LONELY PLANETS: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life David Grinspoon New York: HarperCollins, 2003 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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ISBN 0-06-018540-6 | 440pp. | HC/BWI | $25.95 |
Who would have guessed that Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan would come up with the key that astrobiology needs to fulfill its great quest? Yes, it's true! The clue is right there on page 278 of Dr. Grinspoon's book, when he describes Earth's biosphere as behaving "exuberantly". Previously, he had explained how living worlds are out of kilter, geochemically discombobulated: crusts and mantles churned by tectonic forces, atmospheres aswirl with unstable compounds — in a word, irrational. Well, there you have it! All the scientists have to do is find instances of irrational exuberance, and they'll be home free. I wonder if Dr. Grinspoon has known this all along. Hmmm... Grinspoon — Greenspan: About as similar as Jackson Roykirk and James T. Kirk. Is there more here than meets the eye? Enquiring minds want to know...
But seriously, folks, I hope everyone realizes that I did the preceding paragraph with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. I would have indicated this with an emoticon, but recent surfing experience tells me that emoticons are passé. Dr. Grinspoon has written a serious book, and there's a great deal in it with serious import. But he's put a good deal of whimsy in there as well, and I am whimsifiable.1 When reviewing a book whose cover rips off the ending of the film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and which opens with the immortal "It was a dark and stormy night", how else could I have started? Well, in a different mood, I might have started like so:
The scientific method on which so much of our contemporary world is built relies on two things: the repeatability of phenomena, and the testability or falsifiability of hypotheses. So far so good. But the great success of science has led to scientism — the dogmatic view that science holds all the answers and all of the questions that matter. Dr. Grinspoon rails against scientism, and rightly; being dogmatic, it is antithetical to true science, which holds that everything within its purview is provisional. Is evolution a proven fact? No, it just looks like the best way to explain the life forms we observe. Is the speed of light the ultimate velocity, impossible to surpass? It seems to be, based on a lot of evidence; but scientific investigation has radically changed our conception of the world before, and may do so again.
Think back over the past three or four decades. You'll probably recall that science brought forth a number of radical changes in world-view during this period. Most applied to the very largest scales. The Big Bang became accepted. A fifth force was proposed, then rejected, and now seems to be back, sort of, in the form of dark energy that is causing everything in the universe to move apart faster and faster. Searching somewhat closer to home, we've discovered more than a hundred planets orbiting other stars, and learned enough about our own solar system to know that life thrives (or may survive) in what yesterday we thought were the most unlikely places.
Those places include Mars, Jupiter's large moon Europa, and various volcanic vents, hot springs, and cold dry valleys on our Earth. Dr. Grinspoon is a planetary scientist, so he knows about such discoveries. He tells us about them in this book. His account is breezy, irreverent, idiosyncratic, but never shallow or rambling, and very seldom inaccurate. Into it he drops references to films, music, science-fiction books, and other facets of contemporary culture. All of this makes it an easy and very enjoyable read (and explains why the copies at the Mountain View, CA public library have been on hold since they were purchased.)
But wait; there's more! The book is divided into three parts: History, Science, and Belief. The account of discoveries I've just described is, naturally enough, in the Science section. History traces the unfolding of the concept of a "plurality of worlds" from ancient Greece to the present day. That section reveals some surprising perspicacity — for example that of Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. Writing in 1686, in the wake of the Copernican Revolution, Fontenelle penned a book that discusses the birth and death of stars, life on other worlds, and the types of incredibly hardy creatures we now call extremophiles. Finally, in Belief, Grinspoon sets forth his preparation for a scientific career, his experiences among UFO believers, his present attitudes, and his hopes for the future. Perhaps chief among the latter is the hope that scientists undertaking the search for life elsewhere (which includes both SETI and astrobiology) will tear down the barriers of narrow specialization that walled them apart and embrace a more interdisciplinary approach. He compares this to the way science was practiced before the twentieth century dawned, in the days when it was known as natural philosophy.2
Seldom have I encountered a book which presents as much information in a way that makes it so effortless to absorb. Its narrative is well (if somewhat funkily) complemented by a collection of black and white photographs.3 Annotated recommendations for further reading, an informative list of permissions, and a thorough index round out the book. I recommend it highly. (And I'm more eager than ever to read his first book, Venus Revealed.)
There are some errors of various sorts — but not an unusual number of them. I put those I found on the Errata page, linked below. I also indulged myself trying to pick out all the pop-music references he makes in the text; these are presented on another page. Finally, I made up a page with some comments on the text.