…engaging and accessible…Frank's interesting new idea is to combine a history of climate change on Earth with recent astronomical data indicating the likelihood of a vast number of habitable planets in the universe, to suggest that we can strengthen our resolve to kick our bad environmental habits by viewing our terrestrial civilization from a cosmic perspective…Light of the Stars traverses a wide terrain of geological, biological and astronomical science, with emphasis on the history of terrestrial climate change and the factors causing those changes, and includes portraits of such scientists as Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Lynn Margulis and others. Frank enlivens the text with his passion, opinions and even some of his own projections of our possible fates. He is also a good storyteller.
Light of the Stars is science at the grandest of scales, and it tells a radically new story about what we are: one world in a universe awash in planets. Building on his widely discussed scientific papers and New York Times op-eds, astrophysicist Adam Frank shows that not only is it likely that alien civilizations have existed many times before, but also that many of them have driven their own worlds into dangerous eras of change. He explains how dust storms on Mars, the greenhouse effect on Venus, Gaia Theory, the threat of nuclear winter, and efforts to prove or disprove the plurality of worlds from Aristotle to Copernicus to Carl Sagan have contributed to our understanding of our place in the universe and the growing challenge of climate change. And he raises what may be the largest question of all: If there has been life on other worlds, what can its presence tell us about our own fate?
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Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
Light of the Stars is science at the grandest of scales, and it tells a radically new story about what we are: one world in a universe awash in planets. Building on his widely discussed scientific papers and New York Times op-eds, astrophysicist Adam Frank shows that not only is it likely that alien civilizations have existed many times before, but also that many of them have driven their own worlds into dangerous eras of change. He explains how dust storms on Mars, the greenhouse effect on Venus, Gaia Theory, the threat of nuclear winter, and efforts to prove or disprove the plurality of worlds from Aristotle to Copernicus to Carl Sagan have contributed to our understanding of our place in the universe and the growing challenge of climate change. And he raises what may be the largest question of all: If there has been life on other worlds, what can its presence tell us about our own fate?
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Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170185849 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HighBridge Company |
| Publication date: | 06/12/2018 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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