POSSIBILITY OF LIFE: Searching For Kinship In The Cosmos

'Takes the reader on an utterly gripping, endlessly surprising voyage from the 'hopeful monsters' of early multicellular organisms to the records of human existence hurtling beyond the edge of our solar system.' - Leslie Jamison. For fans of Brian Cox and Carl Zimmer, here is a dazzling scientific and cultural adventure through our ideas about extraterrestrial life and the cosmos. The book traces our scientific understanding of what and where life in the universe could be, from Galileo and Copernicus through to our current tracking of exoplanets in the 'Goldilocks zone', where life akin to ours on Earth might exist. Jaime Green studies insights from a long tradition of science fiction to extrapolate worlds, in turn inspiring scientists and their research. Bringing together expert interviews, cutting-edge astronomy, philosophical enquiry and pop culture touchstones ranging from 'A Wrinkle in Time' to Star Trek to the writings of Ursula K Le Guin, the book asks What does it mean to be human? An exciting adventure into the prospect of extraterrestrial encounters and a strange, funny and accessible piece of popular science. 304pp, fairly large print.