Lonely Planets

Thomas Boutell writes "Are we alone in the universe? Any curious human being will recognize the question. David Grinspoon's Lonely Planets is a broad, newcomer-friendly and often hilarious exploration of the subject of extraterrestrial life. David Grinspoon is a respected planetologist with a particular focus on Venus. He is also a very engaging writer, able to translate dry scientific ideas for a general audience without patronizing. Most surprisingly, he can tell a joke, and as a representative of the scientific tribe, he can also take one. His first-hand experiences growing up surrounded by luminaries like Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov enable him to tell the story of astrobiology and SETI as few others can." Read on for the rest of Boutell's review. Lonely Planets author David Grinspoon pages 440 publisher Ecco / Harper-Collins rating 10 reviewer Thomas Boutell ISBN 0060185406 summary A marvelously accessible, irreverent and fun exploration of the possibilities for other life in the universe.

Grinspoon, though, never falls victim to the temptation to proclaim that intelligent aliens are a scientific certainty, nor does he ridicule those who come to a belief in aliens by a less-than-scientific route.

The book begins with a historical perspective, telling the old stories of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Lowell in fresh and surprising ways. This makes even these chapters recommended reading for experts as well as newcomers to astronomy. Grinspoon is not content to repeat the usual pieties about these scientific "saints." For instance, he reveals that Galileo did much to intentionally antagonize the pope in his writings about the solar system. He also discusses the more off-the-wall beliefs that many early luminaries of science have held. He explores the link between the end of the earth-centered view of the universe and the beginning of a centuries-long popular craze for the idea of planets around every sun, and intelligent beings on every planet.

The second section of the book deals with the science of suns, planets, moons, and the potential life in, on and around them. All of the popular candidates, including Mars, Europa, and Titan, are discussed in nonscientist-friendly detail. Unearthly life is a broad subject, and Grinspoon does not cover it with perfect evenness. His chapters on cosmology, the early Earth, chemical evolution, and the cambrian explosion are great stuff; but after a quality discussion of DNA, he builds up the idea that RNA most likely evolved first, with ever quite saying what RNA is or explaining its role in our cells today.

But this is a rare omission. The science in the book is sound, and the footnotes and asides consistently entertaining. No song reference or movie quote is left unquoted, always to good effect. Throughout, Grinspoon maintains an almost unheard-of humility, always careful to point out how much we simply don't know about life on Earth, let alone life elsewhere.

The third and final section of the book could never have been written by a less honest or more egotistical scientist. It may also help that he plays in a reggae band. Titled "Belief," part three begins with a discussion of the development and present state of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, as nearly anyone with a screensaver knows. Grinspoon explores Fermi's paradox -- if they exist, why haven't they arrived on Earth, or at least said hello by radio? He doesn't duck the hard questions, and he brings us the human story of the SETI pioneers on both sides of the Iron Curtain. He acknowledges that the strong desire to believe in aliens is as something almost religious for many people, including scientists. And he gives the UFOlogists their due, taking a fascinating journey to the San Luis Valley of Colorado. If something really hasn't been adequately explained, he acknowledges that: "there are mysteries. Are we unfaithful to the church of Science if we admit that there are mysteries?" But he does point the finger at a few flimflam artists, and doesn't hide his disappointment with certain alien-visitation true believers who should probably know better.

Maybe the temptation to believe is not so hard to forgive. Where our knowledge is imperfect, our beliefs and hopes always become entwined. Grinspoon ends the book with a meditative chapter on "astrotheology," pulling together the threads of science and faith, exploring the moral implications of intelligent life elsewhere and sharing his own beliefs in the matter.

I recommend this book both for space buffs and for less "scientific," less skeptical readers on their gift lists. The book is worth reading for many reasons -- engaging writing, a friendly introduction to the science involved, eye-opening history, and a chance to learn a skilled planetologist's best guesses at what we may discover living or not living on, in or around Mars, Europa, and yes, Venus. Not since Sagan and Asimov passed away has there been a science writer with such a voice.

Will anyone hate this book? Maybe -- new agers, pot-haters, and supporters of the Bush administration could get their noses out of joint... but only if they read every footnote, and completely fail to take a joke. Most will be as entertained and informed as the rest of us.

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Comments

Re:Extra Terresterials

[Noren]

Almost all space junk is in Earth orbit, as most space missions to date haven't gone past earth orbit. Past earth orbit... space is big enough that we'd have to deliberately seek out and aim toward our space junk to have a reasonable chance of encountering any.

I assume you're referring to the Mars rovers. On Mars, one big reason to send more landers is to look at new areas of the surface (Spirit is on much different terrain than previous landers were, in an area where some theorize there was water in the past.) Also, the logistics are terrible for recyling landers even if we wanted to land in the same spot- landing destinations are far from precise, and the equipment required to recycle parts of an old lander might be more massive than the usable parts obtainable from one. Plus, it would be one more thing which could go wrong in a mission that's difficult enough that missions to Mars often fail to even return a signal.

Re:We know other life exists

[spacecowboy420]

Consider the size of the universe. Then consider all of your knowledge of the universe. Now consider how likely intelligent life exists. The fact of the matter is, we are a very small and insignificant on the grand scheme of things. How can you, with any confidence, "doubt there is another intelligent lifeform out there". I would think that an assertion like that would require more knowledge than any of us have currently.

When considering the size of the universe, consider these figures:
Size of the sun: 1,299,400 Earths

Size of Jupiter: 1316 Earths

(scroll to bottom, look at volume)

Speed of Light: 186,000 mi/per sec

Diameter of our Galaxy = 90,000 light years or 5,865,696,000,000 (almost 6 trillion) miles across

Number of stars in the Milky Way: 200 - 600 Billion

The universe is HUUGE - and this is just what we are able to see....



Number of stars in the visible universe = 2000 billion billion or 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Number of superclusters in the visible universe = 270 000

Number of galaxy groups in the visible universe = 500 million

Number of large galaxies in the visible universe = 10 billion

Number of dwarf galaxies in the visible universe = 100 billion

We are on a teeny-tiny planet next to an average star, in unremarkable galaxy - let's not take things out of context.

While I won't say it is likely that there is intelligent life, I would reserve judgement until there is more data - as should anyone concerned about truth.

Lonely Planets and a very Rare Earth

[revoke]

If you like this book by Grinspoon, you may also like Rare Earth by Ward and Brownlee. Rare Earth presents arguments to show why intelligent life elsewhere in the universe may be very rare indeed. Life may exist elsewhere, but complex and intelligent life? If you consider all the variables needed on Earth (distance from star, size and effect of moon, evolution, climate, etc.), the possibility that another planet with the exact same conditions exists is very rare.

Ward and Brownlee don't come right out and say that other intelligent life doesn't exist (there is always hope). They just show that the chances that intelligent life does exist on other planets is low. A great read, although more serious in tone and its science than Grinspoon. And for those of you that love all the footnotes in Grinspoon's Lonely Planets, you may want to check out his Venus book, Venus Revealed , as well. Another great read. Grinspoon definitely knows his stuff.

The Fermi Paradox

[602]

There's a book called If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens, Where Is Everybody? by Stephen Webb. The title is from the question posed by Enrico Fermi. I've just bought the book but haven't read it yet.

The book discusses 50 possible answers grouped into 3 broad categories:

1. 'They Are Here' (e.g., '...and They Are Meddling in Human Affairs', '...and They Are Called Hungarians'),

2. 'They Exist But Have Not Yet Communicated' (e.g., 'Everyone Is Listening, No One Is Transmitting'),

3. 'They Do Not Exist' (e.g. 'Continuously Habitable Zones Are Narrow').

Semi-related quote: "The aliens will contact us when they can make money by doing so." -- David Byrne

Semi-related problem: I know of a 7m parabolic dish (so that I can listen, too) I can get for free but have no place to put it. :(

Re:The Fermi Paradox

[Richard Mills]

I highly recommended the book mentioned above. It is written at a very intelligent and non-patronizing level, and is scientifically quite eclectic. It's thought-provoking and also a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the great diversity of possible "solutions" to the Fermi paradox that get discussed in the book. Lots of variety makes it hard to get bored, and some of the discussions are fantastic. Particularly good is the "percolation theory" explanation for why it may be impossible to hear from other intelligent life forms even though they may exist.

Re:The same physics still applies

[dan14807]

Let's examine your bulldozer/anthill analogy a little closer:

Woooooooooosshhhhhh!

That wasn't a Swedish jet. That was the sound of the original post zooming over your head at Mach 17.

He was referring to the Doug Adams novel. The point is NOT that Earth would be destroyed because the aliens are physically larger than us. The point is that Earth would be destroyed (and was destroyed in the novel) because of our insignificance in terms of intelligence (and also in the novel, "galatic awareness").

Re:Statistically

[beta21]

all we know is intelligent life occurred once. there's no way to extrapolate from a sample group of 1

Thats the beauty of statistics, you can extrapolate from a sample group of one but your error bars are pretty large (bigger than your data point prob.).

Of course this does not stop market surveys.