The Pale Blue Data Point: An Earth-Based Perspective on the Search for Alien Life

"Here is Willis's fundamental argument: The more we learn about Earth—our one 'pale blue data point' for a planet on which life has definitively arisen—the more qualified we will be to recognize signs of life elsewhere. . . . [A] joyful account."—Steven Poole,The Wall Street Journal

A thrilling tour of Earth that shows the search for extraterrestrial life starts in our own backyard.

Is there life off Earth? Bound by the limitations of spaceflight, a growing number of astrobiologists invest...