Is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of …
A sober discussion about the search for signs of extraterrestrial life in the universe. Davies is deeply involved in SETI so he knows a lot about the subject from experience. Because of his involvement you might be worried he would use the whole book arguing for the existence of intelligent life "out there", but he is rather skeptical about it himself.
He is quite practical about the whole search. For one thing he suggests different ways we could find life which originated separately from the strand we and all the animals we know of did. Finding life to have begun two times on earth would certainly give the life variable in Drake's equation a big boost upwards.
It is a good book, but I have to say I recommend [b:If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... Where Is Everybody?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life|180506|If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life|Stephen Webb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348283098s/180506.jpg|174410] (later edition with 75 solutions) before reading this one since I found that book had more breadth, more depth on a lot of issues and just by being a more exciting read.
