Publishers Weekly
11/09/2020
Intelligent life is out there—or at least its cast-off equipment is—and it’s time earthlings dealt with it, argues Harvard physicist Loeb (The First Galaxies in the Universe) in this contentious manifesto. The author’s concerns are twofold: first, he believes there is evidence for extraterrestrial life. Second, he posits that humans aren’t prepared to accept that fact. This survey, then, is a brief on alien life and its implications for humanity. Loeb bases his case on ‘Oumuamua, an interstellar object that baffled scientists when it appeared in 2017. Based on its shape, brightness, and trajectory, Loeb proposes it could be a reflective light sail made by extraterrestrial life. While his advice on how to find inhabited exoplanets is often ingenious (“one can distinguish an artificial source of light by the way it dims as it recedes from us”), less cogent is his attack on astronomical orthodoxy, which he considers too dismissive of research into extraterrestrial intelligence. He suggests that finding extraterrestrial life will help cure human arrogance and self-destructiveness: aliens, he contends, are likely to be “superior being” who can reveal “the meaning of life,” though he also speculates they could turn out to be existentialists who believe that “life is absurd.” Loeb’s thought-provoking work of popular science will entertain those who wonder if humans are alone in the universe. Photos. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system. Part graceful memoir and part plea for keeping an open mind about the possibilities of what is out there in the universe—in particular, life. Loeb is one of the more imaginative and articulate scientists around . . . Half memoir, half soaring monologue.” — New York Times
“So interesting… I recommend [Extraterrestrial] to people who have any interest in this extraordinary subject of life existing in other places than on Earth.” — William Shatner
"Well-written and compelling." — Forbes
"Loeb makes a persuasive scientific argument about ‘Oumuamua’s otherworldly origins." — New York magazine
“A tantalizing, probing inquiry into the possibilities of alien life.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Ingenious . . . Loeb’s thought-provoking work of popular science will entertain those who wonder if humans are alone in the universe.” — Publishers Weekly
“Part survey of thrilling new discoveries, part memoir of a restless intellect and part polemical airing of grievances, this curious volume from Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb challenges readers—and Loeb's contemporaries in the sciences—to take seriously the likelihood that we are not alone in the universe.” — Shelf Awareness
“It's good to be skeptical of audacious ideas. But it's also important to be open to audacious possibilities, and to think through their ramifications. Avi Loeb's sumptuously written book will provoke you to think about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe in new and stimulating ways.” — Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime
“‘There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy,’ Hamlet tells Horatio. In this passionately argued, visionary book, astrophysicist Avi Loeb urges us to abandon the arrogant fantasy that we are the only sentient life form in the universe. He proposes that ‘Oumaumua, an anomalous interstellar object first sighted on October 19, 2017, was a piece of extraterrestrial technological equipment. The clues, as Loeb carefully reviews them, are fascinating, and still more are his arguments for what they might reveal to us about our own brilliant, blinkered, and quite possibly doomed civilization.” — Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
“In this well written and accessible book, a leading astronomer gives a provocative and thrilling account of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, with emphasis on his own imaginative ideas. Above all, Professor Loeb asks us to think big and to expect the unexpected.” — Alan Lightman, New York Times bestselling author of Einstein’s Dreams and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine
“An exciting and eloquent case that we might have seen a sign of intelligent life near Earth—and that we should search further. As a world-renowned scientist and an innovative thinker, Avi Loeb opens your mind to some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and convinces you that scientific curiosity is key to our future success.” — Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder, 23andMe
Shelf Awareness
Part survey of thrilling new discoveries, part memoir of a restless intellect and part polemical airing of grievances, this curious volume from Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb challenges readers—and Loeb's contemporaries in the sciences—to take seriously the likelihood that we are not alone in the universe.”
New York magazine
"Loeb makes a persuasive scientific argument about ‘Oumuamua’s otherworldly origins."
Forbes
"Well-written and compelling."
William Shatner
So interesting… I recommend [Extraterrestrial] to people who have any interest in this extraordinary subject of life existing in other places than on Earth.”?
Alan Lightman
In this well written and accessible book, a leading astronomer gives a provocative and thrilling account of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, with emphasis on his own imaginative ideas. Above all, Professor Loeb asks us to think big and to expect the unexpected.”
Sean Carroll
It's good to be skeptical of audacious ideas. But it's also important to be open to audacious possibilities, and to think through their ramifications. Avi Loeb's sumptuously written book will provoke you to think about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe in new and stimulating ways.”
New York Times
In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system. Part graceful memoir and part plea for keeping an open mind about the possibilities of what is out there in the universe—in particular, life. Loeb is one of the more imaginative and articulate scientists around . . . Half memoir, half soaring monologue.”
Stephen Greenblatt
‘There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy,’ Hamlet tells Horatio. In this passionately argued, visionary book, astrophysicist Avi Loeb urges us to abandon the arrogant fantasy that we are the only sentient life form in the universe. He proposes that ‘Oumaumua, an anomalous interstellar object first sighted on October 19, 2017, was a piece of extraterrestrial technological equipment. The clues, as Loeb carefully reviews them, are fascinating, and still more are his arguments for what they might reveal to us about our own brilliant, blinkered, and quite possibly doomed civilization.”
MARCH 2021 - AudioFile
In this audiobook, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb takes listeners through the beguiling interstellar mystery surrounding “Oumuamua”—a not easily identified object that was observed in our solar system in 2017. Like all good detectives, Loeb unravels every clue and eliminates all but one explanation for Oumuamua’s odd shape, spin, non-gravitational acceleration, and luminosity: It is a piece of alien technology. Robert Petkoff’s fast narration builds suspense without racing past the technical details. He reflects Loeb’s intellectual heft and giddy curiosity, as well as his steady confidence in the face of academic opposition. From Galileo to SETI, Loeb describes unconventional ideas that have been derided and dismissed. Listeners are left to decide for themselves the implications of ignoring a potential first contact with intelligent alien life. J.T. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-09-24
Have we been visited by aliens?
Harvard astronomer Loeb believes we have, basing his assertion on “evidence…collected over eleven days, starting on October 19, 2017,” at a Hawaiian observatory. That’s when the author, the director of the Black Hole Initiative and the Institute for Theory and Computation, and his fellow scientists unexpectedly observed the “first known interstellar visitor.” It was a small object: “highly luminous, oddly tumbling, with a 91 percent probability of being disk-shaped.” Moving roughly 58,900 miles per second, it “passed through our solar system and, without visible outgassing, smoothly accelerated from a path that deviated from the force of the sun’s gravity alone.” Loeb and his colleagues named it “Oumuamua,” a Hawaiian word that roughly translates to scout. Though the scientific debate continues, writes the author, “the likelihood of scientists ever observing demonstrable proof is very remote.” Loeb meticulously analyzes the evidence they have so far: No “confirmed interstellar object had ever been observed in our solar system,” and it wasn’t a comet or asteroid. Further research revealed that it rotated every eight hours and was approximately 100 yards long and less than 10 yards wide. Its unique, “smooth and steady” acceleration and deviation from the sun led the author to a hypothesis that charmed the media but generated “intense controversy and pushback” from other scientists. Loeb also delves into the object’s spin rate, unchanging rotation, and the possibility that it might be another civilization’s space hardware. After all, we’ve been “junking-up” space for years. Loeb issues a clarion call for a team of astro-archaeologists to increase research into possible alien life; unfortunately, the “conservative scientific community” has always fought against such research. It’s hard to argue with the author’s claim that it’s the “height of arrogance to contend that we are unique,” and he even speculates that life on Earth may be of Martian or interstellar origin.
A tantalizing, probing inquiry into the possibilities of alien life.
