Customer Reviews

Life in the Universe: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides series- Astrobiology)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an amazing little introduction that explains the basics of astrobiology, such as the definition of life, extremophiles, abiogenesis, the possibility of life on other planets, and how we can look for it. Despite having a hearty amount of information. LitU is written where someone with no knowledge of of the subject can pick it up and dive in.

Virtually everything made by Oneworld Publications is solid gold and this is no exception.

This book is a very easy to read intro to astrobiology. It contains lots of information, but is made for anyone who is interested to pick up and breeze through. In the process, you will learn about the probability of life existing outside of Earth and about the fundamental aspects of life. This book wonderfully combines my interests of astronomy and biology and is much easier to get through than PCW Davies' The Eerie Silence.

An excellent book covering a subject with which I am fairly familiar. I think that the sections on what goes on inside stars and stellar nebulae are too long given that they are essentially speculative. More space should have been given to the factual aspects of life on Earth as deduced from fossils and rocks. The almost conclusive evidence that there is or has been until recently life on Mars deserved mention too. Apart from these criticisms I found the book well written, comprehensive and likely to be enjoyed by the interestd amateur as well as the professional.
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