The Science of Aliens

by Clifford A. Pickover

Book Overview

If extraterrestrials ever landed on Earth, they would find us extremely strange. Their first intimation of our existence might well be a Super Bowl broadcast or a stray transmission from the Playboy... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 046507314X
• ISBN13: 9780465073146
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Never Mess with the Little Guy

About a third of the thickness of a standard novel (but still 276 pages of information before you get to the notes and index sections), Dr. Pickover has done a magnificent job. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy this book. A lot of the stuff I had known about, but he brought science (or snippets of it and hints at more tantalizing information for me to research) to them I didn't quite have. Some stuff I knew about but forget to think about, such as the umwelt of other creatures compared to my own simian-centric views. And quite a lot of stuff I never heard about at all before. He covers enough to give you the drift and get you excited, then makes some proposals about where Terran examples might be extended to their alien analogs. Well written, humorous, and well worth the price. And on top of that, when I sent him an e-mail asking a question about how humans acquire proper stomach bacteria from their mothers (as we don't eat our parents' feces as some species do), he replied within a couple of hours and gave me links to the information as well as some storyline suggestions. A great book from a nice guy.

Great book! Highly recommended!

I just finished reading The Science of Aliens. It is a fascinating read for those interested in exobiology and such things. Cliff has obviously done his research and spent a considerable amount of time pondering the issues related to the topic. This is not just a collection of speculations on what aliens might be like. For each supposition, you get real life examples of creatures right here on Earth who exhibit some of these very same characteristics and behaviors. And, since a picture is worth a thousand words, Cliff has included a number of artists' renderings, which are extremely helpful in picturing the descriptions. To anyone who is considering this title, I highly recommend it!

Generates a sense of wonder

Dr Clifford Pickover's book "Science of Aliens" evokes a sense of wonder often absent in much so called science *fiction* these days, especially the political wranglings of humans dressed in funny rubber make up kits in Star Trek, X Files or Babylon 5.He discusses issues such as whether aliens will offer humanity immortality as means of subduing our warlike nature. Even more mind stretching is the possibility that when all matter is exhausted in the universe after 10^100 years, there will still exist a "diffuse sea of electrons". He evokes questions such as: Could these be arranged into structures to contain the intelligence of immortals left over from the age of matter? Could these structures simulate universes of matter that appear to their inhabitants to be like the universe we currently inhabit? On the basis that most of the lifespan of the universe will be spent in this state, it is in fact more probable that we inhabit such a simulation than the real thing!Dr Pickover speculates further about way life could survive in this post-matter age of the universe in "Science of Aliens".Science of Aliens is an easy fun to read type of book. It may not be the first book to touch on each topic within it, but it does collect them together in a format and with a title to attract new readers into thinking about.

Fantastic

Anyone interested in the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life will love this book. Rarely does one find a book with such insight, breadth, and beauty. My favorite chapter is "Alien Sex" which actually taught me a lot about the bizarre sexual behaviors and anatomies of Earth creatures. One of the figures shows magnifications of sperm from various Earth animals, which should fascinate readers because of the incredible diversity. Another favorite chapter deals with how we would communicate with aliens. Cliff Pickover gives the reader a number of difficult tests -- hypothetical mathematical signals beamed to Earth by aliens. He asks us if we can decode them. My friends and I are still working on the following test: "Aliens are waiting for humanity to replace the question mark with the next value in the sequence before they will consider us worthy for further communication: 77, 49, 36, 18, ?" The answers are in the back of the book, but we're trying to solve them without looking. The book's concluding words will send a shiver up your spine.

Mind-boggling, scientifc speculation. Great alien images!

I was able to get an advance copy of Cliff Pickover's "Science of Aliens." Spectacular! The drawings of aliens are wonderful and stimulate the imagination. The innovative scientific speculation on extraterrestrial life, alien biologies, alien abduction, the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI), and alien psychology make this book appeal to a general audience. The pictures excited my ten-year-old, as did the references to science fiction in the movies. Seasoned scientists will appreciate all the hard science and deep research that Pickover had to do in order to consider what aliens might look like. He shows a broad knowledge of the bizarre creatures that already inhabit our planet. There are even some extraterrestrial messages in the book for readers to decode. I definitely recommend this book to teachers (middle school through college) who want to stimulate their students who show an interest in biology and animal life. Buy this book and feed you brain. You'll definitely not feel the same once you finish this book which lingers in the mind long after other books are long forgotten.