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 investigate the question by studying life on our planet. Astronomer and author Jon Willis shows us how it's done, allowing readers to envision extraterrestrial landscapes by exploring their closest Earth analogs. With Willis, we dive into the Pacific Ocean from the submersible-equipped E/V Nautilus to ponder the uncharted seas of Saturn's and Jupiter's moons, search the Australian desert for some of Earth's oldest fossils, and consider the prospects for a Martian fossil hunt, visit mountaintop observatories in Chile to search for the tell-tale twinkle of extrasolar planets, and eavesdrop on dolphins in the Bahamas to imagine alien minds.
With investigations ranging from meteorite hunting to exoplanet detection, Willis conjures up alien worlds and unthought-of biological possibilities, speculating what life might look like on other planets by extrapolating from what we can see on Earth, our single "pale blue dot"—as Carl Sagan famously called it—or, in Willis's reframing, scientists' "pale blue data point."
Table of Contents:
Preface
1 The Pale Blue Data Point
2 Twenty Thousand Pings Under the Sea: In Search of Alien Oceans
3 Swimming with Stromatolites: The Hunt for Martian Fossils
4 The Arc of the Firmament: Mapping Exoplanets
5 To Catch a Falling Star: Meteorites and the Clues to Earth’s Origin as a Life-Bearing Planet
6 So Long and Thanks for All the Fish: A Dolphin-Led Guide to Alien Communication
Acknowledgments
Further Travels
Index
About the Author :
Jon Willis is professor of astronomy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia where he studies both the properties of the universe we live in and the formation of life within it. He is the author of All These Worlds Are Yours: The Scientific Search for Alien Life.
Review :
"[Willis's] book brilliantly explains the technical details of astronomy and robotic space exploration—including missions to retrieve samples of asteroids, and the discovery of vast subsurface oceans in the frozen moons of Jupiter and Saturn—but he also wants to show what his science looks like ‘in the field,’ and so he takes the reader with him to marvel at large observatory telescopes in the Andes, to Morocco to scour the desert for meteorites, and on board a ship that uses submersibles to probe hot volcanic vents in the deep ocean floor. . . . 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.”
"Five stars. . . . The most fascinating and eye-opening book about extraterrestrial life that I’ve read for a long time."
“In 1990, before it left the Solar System, Voyager 1 took an image of Earth famously described by astronomer Carl Sagan as a ‘pale blue dot.’ Astronomer Willis refers to Earth as a ‘pale blue data point’ instead, and takes the reader from deep in the Pacific Ocean to observatories in Chile that examine exoplanets. He writes about how ‘at certain places, whether they be wind-blown deserts, the ocean’s depths, advanced laboratories, or mountaintop observatories, Earth also offers clues as to the prospects for life beyond it.’”
"Absolutely riveting. . . . If you have an interest in astrobiology, astronomy, biology, Earth science, or simply enjoy reading a book that will cause you to say 'Wow!' with great regularity whilst reading it, I very much encourage you to read The Pale Blue Data Point for yourself. After having done so, I very much doubt that you’ll ever look up into the night sky ever again and not find your mind filled with new questions, curiosities, and dreams of what may one day be found on one of those glittering—perhaps red, perhaps green, perhaps even blue—dots."
"What Willis wants to do is to look at the ways we can use facilities and discoveries here on Earth to make our suppositions as tenable as possible. To that end, he travels over the globe seeking out environs as diverse as the deep ocean’s black smokers, the meteorite littered sands of Morocco’s Sahara and Chile’s high desert. It's a lively read. . . . It’s also a heartening work, because in the end the sense of life’s tenacity in all the environments Willis studies cannot help but make the reader optimistic. "
“The underlying theme of the book rings true: to search for life beyond Earth, we have to understand life on Earth and what lessons it can offer for what to look for elsewhere, from fossils on Mars to biosignatures of telltale gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets. We may—in a year or a decade or longer—finally find that firm evidence that we are not alone. For now, we are that solitary pale blue dot in a bleak cosmos.”
"Very readable and accessible. . . . Worth a look."
“The search for alien life actually begins right in our own backyard. . . . Willis investigates the question 'Is there life off Earth?' by joining astrobiologists to study life right here on our planet. By envisioning extraterrestrial landscapes through the exploration of Earth’s closest analogs, Willis conjures up alien worlds and unthought-of biological possibilities, speculating what life might look like on other planets by extrapolating from what we can see on Earth.”
“Stimulating. . . . The book shines in its attention to scale, shifting with ease between sensory-rich observations drawn from life, microhistories of major scientific personalities and engineering marvels, and technical descriptions. . . . Rich with firsthand fieldwork and unexpected connections, The Pale Blue Data Point is a thorough primer on humanity’s centuries-long search for alien life in the observable universe.”
“The Pale Blue Data Point is goosebump inducing. Willis grapples with deep questions about our place in the universe, and readers may be astonished to learn that the answers could be breathtakingly close at hand.”
“Willis’s book is quite novel: He shows how the search for life in the cosmos is guided by our studies of life on Earth. And he does so with anecdotes of his own travels to experience the different Earth-bound investigations—of life in hydrothermal vents, fossilized bacteria, exoplanets, traces in meteorites, and more—which makes the book extremely fun. An enlightening read (even as a physicist), The Pale Blue Data Point is a charming, compelling, and approachable look at how scientists are hunting beyond the Earth for life unknown to us.”
“A lively introduction to the field of astrobiology.”
“[Willis] conveys great enthusiasm alongside necessary scientific skepticism.”
“Energizing. . . . Through humorous, concise, accessible writing, Willis eloquently presents the growing—though still circumstantial—evidence that we are not alone.”
“A concise overview of astrobiology and what we know—and, more importantly, what we don’t—about the search for life elsewhere in our solar system and beyond.”
