Product Description

The Quest To Discover Life Beyond Earth.

"The ′dreams′ that I write of are not the usual ones, the images that come up in our minds involuntarily during certain stages of sleep, but rather the hopes and expectations that we have lavished upon other worlds around us."–from the Preface.

The surprisingly long history of debate over extraterrestrial life is full of marvelous visions of what life "out there" might be like, as well as remarkable stories of alleged sightings and heated disputes about the probability that life might actually have arisen more than once. In Planetary Dreams, acclaimed author Robert Shapiro explores this rich history of dreams and debates in search of the best current answers to the most elusive and compelling of all questions: Are we alone?

In his pursuit, he presents three contrasting views regarding how life might have started: through Divine Creation, by a highly unlikely stroke of luck, or by the inevitable process of a natural law that he terms the Life Principle. We are treated to a lively fictional dinner debate among the leading proponents of these schools of thought–with the last named group arguing that life has almost surely formed in many places throughout the universe, and the others that life may well be entirely unique to our own blue planet. To set the stage for a deep exploration of the question, the author then leads us on a fantastic journey through the museum of the cosmos, an imagined building that holds models of the universe at different degrees of magnification. We then journey deep into inner space to view the astonishingly intricate life of a single cell, and learn why the origin of such a complex object from simple chemical mixtures poses one of the most profound enigmas known to science.

Writing in a wonderfully entertaining style, Shapiro then reviews the competing theories about the start of life on Earth, and suggests the debate may best be settled by finding signs of life on the other worlds of our solar system. He takes us on a guided tour of the most likely sites, from the underground hot springs of Mars to the ice–covered oceans of Jupiter′s airless moons.

Along the way, he shares a wealth of fascinating stories about the ways in which our views of the heavens have changed, from the theories of ancient philosphers, who argued that the Moon was inhabited, to the current Origins and Astrobiology initiatives of NASA. He describes the probes that will be sent out in the near future in pursuit of the first compelling physical evidence of life beyond Earth, and concludes with a radical suggestion about how this quest might be supported through the next millennium. As we launch into an exciting new era of space exploration, Planetary Dreams offers a thoughtful and entertaining exploration of both the history of our hopes and expectations and a vision of a possible future in which the discovery of life elsewhere will provide a new view of our place in the universe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1549177 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Are we alone, literally freaks of nature, just one planet of living, breathing things amidst a seemingly infinite, lifeless desert? This is one of the big questions posed by human nature, one that we have traditionally looked to religion to answer, but that is now coming within the grasp of science. Despite--or perhaps because--of this, we find increasing opposition to allocating resources to space exploration. Biochemist Robert Shapiro is an unabashed supporter of this research and his book Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth is both a compelling response to the stay-at-homes and a pleasantly readable overview of what we know and don't know about the origin of life here and elsewhere.

Contrasting those who believe in special creation or a cosmic fluke that produced life only once with adherents to a life principle that favours its development wherever conditions suffice, Shapiro suggests that the best way to resolve the issue is simple: let's go looking. He feels that the importance of this question to most people has been underrated by those who (nobly) want to meet our basic needs here on earth before we take off for new worlds, and that we can accommodate everyone by shifting burdens of research funding and reinspiring the public with a new emphasis on this work as a search for meaning. Whether or not his ideas will move us forward, the lively, thoughtful Planetary Dreams is one of the best starting points for learning about the search for the origins of life here and, maybe, out there. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com

Review
"A book for everyone who has the slightest curiousity about our role in the cosmos."––Hugh Downs, ABC News, 20/20

"The broadest and, in a philosophical sense, the deepest book to examine the question of the origins of life in the universe... A wise, kindly, and beautifully written book, PLANETARY DREAMS sets forth a vision of a truly human and humane future and a hope for a richly inhabited universe."––Ben Bova, six–time Hugo Award–winner and past president of the National Space Society

"If you are interested in the search for extraterrestrial life...then PLANETARY DREAMS is a must read. Delightfully written."––Louis D. Friedman, executive Director, The Planetary Society.

"Combining many narrative elements, including a description of his fanciful institution, the Museum of the Cosmos, Shapiro′s imaginative, multifaceted work should meet the yearnings of space enthusiasts and of the wider public, as Carl Sagan′s books did."––Booklist

Review
"A book for everyone who has the slightest curiousity about our role in the cosmos."––Hugh Downs, ABC News, 20/20

Customer Reviews

Interesting but ultimately disappointing
This book is interesting for a number of reasons, not least because it gives a reasoned and logical explanation of the weaknesses in the conventionally accepted modern theories of the origins of life, but without giving ground to the creationists or other pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo merchants. But overall I found this book disappointing because at the end of it, I was still unclear as to what Shapiro's "Cosmic Evolution" or "Life Principle" actually is. The author is obviously passionate about what he believes, but unfortunately he's also rather vague. If you're a biochemist or a chemist (like me) you will find some of the book annoying because it's so simplistic it's patronising. On the other hand, if you've got no scientific training at all, chances are you'll find this a very helpful insight into how living things work on the molecular level. Overall, I'm impressed by the author's passion, but I'd still describe myself as a 'hopeful Sour Lemon'.

An excellent book for non-scientists and scientists alike
I would recommend that those who think space research to be a waste of time &/or money read this book. It is clearly written, and is obviously intended to be easily understood by readers with little or no scientific background. There is plenty of material on the history of the topic of extra-terrestrial life, although a little more discussion on likely sites within this solar system would have been good, even though there are not much hard data to go on. The authors thoughts on the "Life Principle" deserve serious consideration, whatever one's religion may be.

A wonderful discusion of searching for life in the universe.
Reading Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth was an exquisite pleasure for me. I couldn't skip forward to the chapters on solar system exploration because I wanted to enjoy every last single word. I have always believed that it was possible to express important scientific ideas so they could be easily understood, but Bob Shapiro has shown how really well it can be done. The different technical areas involved in exploring the planets for life are well explained for the non-specialist. Professor Shapiro has reviewed all the pertinent scientific areas, astronomy, chemistry, biology, computational complexity, and more. And he includes the ideas of an amazing number of authors - Aristotle and Asimov, Bradbury and von Braun, Clarke and Copernicus, Dante and Darwin, and on and on.

My initial interest in the book Planetary Dreams was professional. I work at NASA and am involved in Astrobiology, the search for life in the universe. Dr. Robert Shapiro is well known in this area because of his work on understanding the origins of life and developing methods to search for nonterrestrial life. Exotic life in our solar system may not be based on carbon or use water as a solvent.

By reading Planetary Dreams, I have gained a better, firmer, clearer, wider understanding of the scientific world view. I can easily imagine a reader having his or her life changed by reading this book. I was so interested in Planetary Dreams that I postponed seeing the new Star Wars movie until after I finished the book. And Planetary Dreams is better entertainment and much better philosophy than the movie, and it indicates a worthy future quest for the human race. I loved every word. Everyone interested in life and the universe should read this book.