Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System [Hardcover]

Paul Clancy (Author), André Brack (Author), Gerda Horneck (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2005

How did life begin on Earth? Is it confined to our planet? Will humans one day be able to travel long distances in space in search of other life forms? Written by three experts in the space arena, Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System aims to answer these and other intriguing questions. Beginning with what we understand of life on Earth, it describes the latest ideas about the chemical basis of life as we know it, and how they are influencing strategies to search for life elsewhere. It considers the ability of life, from microbes to humans, to survive in space, on the surface of other planets, and be transported from one planet to another. It looks at the latest plans for missions to search for life in the Solar System, and how these are being influenced by new technologies, and current thinking about life on Earth. This fascinating and broad-ranging book is for anyone with an interest in the search for life beyond our planet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The authors of Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System have pooled their expertise to produce an accurate, up-to-date and highly readable survey of the field." New Scientist

"...a new perspective on the material, and hence is a valuable addition to the astrobiology canon...the book is an informative and well-written account of astrobiology from the perspective of a contribution from human exploration of the Solar System...the subject is certainly worthy of the thorough treatment it is given here." - The Obervatory, Monica Grady

Book Description

How did life begin on Earth? Is it confined to our planet? Will humans one day be able to travel long distances in space in search of other life forms? Written by three experts in the space arena, this book aims to answer these and other intriguing questions.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521824508
• ISBN-13: 978-0521824507
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,857,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of relating to past explorers. Needs more on actually what to do to find life, May 2, 2011

By 

Thomas Erickson (Lutz Fl and Felt Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System (Hardcover)

Paul Clancy, Andre Brack and Greda Horneck have written a good book on Looking for Life Searching the Solar System.

The readers are shown past explorers, Captain Cook, Magellan,Amundsen, Shackleton, Charles Darwin and more. We are shown as human beings we have an exploring instinct to investigate what is beyond and if we don't we might stagnate as a race and deteriorate. This was interesting but not why I bought the book.

As a life member of the Mars Society I really appreciated mention of our president Robert Zubrin and his Mars direct approach of living off Mars land and using the Mars CO2 atmosphere to make rocket fuel and O2 rather than having to transport all to Mars. Excellent
5 star presentation on this subject.

Also possible future living on the Moon and harvesting 3He for future Fusion reactors. Also interesting is the Fission/Electric/Ion propulsion to the outer planets and visiting Titan, Saturn's giant moon that has lots of hydrocarbons but too cold for life.
Lots more especially about possible finding microscopic life underground on Mars and under the surface/ in a possible under water ocean on Europa. Lots more

Plus the chemistry needed for life is shown and why water is so important. Also the difficulties in Robot vs Human exploration of the planets. What each is best at. Plus the dangers and risks humans will face in manned planet exploration. The reader is gently shown why we must have manned exploration. It is our duty to future civilization to expand and explore. Do we have the right to terraform Mars and possibly other planets? Also the need to protect pristine planets and prevent contamination of the planets from bacteria/germs from Earth and contamination of the Earth from possible lethal bacteria/germs from other worlds. Lots more.

Lots of past spacecraft and missions to the planets and future planned missions. Parts of the future presentation of near term projections of space exploration INMO were much too optimistic due to world wide financial difficulties. Maybe longer term we will see some of the great future space accomplishments.

The book has some nice color pictures and reads well. No boring parts. Just wish more was spent on what actually has to be done to find life rather than the physiological mumbo jumbo parts and comparing the past different explorers. Interesting but for me the actual nuts and bolts of what to do to find life on other planets was more important. A good book recommended 4 stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stands out in the pile of recent astrobiology books, January 30, 2008

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System (Hardcover)

This seems to have been a growth field recently with lots of new books offering varying levels of technical vs. popular coverage of the field of astrobiology. This book takes a straightforward approach in keeping with its title and focuses on life in the solar system and prospectives for hunting it.