Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars

“A definitive guide to astronomy’s hottest field.” —The Economist

Since its formation nearly five billion years ago, our planet has been the sole living world in a vast and silent universe. But over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered thousands of “exoplanets,” including some that could be similar to our own world, and the pace of discovery is accelerating.

In a fascinating account of this unfolding revolution, Lee Billings draws on interviews with the world’s top experts in the...