Is There Anybody Out There? (a Wild Thing Book): The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

Inspired by her popular Wild Thing podcast, journalist Laura Krantz incorporates the scientific method and her journalistic skills to determine if aliens might exist.

How likely is it that humans aren’t alone in the universe? This serious but fun (and gorgeous) book is a great fit for any middle grade reader curious about the universe and our place in it.

Is There Anybody Out There? turns our collective gaze skyward: What’s the likelihood of life on other planets? Or that aliens have already made the trip to visit us? How would they get here? Why do we want to find them? And what does it mean if we do (or don’t)?

Guiding readers to challenge their gut assumptions and open their minds to new possibilities by using critical thinking and the scientific method, journalist Laura Krantz investigates the science, culture, and philosophy of a universe in which we’re not alone―and why the idea of alien life has abducted our imaginations.

Reports of strange lights, UFO sightings, and alien encounters abound―and some (like recent accounts from US Navy pilots) sound highly credible. In recent years, armed with state-of-the-art technology and better information, the search for extraterrestrials overflows with exciting possibilities. Within our own solar system, astrobiologists search for the biochemical building blocks that might sustain microbes, astronomers discover far-flung stars, orbited by planets that could be teeming with life, and astrophysicists point sophisticated telescopes toward the deep reaches of the universe, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
 
Includes Photographs from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Color Illustrations

Laura Krantz is a journalist in both radio and print. Her podcast, Wild Thing, received critical acclaim from Scientific American, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic, and is now the basis for a series of nonfiction middle-grade books including The Search For Sasquatch and Is There Anybody Out There? (October 2023). Formerly, Krantz was an editor and producer with NPR in Washington, DC and KPCC in Los Angeles. She lives in Denver with her husband, two cats, and a couple of indoor-outdoor spiders.