Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Introduction xvii
Section 1 Our Local Environment
Chapter 1 Wonderful Eclipses 1
Chapter 2 At Home on a Data Recorder 21
Chapter 3 Peering Down 45
Chapter 4 Peering Up 65
Chapter 5 The Pale Blue Dot in Relief 81
Chapter 6 Our Helpful Neighbors 103
Section 2 The Broader Universe
Chapter 7 Star Probes 119
Chapter 8 Our Galactic Habitat 143
Chapter 9 Our Place in Cosmic Time 169
Chapter 10 A Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Discovery 195
Section 3 Implications
Chapter 11 The Revisionist History of the Copernican Revolution 221
Chapter 12 The Copernican Principle 247
Chapter 13 The Anthropic Disclaimer 259
Chapter 14 SETI and the Unraveling of the Copernican Principle 275
Chapter 15 A Universe Designed for Discovery 293
Chapter 16 The Skeptical Rejoinder 313
Conclusion: Reading the Book of Nature 331
Appendix A The Revised Drake Equation 337
Appendix B What about Panspermia? 343
Notes 347
Acknowledgments 413
Figure Credits 415
Index 417