The senior science writer for Time summarizes current scientific evidence for the presence of life beyond Earth. Lemonick (The Light at the Edge of the Universe, 1993) begins with three brief portraits of scientists engaged in various research projects: the detection of planets around other stars, the chemical analysis of a Martian meteorite, and SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) itself. These “snapshots” of working scientists humanize Lemonick’s subject, allowing him very effectively to present technical material without losing the reader. This is very much an asset, for much of the material is not only technical but comparatively familiar. We learn again of Giordano Bruno’s espousal of multiple life-bearing worlds, for which the Church burned him at the stake; of the Greek philosophers on whom Bruno drew; of the astronomical revolution led by Copernicus and Galileo. The “Drake equation,” which attempts to quantify the possibility of life and of advanced civilizations elsewhere in the universe, is clearly explained, as are the various (still mostly speculative) factors on which its solution is contingent. The current view of the planets of own solar system makes most of them look increasingly inhospitable to life (despite possible life traces in that Martian meteor). But around the end of WWII it became clear that planet formation was probably a more common event than had been previously believed. That set off attempts to find such planets. One series of careful observations involving nearby Barnard’s Star apparently suggested planetary companions; alas, the data turned out to be an artifact of the astronomer’s equipment. But more sophisticated equipment and techniques have in the last few years identified planets around several other stars in our galaxy. This gives the true believers in SETI hopes that the elusive signal from E.T. may yet come. A vivid, clearly written account of cutting-edge science that should appeal to general audiences.
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-684-83294-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1998
A journey to the center of human nature, where the view is not always agreeable.
The most literate popularizer of Darwinism since Thomas Huxley visits evolution’s Dark Side, the front-lines where biological realities clash with cultural idealism, and returns with news both depressing and cheering.
The latest from Barash (Psychology/Univ. of Washington, Seattle; (Madam Bovary’s Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature, 2005, etc.) bristles with evidence of his wide reading in the Western canon. Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Poe, Twain, Hardy, both George and T. S. Eliot, Stephen Crane, Thomas Pynchon, Ian McEwan, Barbara Kingsolver, SpongeBob SquarePants and others make appearances to animate his breezy intellectual tour. Here, too, are Barash’s customary cool critters from elsewhere in the animal kingdom (worms that reprogram the brains of ants, gang-raping male mallards) and sensible explanations of common conundrums (why dogs are easier to toilet-train than humans, why males of all species do most of the murdering). He takes some sly shots at creationists and delivers some heavier body blows to the Bush administration, but he is less interested in piling up the bodies of his adversaries than in exploring the most fundamental questions of human experience. Is it hopeless, he wonders, to attempt to combat our biology? Aren’t our selfish genes always going to trump our social consciences, our stewardship of our families, our communities, our planet? Unfortunately, the case for hopelessness is a compelling one: Humans didn’t spread across and dominate the planet by saying please and thank you. “We are all time-travelers,” Barash writes, “with one foot thrust into the cultural present and the other stuck in the biological past.” However, he notes, we are probably the only species capable of rising above our biology—and we’d better get on with it.
A journey to the center of human nature, where the view is not always agreeable.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-934137-05-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dense but highly readable illustrated history of fire's role in the forging of European civilization. Historian Pyne (Arizona State Univ.) has written several books (World Fire, 1995, etc.) about the impact of fire in such far-flung places as Australia and the Grand Canyon as part of a series he has titled ``Cycle of Fire.'' He now adds a strong entry to this series with this epic look at fire as a cultural artifact from the Neolithic Age to the present day. Pyne ranges from the Arctic to the Mediterranean and from the Urals to the Atlantic in his discussion of early European societies' use of fire in transforming the landscape from its natural state into a mediated, agriculturally useful form. Theologians would later liken this evolution by fire at the hands of humans to a kind of salvation. As Pyne writes, ``the taking of land was proclaimed an act of reclamation from its fallen state.'' Elsewhere he considers the role of natural fire as a shaping force in settlement patterns, paying special attention to France and Germany, where frequent fire-related catastrophes led to advances in silviculture. A generous use of asides enlivens Pyne's discussions yet sometimes threatens to drown readers in detail. Among other topics, the author addresses the development of safety matches in the 1850s, an invention that changed fire from a near-sacred element to yet another ``industrially mass-produced object, alienated from ancient associations, an act no longer dependent on intimate skill.'' He gives us a leisurely view of ``the unholy trinity of money, politics, and firefighting,'' citing imperial Rome as a case in point. And he considers the employment of fire during war and revolution, leading to the not-unreasonable European obsession with ``fire as a villain.'' A learned and ingenious book, likely to be influential in the history of humankind's relationship with the environment. (65 illustrations, maps)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-295-97596-2
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Univ. of Washington
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1997
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