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Title details for The Aliens Are Coming! by Ben Miller - Available

The Aliens Are Coming!

The Extraordinary Science Behind Our Search for Life in the Universe

by Ben Miller
Ben Miller
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Actor and bestselling science writer Ben Miller takes readers to the cutting edge of one of the greatest questions of all: Is there life beyond Earth?
 
For millennia, we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the universe, but in the last few years—as our probes begin to escape the solar system, and our telescopes reveal thousands of Earthlike planets—scientists have taken huge leaps toward an answer. “Forget science fiction,” author Ben Miller writes. “We are living through one of the most extraordinary revolutions in the history of science: the emergent belief of a generation of physicists, biologists, and chemists that we are not alone.”
 
The Aliens Are Coming! is a refreshingly clear, hugely entertaining guide to the search for alien life. Miller looks everywhere for insight, from the Big Bang’s sea of energy that somehow became living matter, to the equations that tell us Earth is not so rare, to the clues bacteria hold to how life started. And he makes the case that our growing understanding of life itself will help us predict whether it exists elsewhere, what it might look like, and when we might find it.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 21, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525500933
      • File size: 219925 KB
      • Duration: 07:38:10

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In today's world, science needs its champions, and Ben Miller is certainly one of them. He narrates his work with enthusiasm and precision. Rigorously researched, this history of the search for extraterrestrial life takes us from the twentieth-century fixation on UFOs right up to present day. Miller's clear, entertaining guide to the complex search for alien life explains the science behind our universe. Miller frequently adds humor to his thought-provoking work. His assured voice ramps up the excitement of new or reevaluated discoveries. He makes it seem as if he's having a relaxed, informative conversation with listeners, who will undoubtedly learn something from this quantum physicist. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 27, 2016
      Miller (It’s Not Rocket Science), an English comedian and science writer, celebrates the human fascination with the search for extraterrestrial life and grounds it with equally fascinating science. The place to start studying aliens, Miller assures readers, is right here on Earth. Extremophiles—microorganisms that live in seemingly inimical environments such as inside rocks around deep-sea volcanic vents or frigid Antarctic lakes—show that life is “tenacious, commonplace, and infinitely adaptable.” Such strange life forms might even be as nearby as the icy oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa or the methane slush on Saturn’s moon Titan. Miller covers a lot of ground with humor and insight, addressing how scientists define life and how it evolved on Earth, and offering a short history of UFO sightings and scientists’ continued search for life-bearing exoplanets and signals from alien civilizations. Miller’s book is a lively and accessible blend of pop culture and science in which a Dire Straits encore explains the Drake Equation, the platypus introduces evolution, the second law of thermodynamics gets a workout, and readers meet Mazlan Othman, the UN’s official ambassador for Earth. Pop science readers will have fun with this energetic look at the hunt for alien life. Agent: Heather Holden-Brown, HHB (U.K.).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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