[ I'm reviewing this book because I liked it, but also for a larger reason which will become evident here, and in the weeks ahead. ] [ Also, in case you missed it: Part 1 — Part 2  — Part 3 ] Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique by John Gribbin What’s So Special About Us? When you think about it, just our one solar system alone is evidence of the rarity of our type of life. Out of the presumed trillion or so objects orbiting the Sun (counting the planets, asteroids, the … [Read more...]

[ I'm reviewing this book because I liked it, but also for a larger reason which will become evident at the end of Part 3 of the review, and in the weeks ahead. ] [ Also, in case you missed it: Part 1 — Part 2 ] Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique by John Gribbin What’s So Special About the Earth? Well, for one thing, it was once a great deal smaller, a solitary planet with no moon, until it served as a target for a Mars-sized object. Billiard balls might collide and rebound, … [Read more...]

[ I'm reviewing this book because I liked it, but also for a larger reason which will become evident at the end of Part 3 of the review, and in the weeks ahead. ] [ Also, in case you missed it: Part 1 ] Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique by John Gribbin Asked about the likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, or in the galaxy, or in the neighborhood (of a size for technologically-conceivable visits), most of us here would say it was possible. We wish it to be, … [Read more...]

Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique by John Gribbin From the dust cover: John Gribbin is one of today’s greatest writers of popular science and the author of bestselling books, including In Search of the Multiverse, In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, and Science: A History. He trained as an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and is now Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex. Regarding life in the universe, I some years back concluded on my own that life is not … [Read more...]