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

Miller, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1615193650 ISBN 13: 9781615193653

Publisher: The Experiment, 2016

Synopsis

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.
 

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: The Experiment
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1615193650
• ISBN 13: 9781615193653
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 304