The Science Of Aliens - Hardcover

Pickover, Clifford A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 046507314X ISBN 13: 9780465073146

Publisher: Basic Books, 1998

Synopsis

If extraterrestrials ever landed on Earth, they would find us extremely strange. Their first intimation of our existence might well be a Super Bowl broadcast or a stray transmission from the Playboy channel. But, of course, they might seem equally strange to us. How strange? Their senses could be entirely different from ours they might see in the infrared or hear” radio waves.What would aliens look like? An intelligent octopus-like creature is certainly plausible. What about odd numbers of limbs a three-legged alien with three arms and three eyes? What about an entire planet of immobile, silicon-based trees” that communicate with each other via electrical signals? The Science of Aliens gets weirder still. Could a giant interstellar cloud be alive” and intelligent? Could creatures live at extremely high pressures and temperatures? And which of these many possibilities would be similar enough to us that they could communicate with them, or they with us? Would they have any interest in abducting us? Would they want to have sex with us?In classic Pickover style, here is speculation at the far edge of knowledge and beyond.

About this title

Review:

Scientist and author Clifford Pickover poses the question, "Can creatures dream of things beyond their sensory capacity?" Clearly Pickover thinks humans can--to some extent, at least. To this end, he wrote The Science of Aliens, an intriguing book featuring chapters such as "What Aliens Look Like," "Origin of Alien Life," and "Alien Abduction." And, of course, "Alien Sex." (Don't say you weren't curious.) To stimulate the reader's imagination, Pickover focuses on the characteristics of the earth's creatures--their appearance, their senses, their environments, their sexual behaviors--and argues that this diversity pales in comparison to the far wider possibilities in alien worlds.

Whether or not you believe in life on other planets, the artist's renditions of creatures such as Cheelas, Mesklinites, and Radiates from SF novels, as well as mathematical "alien messages" to decipher, are a real treat. (Here's an easy one: "Aliens are waiting for humanity to replace the question mark with the next value in the sequence before they will consider us worthy for further communication: 77, 49, 36, 18, ?") He also raises interesting issues; for example, what form would art take for creatures sensitive to smells or heat rather than light? To top it off, Pickover includes examples of potential interplanetary humor taboos: "Don't make puns around Scolexes because it outrages their sense of linguistic symmetry, which they've fought holy wars over." SF fans will enjoy this entertaining and thought-provoking book. --C.B. Delaney

About the Author:

Clifford T. Pickover is on the research staff of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y. He is a regular columnist for Discover Magazine and an associate editor for the magazines Computers and Graphics, Computers and Physics, Odyssey, and Theta. His many previous books include Mazes for the Mind; Keys to Infinity; Computers and the Imagination; Can You Escape?; Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide; and The Alien IQ Test.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 046507314X
• ISBN 13: 9780465073146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240