Customer Reviews

Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life

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It is difficult to comprehend just how big our universe is.And can this vast universe of ours be here just for US? I don't thinkso. And after reading Dr. Shostak's book, I'm more convinced than ever that there is intelligent life out there.

Whether you are an astronomer, an avid enthusiast of estraterrestrial (E.T.) life, a skeptic, or just curious about the subject; there is something here for you.

This is not a super technical book; it's one the average person can understand, appreciate, and learn from. Besides the basics, I leaned about what is possible reagarding the search for E.T.s - (the approach and why)- and more interstingly, what is NOT possible. Shostak takes a clean, scientific, and logical approach, maybe even to the point of destroying the myths that we have come to know and love through science fiction, and at the same time providing a wealth of new possibilities.

Shostak has an interesting writing style. He starts out most sections with a question. Then he proceeds to discuss and argue all sides of the question, and often it appears he has even answered the question. But then he leaves you with another question - a great transition to the next section. I felt drawn through this book.

This book will certainly appeal to the history buff and the avid science fiction fan. Shostak cleverly weaves history, and television and Hollywood fantasy into his explanations.

Some of the excitement from this books comes from the fact that there is no end. It hasn't happened yet; we haven't found E.T.; in fact, it has only just begun. Shostak shows just what a long and tedious process this really is.

For me, what sets this book apart from others, is that although extremely informative, it is also full of wit and humor. Shostak takes the possibilities and provides scenarios, and explains them completely with all the above backup data. And the wit and humor assist in the understanding of what he is saying.

I was particularly interested to read about the birth of the SETI Institute by Frank Drake, and to learn of the SETI's struggle to survive - to break through the cocoon and finally spread its wings. It definitely seems to be an entity on its own and on its way.

At the end of the book, Shostak gives the scenario of what would happen if a signal comes in. It leaves you wondering . . .

Shostak spends some time correctly pointing out how unlikely the Hollywood-style aliens are, and how massively unlikely it is that any ET's would make the trek to Earth. There's a forward by Francis Drake of the Drake equation fame. The book examines the how and why of discovering intelligent life elsewhere from a scientific POV. Readable but little new. Fermi's famous "Where are they?" is addressed. My position is that is doubtful that intelligent life forms will find any reason to replicate throughout the galaxy. Reproduction is just part of the delusion say the highest philosophers on this planet. I suspect it might be the same elsewhere. Shostak seems to allow that life is probably plentiful, but intelligent life less so. Most saliently, he points out that the life span of any civilization is probably limited, thereby greatly reducing the probability of contact.

This is a good book, but Aliens: Can We Make Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence? (1999) by Andrew J. H. Clark and David H. Clark covers more ground and is more up to date. With so many advances being made today in technology and technique, we need frequent updates to keep abreast of what is going on. I hope Shostak favors us with another book soon where he might speculate on the non-Hollywood forms extraterrestrial life might realistically assume. Could intelligent life be as small as insects? Or microbes? How about non-biological life forms? Energy beings? It might be good if scientists sometimes, especially in the later years of their careers, worried less about possible academic criticism, and let their well-trained and knowledgeable minds run free, and share their speculations with us.

"Sharing the Universe" by Seth Shostak is an absorbing, fascinating look at the possibility that we are not alone on the galaxy. Using examples from science fiction film, this book covers a lot of ground -- the history and theory of SETI (The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), the current research methods, the hopes and motivations of the searchers, as well as speculation on alien biology and sociology. (What might E.T. look like? How might he behave? What would his motivation be? What about his sex life?) And all of it based on real science, explained by a SETI scientist with a talent for drawing the reader into his own excitement for his subject. Very well written in a light, amusing style that in no way detracts from the serious and important nature of the material, "Sharing the Universe" has enough depth to satisfy a reader already familiar with SETI but is also engaging enough to interest the newcomer. I found this book to be informative and thought-provoking, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A major portion of "Sharing the Universe" is devoted to what the scientific community currently thinks real extraterrestrial "intelligent" beings could be like ... their appearance, language, thought processes, and so on. Shostak writes in good, clear prose with plenty of simple analogies borrowed from the animal kingdom we all know on earth. It seems like Shostak enjoyed writing this book because his wry sense of humor appears throughout. My friends agree, even those without a background in science, that this book is a quick read, very informative, and a lot of fun. Tim Richards, Lancaster, Ma.

I believe this is a good scientifially valid book on S.E.T.I. by a scientist engaged in the search.

It would be unfair to characterize his entire book as invalid because he is a little too harsh on Hollywood. He uses popular movies as a starting off discussion of issues. This is a good way to introduce scientific concepts to a lay audience.

Over a quarter of a century ago we as a society had the vision to land men on the moon. Since then we seem to have lost our vision. Seth Shostak's book "Sharing the Universe" is a step towards finding our vision again. Searching for UFOs and alien abductions is a step backwards away from science and towards a new dark age of superstition.

To anyone even a little interested in the Search for SETI, this is a powerful statement of where we are in the universe and where we should be going. If you are more than a little interested, this is a page turner. Shostak has a rare ability on this wide ranging subject and a special blend of wry humor. A real good read.

There's a common perception that zipping across the cosmos will one day be no more difficult than a jumbo jet flight from London to New York. When you get to Epsilon Eridani, or wherever, in next to no time, there will be a class m planet (whatever that is) to visit. The extraterrestrials will be humanoid and, of course, speak perfect English.

It's a nice a thought. However the reality is quite different - and if you spend a little time with Shostak's clever, gentle teaching you'll come to grips with the inspirational truth. Biology such as ourselves may not be able to physically bridge the unimaginable voids between other suns like our own, but we have the technology to search for evidence of past or present microbial life elsewhere in our solar system and to detect the faint whisper of intelligence across the galaxy that will change the perspective of ourselves and our place in the cosmos forever.

Shostak is an astronomer - but this book makes it obvious that he is also a talented science communicator. His wit, sense of humour and infectious passion for his work in the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence scoops you out of the patterns of daily life on our small planet and into a universe where more planets are known outside the solar system than in it and strong clues in our solar system and elsewhere suggest that life, and maybe intelligent life, may be common throughout the galaxy.

The challenge lies in the proof. Getting the experiment right. The dedication to this challenge, which uses the world's largest radio telescopes, is almost palpable. The degree of difficulty comes home in Shostak's description of the size of the cosmos. Our sun is but one of half a trillion other suns in the great spiral of the Milky Way Galaxy, itself one of 50 billion other galaxies each with a few hundred billion to half a trillion suns. There are more suns than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth - but they are extremely remote from each other and even at the speed of light can take hundreds, thousands and millions of years to reach. It brings into sharp focus how difficult interstellar travel by human biology is - our lives are too short for it.

Perhaps the heart of this book begins with a typically witty comment from Shostak that Hollywood aliens are like winter vegetables - no variety. In fact most are not credible creatures at all. Any extraterrestrial intelligence we're likely to encounter will most certainly be of a different evolution but like the laws physics and chemistry that reign wherever we look in the universe, there are laws of biology too within that physical and chemical structure. There are constructions that are possible and others that are impossible. For some reason our evolution didn't optimise our number of limbs - six is apparently good, but then evolution didn't take account of supermarkets or piano duets with yourself! Shostak draws you into other areas too. Should we succeed in contact, what can we expect, for example, of ET's behavior and culture, particularly since success almost assumes that ETI will be thousands, millions even billions of years ahead of our barely 100-year-old technological civilisation.

There are few non-fiction books that leave you with the odd sense of loss experienced after completing a good novel. This makes it. One can only hope that Shostak has begun work on a sequel - or better still that some sharp producer has snapped him up for a Cosmos-style television series.

This is an interesting realistic description of S.E.T.I. (search for extra terrestrial intelligence) by a scientist actually engaged in the search. While it is written for a general audience and you don't need to be a scientist to read it, equally important is it is by a scientist so you get a realistic description and not speculation or some collection of fantasies by people who imagine they have been abducted by aliens. There is a real need for a book like this. You can always get the book faster through amazon.com, but the S.E.T.I. Institute website also offers this book signed by the author.

Dr. Shostak is an articulate and dynamic writer. He has a unique ability to bring even the most complex subjects down to earth. This thoroughly engaging book has sparked my interest in following this field of astronomy more closely. I am off to the next Dr. Shostak book, "Cosmic Company".

Dr. Seth Shostak: polymath; photogenic nice guy; and creative spark, has channeled his talents into a very different book. Its emphasis is OUR (bogus) perspectives of ET's, with the merciless excoriation of the silly to the sublime myths and projections that we impute ET's with. Hollywood's got it all wrong; the UFO internutz have got it all wrong; the hip hypnotists have got it all wrong. There are no ET's--that we know of. Asking whether they have big eyes or like baseball is the wrong thing to think about. And we can fantasize or hallucinate all we want but it won't change the facts. Shostak shows that we learn a lot about OURSELVES from our fantasies and speculation--but nothing about ET's. This cogent essay is well worth the price of admission--up to this point.

The book's let down is that it skirts the issue of EXACTLY how we look for ET's. Details; we want details! WHY are the present observing projects the VERY BEST we can do with our extant resources? Certainly Shostak knows the issues intimately but has not included them in ANY depth here. And hence the rub. For with the present (at best naive) set of microwave SETI observing scenarios we can look and look ('but after all where are we?' as Robert Frost said) with very little chance of finding ANY ET signals. Small as in astronomical teeny. Dr. Shostak knows these issues but perhaps feels its too early for the public to get a taste of the battle brewing.

For, ironically, as this book seeks to build credibility for a "fringe" enterprise the premises are already under fire. Call it an 'internal feud'; a scientific but fundamental disagreement among scientists who also, for the most part, are friends. But, as Bette Davis says:" fasten your seat belts; its going to be a bumpy night". C'mon Seth; its time to let the audience know:-) A 'thousand points of light' does not a survey make and to capture the better part of 500 billion others, twinkling away (hint hint),is a goal worthy of your abilities:-) And every amateur as! tronomer knows that a two second exposure or a 5 minute one shows a fabulously uninteresting sky. Tell the folks the problems; they can take it.

Your SETI INSIDER, dear reader, nonetheless recommends you purchase this book as part of your collection. Perhaps we may look forward to the issues addressed here in Dr. Shostak's next book.

The SETI INSIDER :-)