The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars Avi Loeb
252 pages,Hardcover
Published August, 2023 by Mariner Books
One of the coolest moments I have had on my podcast was the episode when I interviewed my favorite Astronomer Avi Loeb. I know not everyone has a favorite astronomer, but I most certainly do. He is an exciting figure in space exploration, at least in the context that can be done researching from the ground. He is also not the most popular person in the field willing to use his intense imagination as a tool in his astronomy tool kit. That sometimes causes eye-rolling by the old guard. Doctor Loeb has a science fiction mind but is not driven to write narratives.
He tells stories in the context of theory and teaching, and he is good at that. That is how he comes up with wild ideas like breakthrough star shot, which are box ideas for sending laser-guided probes to alpha centauri. Or why he courted controversy by insisting and writing a book suggesting Oumuamua was proof that it was technology from extraterrestrial life.
Interstellar is not for me, even though I am a huge Avi Loeb fan. The fact is that I listen to all his interviews so the book doesn't break a ton of new ground for me. One of the main points he is making is that our species needs to become an interstellar species and how we might interact with the wider universe.
Much like Dawn of the Mindful Universe, I think an essay could make this point but it is easier to promote and sell any idea as an entire book. as the dust jacket says "Combining cutting-edge science, physics, and philosophy, Interstellar revolutionizes the approach to our search for extraterrestrial life and our preparation for its discovery."
Indeed and as such if you are a person who values our place in a wider universe, wants to understand our wider universe, and wants to see our species grow up Avi Loeb makes several important points about why and how we could make it there. Important stuff.
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