Here Be Dragons - The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life (gnv64)

Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life
by David Koerner and Simon LeVay
Oxford University Press | November 2001 | ISBN-10: 019514600X | PDF | 280 pages | 16.2 mb
http://www.amazon.com/Here-Be-Dragons-Scientific-Extraterrestrial/dp/019514600X

In Here Be Dragons, astronomer David Koerner and neurobiologist Simon LeVay offer a scientifically compelling and colorful account of the search for life beyond Earth.
The authors survey the work of biologists, cosmologists, computer theorists, NASA engineers, SETI researchers, roboticists, and UFO enthusiasts and debunkers as they attempt to answer the greatest remaining question facing humankind: Are we alone? From their "safe haven of skepticism" the authors venture into the "rough seas of speculation," where theory and evidence run the gamut from hard science to hocus pocus. Arguing that the universe is spectacularly suited for the evolution of living creatures, Koerner and LeVay give us ringside seats at the great debates of Big Science. The contentious arguments about what really happens in evolution, the acrimonious UFO controversy, and the debate over intelligence versus artificial intelligence shed new light on the wildly divergent claims about the universe and life's place in it.

About the Authors

Simon LeVay is a British-born neuroscientist turned writer. He is best known for a 1991 study, published in Science, which reported on a difference in brain structure between gay and straight men. He has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and the Salk Institute in San Diego, but he now lives in Los Angeles. Among his 12 published books are several on sex. His most recent book is a historical novel.
David Koerner is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
1 Origins: How Life on Earth Began 11
2 Going to Extremes: The Habitats and Requirements for Life 39
3 The Incredible Shrinking Martians: Searching for Life in the Solar System 63
4 The Death and Life of Stars: Organic Molecules and the Evolution of Solar Systems 91
5 The Planet Finders: Searching for Life Beyond the Sun 109
6 What Happens in Evolution? Chance and Necessity in the Origin of Biological Complexity 131
7 SETI: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 159
8 Dreamland: The Science and Religion of UFOs 183
9 Exotica: Life as We Don't Know It 195
10 Many Worlds: Cosmology and the Anthropic Principle 219
Conclusions 237
Notes 247
Index 257