Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe [Hardcover]

Michael D. Lemonick (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684832941 | ISBN-13: 978-0684832944 | Publication Date: May 14, 1998 | Edition: First Edition

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? Recent discoveries have made it more likely than ever that we will know the answer to this age-old question in our lifetimes -- and that the answer most likely will be yes. No longer a subject relegated to the fringes, the search for extraterrestrial life is now a mainstream scientific pursuit. In Other Worlds, Michael Lemonick introduces us to the pioneering researchers who are using brand-new technology to explore the universe, looking for elusive signs of life.

Within recent years, tantalizing suggestions of extraterrestrial life have materialized, including new data from Mars and discoveries about Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. Lemonick describes these remarkable breakthroughs, including the very recent discovery that there are more planets outside our solar system than in it -- an idea that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Other Worlds takes us inside the observatories, from the world's most powerful telescopes, situated at the top of a volcanic mountain in Hawaii, to the giant radio antennas in a bucolic West Virginia valley, used to listen for alien signals. It is in these places that scientists like Paul Butter and Geoff Marcy analyze the data that led to their discovery of new planets trillions of miles away, and where astronomer Seth Shostak helps run Project Phoenix for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. Even NASA has now begun its Origins Program, hoping the search for extraterrestrial life will do for the agency what the mission to put a man on the moon did in the 1960s.

Michael Lemonick has been called "an inspiring explainer of some of the most mind-expanding ideas in contemporary cosmology" in the Los Angeles Times and "[one of] the best of today's astronomy popularizers" in The New York Times Book Review.

Lively and anecdotal, Other Worlds is a fascinating look at one of the most compelling areas of scientific research today and the scientists behind it, as well as a thought-provoking reflection on how the search for extraterrestrial life affects the way we regard our place in the universe.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The first planet around a sunlike star was finally detected in 1995, after decades of false alarms. It was inevitable that within a couple of years a flood of books on extrasolar planets would gush forth. Michael Lemonick is the senior science writer at Time magazine, and his account is the most readable and vivid yet. He has a fluid, anecdotal style, with a good ear for the sort of simile that really speaks to the average reader, as when he describes hooking up a radio telescope being like "setting up a new computer yourself. Sometimes it just plain doesn't work, and you can't for the life of you figure out why."

Lemonick structures Other Worlds around Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler, whose Extrasolar Planet Search Project at the University of California, San Francisco, is the most successful program so far, with six planet discoveries to its credit by the end of 1998. Lemonick's other touchstone is the Drake Equation, which he hyperbolically calls "the second most important equation of the century." If we could fit in values for the seven terms in this equation, we could say something sensible about the number of civilizations in the galaxy. So far, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has not come up with any actual data, but, as one researcher says, it's "the world's biggest carrot," and worth enduring a considerable number of sticks. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

When the discoveries of the first-confirmed extra-solar planets and evidence for ancient life in a meteorite from Mars were announced within six months of each other in 1996, a spate of titles on the subject of life in the universe became inevitable. Fortunately, this "work of journalism rather than... scholarship," as described by Lemonick (The Light at the Edge of the Universe), senior science writer at Time, favors careful reporting over sensationalism, conveying extraordinarily well both the excitement and the challenge of the famous Drake Equation, which makes a concise mathematical prediction of the number of intelligent, communicating civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. Lemonick explores the Drake Equation term by term, describing in clear and engrossing detail both the human and scientific stories of the technological wizards, like San Francisco State scientists Geoff Marcy and Paul Butler, whose work has taken us to the edge of discovery of other Earth-like worlds, using spectroscopy, the projected NGST (Next Generation Space Telescope) and other innovative technologies and methodologies. Although cautious readers may argue with Lemonick's prediction that we may have proof within a decade or two of life on other planets, few would dispute the power of his energetic work to carry readers to the frontier of scientific knowledge, technological creativity and human curiosity.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (May 14, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684832941
• ISBN-13: 978-0684832944
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,098,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Process of Discovery: Struggle and Success, January 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe (Hardcover)

Are Earth-like planets a rarity in the universe? Is our Solar System, with its 9 peaceful planets in circular orbits, some fluke or a godsend among the 100 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy? Is intelligent life in the universe such a rarity that we may be cosmically alone?

Mike Lemonick has produced a book that is exquisitely accurate and humanly compelling about the discovery of alien worlds around other stars. The book captures the difficulties of forging ahead toward new scientific techniques that often lead to failures. But in this case, Lemonick describes how several astronomers worldwide pushed forward despite those obstacles. Ultimately, these astronomers captured the most sought-after discovery in astronomy: the first true New Worlds, outside our Solar System.

Lemonick reveals the quirky personalities of the astronomers who made the 10-year trek toward these discoveries. Along the way, this book describes the chances that Earth-like planets may lead to life elsewhere in the universe. The book beautifully explains the ultimate human exploration: travelling to the new worlds in search of our biological roots out among the stars.

This book is a great read, and will stand as a historical benchmark about a great moment in scientific discovery.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn how new planets are being found, July 15, 2003

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe (Hardcover)

The classic Drake equation is an estimate of the number of civilizations there are in the galaxy, and for years, all but one of the terms was based only on speculation. For some of the terms, it was reasoned, but for others the value was the wildest of guesses. The formula is N = R * F(p) * N(e) * F(L) * F(I) * F(c) * L, where N is the number of civilizations, R is the rate at which Sun-like stars are formed, F(p) is the fraction of those stars that form planets, N(e) is the number of planets per star that can support life, F(L) is the fraction of planets where life emerges, F(I) is the fraction of such planets where intelligence emerges, F(c) is the fraction of such planets where the inhabitants develop interstellar communication and L is the length of time that the civilization actually communicates. Originally put forward in 1961, there was little improvement in the understanding of the parameters for decades.
However, all of that began to change in the last few years as advances in instrumentation is allowing astronomers to detect bodies revolving around stars. The preliminary results, which are withstanding intense scrutiny, are twofold. The first is that many (perhaps even most) stars have bodies revolving around them and the second is that the definition of planet is a vague one. Quite naturally, the first such bodies discovered are rather large and probably fit the definition of a star better than that of a planet. Nevertheless, such bodies appear to be very common and are being found in unexpected places. The people conducting the searches, the mechanisms being used and the conclusions to date is the main theme of the book.
I was aware of some of the results, but had no knowledge as to the specific tactics being used in the search for "planets." The descriptions in the book are understandable to anyone with a basic knowledge of the physics of light. I was captivated by the search strategies and was very impressed by the ingenuity of the astronomers. A second theme is the search for radio signals from other civilizations. While this section was interesting, I found myself surprised that the SETI@Home project was not mentioned. This is a collaborative effort where people donate the idle time of their computers to process segments of data captured by radio telescopes. As someone who has donated almost eight years of computer time to the project, to me it would have been a natural program to mention.
There is no question that the resolution of the question concerning the existence of civilizations on other planets is one that will forever alter the human condition. If we are indeed the only intelligent species, then the only thing that will prevent us from taking over the galaxy is us. However, if we are not the only one, then most likely there are a very large number and we most likely are insignificant in the eyes of some other species. In this book, you will find an understandable explanation of much of the recent work, nearly all of which makes it seem more likely that there is life elsewhere than on Earth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I just hope we keep searching, June 6, 2000

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Other Worlds: The Search for Life in the Universe (Hardcover)

This starts out rather excitingly, as though a kind of science drama, but dissipates into a not bad book about how the recently discovered planets around other stars were discovered. Lemonick, a Time science writer, tries to make the characters come alive, and they do to some extent, although this is no novelistic work. Lemonick emphasizes the equipment, telescopes, etc. and the techniques used. He does a good job.

The material on the Mars rock brings us up to date, circa 1997 or thereabouts: they've proved nothing, yet my guess is that we will find that microscopic life existed on Mars three and a half billion years ago. When this happens it will be a big media event, yet it will mean little to the average person. When INTELLIGENT life is found on other planets in another solar system, if that ever happens, it will be a big time media event and will have an EXTRAORDINARY impact on the culture of this world. My guess, after reading this and several other books on extraterrestrial life, is that life is common, but intelligent life rare; consequently, considering the amazing distances in interstellar space, I don't expect any kind of contact in my lifetime. In fact a half life for contact time (just a stab) might be a thousand years or more, assuming that intelligent life exists in, say, every hundred million star systems. Question: will we last a thousand years?

Lemonick celebrates the Drake equation (N=R* Fp Ne Fl Fi Fc L) where N is the number of detectable civilizations, R* the rate at which Sun-like stars form, Fp the fraction of stars that form planets, Ne the number of planets per solar system hospitable to life, Fl the fraction of planets where life emerges, Fi the fraction of life bearing planets where intelligence evolves, Fc the fraction where the inhabitants develop interstellar communication, and L the length of time such civilizations continue to communicate.

Well, they might add "Fw," the fraction that are willing or care to communicate.

As far as just the bare existence of extraterrestrial life is concerned, it might be that we would not even recognize the life forms if they tapped us on the shoulder since they might take a form that is pure energy or pure something else we know nothing about. It's not far fetched to say they might be invisible to our eyes.

The material about Europa and the possibility of life under its frozen surface in a great ocean is interesting. Lemonick says (and we've read this elsewhere) that it is now believed that life probably did not originate in wading pools as has been long thought, but probably deep under the ocean protected from the constant bombardment of comets and meteorites, nourished not by the sun but by heat escaping from the inner earth. This seems highly plausible to me because of the recent discoveries of strange life forms deep in our oceans where the animals live on bacteria nourished by heat vents several miles deep. I still like the panspermia idea from Hoyle and others that life originated outside our solar system. For some reason Lemonick doesn't seem to put much stock in this.