Best book about life on other planets?

spaced

Hi All

I am about to go on holiday and need an intriging book.  Ive heard that Carl Sagan's Intelligent Life in the Universe is a good book, but it dates back to the 80s.  What others offer a more up to date view and equally good read?

Thanks!

DPinBucks

Go with Sagan, for a start at least.  He was a superb writer and will put it all in context.

In fact, perhaps surprisingly, there hasn't been much development in these ideas since his day.  We've finally nailed the question of other planets, which was still open when he wrote, but haven't really got much further in thinking through the implications, such as how frequently life has got started or whether 'intelligence' will inevitably arise.

To be honest, I haven't come across any more recent books I could recommend, but that for sure doesn't mean there aren't any.  I suggest you use the Sagan book as a 'grounding', then decide how you want to take it further; unless of course others can make more useful suggestions.  One writer you might care to look up is Lovelock, with his Gaia hypotheses, which is another slant on biodiversity.  He's a good, but imo not great, writer.  Dawkins' Blind Watchmaker or Selfish Gene are superb introductions to evolution, without his later over-strident atheism.

spaced

Thanks very much!

fluxo

Alien life hasn't changed much since the eighties.

spaced

True but theories on planets have

EndlessWaves

Yeah, but it's a big universe. Knowing what sorts of planets will be more common only changes the picture on distribution of life across the universe, not the types of life that may arise.

The work on genetics since the 80s may have provided more insight, but I think the major breakthroughs in understanding are still to come there.

If you don't have much of a background in biology then you may enjoy some biomechanics books on earth life that explore why things here work the way they do. I found Trees: Their Natural History by Peter Thomas to be a very interesting read about how trees work.

fluxo

A little known fact is that trees communicate using a form of semaphore. It's not easy to see because the branch movements are slow. Each tree sentence may be a year or more in expression.