The Aliens Are Coming!: The Exciting and Extraordinary Science Behind Our Search for Life in the Universe - Softcover

Ben Miller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075154504X ISBN 13: 9780751545043

Publisher: Sphere, 2017

Synopsis

Discover the fascinating and cutting-edge science behind the greatest question 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. In the last few years, scientists have made huge strides towards answering that question. In The Aliens are Coming!, comedian and bestselling science writer Ben Miller takes us on a fantastic voyage of discovery, from the beginnings of life on earth to the very latest search for alien intelligence.

What soon becomes clear is that the hunt for extra-terrestrials is also an exploration of what we actually mean by life. What do you need to kickstart life? How did the teeming energy of the Big Bang end up as frogs, trees and quantity surveyors? How can evolution provide clues about alien life? What might it look like? (Probably not green and sexy, sadly.)

As our probes and manned missions venture out into the solar system, and our telescopes image Earth-like planets with ever-increasing accuracy, our search for alien life has never been more exciting - or better funded. The Aliens are Coming! is a comprehensive, accessible and hugely entertaining guide to that search, and our quest to understand the very nature of life itself.

About this title

About the Author

Ben Miller, a trained quantum physicist, is an actor and comedian, perhaps best known for his role as the sidekick in Johnny English. He is also the bestselling author of It’s Not Rocket Science, and host of the TV show of the same name. He has hosted numerous other TV and radio documentaries on subjects as varied as temperature and the history of particle physics. He is slowly coming to terms with the idea that he may never be an astronaut.

Review

“Whether it’s an objective look at UFO encounters, detailing the challenges of contacting aliens or explaining how life on Earth can inform our search, his snappy, conversational style will keep you turning the pages.”—Discover

“Miller provides a light-hearted but thorough exploration of the science behind the search for intelligent alien life—what it might be like, where and how we might find it—and reflects on whether we could understand or recognize an alien at all.”—Science

“[Miller] celebrates the human fascination with the search for extraterrestrial life and grounds it with equally fascinating science. . . . Pop science readers will have fun with this energetic look at the hunt for alien life.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A lively, thoughtful look at a scientific frontier that captures our imagination while posing a serious moral question about our responsibilities as citizens of the universe.”—Kirkus

“This rousing history of the search for extraterrestrial life takes us from the origins of the twentieth-century fixation on UFOs right up to present-day scientific research. It’s a very entertaining book, but it’s also rigorously researched and intelligently presented.” —Booklist

“Miller shows that he has a well-developed ability to explain complex concepts simply and clearly, with a dash of humor. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; faculty and general readers.”—Choice

“An entertaining and thought-provoking look behind the scenes at our search for extraterrestrial life.”—Shelf Awareness

“An eclectic and entertaining story, weaving together space exploration, the evolution of life on Earth, the Drake Equation and Egyptian hieroglyphs. That’s nontrivial, as we say in physics, but Ben Miller manages it!” —Brian Cox, author of Why Does E=mc2?
 
“A witty and informative romp through our search for little green men that says as much about human ingenuity as it does about the aliens we seek.”—Dara O’Briain, comedian

2016 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner

Edition details

• Publisher: Sphere
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 075154504X
• ISBN 13: 9780751545043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304