18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I wish I had written this book. It needed to be written., December 1, 1999
Joel Achenbach is on a quest - "a search for life and truth in a very large universe" as the book is subtitled. As is the case with many a personal quest, Joel isn't always exactly sure where he's going, or often where he's been, but that's part of the mystery - and the fun.
Achenbach wants to know where we (life) came from, how we operate, if we have neighbors, and how to find (and perhaps visit) them. Finding a bit of underlying cosmic purpose along the way would also be useful.
As he mounts his quest, Achenbach manages to talk with people involved in all aspects of cosmology, astrobiology, space exploration, and the popularization of science. He also devotes a hefty amount of attention to "non traditional" resources. In so doing, he applies honest inquisitiveness and a satirist's wit with equal measure upon all he meets.
This book often resembles a curious cross between Hunter Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" and Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". That is, it is part satire, part fact, and part introspection. As Achenbach makes his way, he finds himself advised by the likes of Carl Sagan, Dan Goldin, Bob Zubrin as well as UFO abductees undergoing hypnotic regression in a Las Vegas motel room, UFO believer Joe Firmage making his billions in Silicon Valley, and a plethora of others from science and society.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this book is how Achenbach manages to weave this book of personal wanderings in with a retrospective on Carl Sagan's life. Sagan was clearly fading when Achenbach wrote the book. As he faded (at least as captured by Achenbach from their conversations) he seemed to do so in a fashion that gracefully framed both his accomplishments as an individual and as a deft public communicator of wonder and awe.
Just as Sagan was leaving this life, new and more fascinating questions about life and the universe began to supplant older ones that had been answered during his career. He left just as curious - perhaps more so - than he lived it. While Achenbach ends his written account all the better for having made the journey, he also remains just as mystified (perhaps more) as did Sagan by the question of life in a very large universe than when he started. That's fine - since all of us, whether we care to admit it or not, have to confront this sooner or later.
A note about style: I have lost count of the books on space I have read over the years. This book had a freshness in approach that I had not encountered before - with the exception, perhaps, of the fictional "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe" and some of Timothy Ferris' writings. Sagan's lofty phrases ("we are made of star stuff") not withstanding, books about space and astrobiology all tend to be a little too serious - and take their topic and its practitioners a bit too seriously at times. These books also tend to draw an artificial line between the science as seen by its practitioners - and the perception of that science, and the universe around us, by the remaining 99.99% of humanity. Achenbach is not afraid to rattle some cages, make some jokes, and prod people to examine corners of topics they'd otherwise ignore.
While many (including myself) think that UFOs, alien abductions, and Big Foot are nonsense, a substantial portion of the rational public are not as ready to dismiss such ideas out of hand. While it is, I suppose, the responsibility of scientists to educate the public about the facts, they need to appreciate that the "humanity" they often see spreading across the stars may well want to do so for reasons not altogether factual or rooted in "science".
I am not suggesting that all books on this topic need to devote attention to these matters. But I do think it would help a number of authors to re-examine their view on things from the perspective of your average Star Trek or X-Files fan - as well as from the viewpoint of the soccer moms and the members of Generations X and Y.
Regardless of whether we use the scientific method or TV Guide as a means to understand life in the universe, there is a rather pervasive, collective desire by humanity to go "out there" and see what we can find. Only when we can come to fully understand the many facets of this collective desire will we be truly ready to go and actually explore the universe. This seems to be foremost in Achenbach's thoughts as he makes his way.
With this approach in mind, and a congenital case of practiced irreverence and impishness, Achenbach gets inside the heads of the people he encounters. In so doing, you get a chance to understand a bit more about the people who actually do the science - and why they do it. Moreover you get an idea of what the person sitting across from you on the bus might think about all of this.
I encountered Achenbach a large number of times over several years as he wrote this book and was at a number of events depicted in this book. I also know many of the individuals he encountered and the projects they work on. His portrayal of both the serious and the silly, and of the profound and mundane rings true with my own experiences. As such, I can honestly say that I wish I had written this book. It needed to be written.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lively accounting of fringe and mainstream views on ET, February 22, 2001
Joel Achenbach, a reporter for the Washington Post, covers current thinking about life in the universe in this lively and very personal account.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part could be considered to reflect the "establishment" view, giving the perspective from mainstream science and personages including Carl Sagan and NASA administrator Dan Goldin. Even within the mainstream, though, there are controversies: the well-known one about whether meteorite ALH84001 contains life and the lesser-known issue over whether the Viking landers really did find signs of life, as one of the investigators on that mission continues to claim. Achenbach covers these as well as an overview of the Drake Equation, a profile of Dan Goldin, and other such relevant items.
Part Two takes a very different tack, covering the fringe: those who believe the aliens are here already, including those who think they themselves are the aliens (from the Pleiades, as I recall). Achenbach tries to be sympathetic to these, though not with complete success. As he concludes, "It is not the evidence of extraterrestrial creatures but, rather, the idea of the Alien that makes ufology such a powerful faith." As he makes clear, almost everyone would be delighted to find life elsewhere in the universe. The skeptics, however, require evidence before they will give in to their hopes.
All of the parts are rather loosely organized, jumping from subject to subject, but Part Three is the loosest of all, seemingly only tied together by the concept of "what might happen." Here he jumps from possible new technologies ("Zero Point Fields") that might get us to the stars, reports on a conference of Robert Zubrin's Mars Society, spends a chapter on the Mars Face, revisits what's going on now with SETI, and more.
He concludes with a celebration of Carl Sagan's enthusiasm tempered with skepticism: "A scientist needs evidence. Faith is not part of the game. ... Sagan's greatest professional achievement may have been his ability to stick to science and resist the incredible allure of sentimental thinking." The last paragraphs cover his funeral.
All in all, the book is comparatively lightweight but is easy reading and hard to put down. Those interested in a hard-science approach to astrobiology should consider books such as Rare Earth and Is Anyone Out There? But for an overview of both the mainstream and fringe viewpoints, this is an excellent book.
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