The Living Cosmos
by Chris Impey
Cambridge University Press
393 Pages, Paperback Edition Updated 2010
I write fiction that speculates about life on other planets, and while my attention to scientific nuts and bolts is far from exhaustive, I take pains to make my creatures and their biology believable. To do that, I read lotsa books about what astrobiologists consider likely in the way of potential alien critters and their could-be worlds. Then, I make stuff up…. (hey, it’s fiction). I especially enjoyed a recent read on the subject: The Living Cosmos by Professor Chris Impey. It’s dense with information, but Impey has a great gift for making data easy to digest. It also covers all the bases in what is a richly interdisciplinary field, drawing on biology, geology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, etc. etc. The book deals roughly with a trio of important areas: the population of habitable planets out there, what it takes for biology to get started and thrive on those possible planets, and just how tough is it for bacterial-level life to get its act together and evolve into something we’d recognize as intelligent. You’ll get a very sound intro to how we think life came about here on our home planet, and then see how that knowledge can be used to think about alien life, in a wide and fascinating array of possible ecologies. There’s also a companion website with plenty of additional stuff to take you farther. All in all, it’s a highly readable, very cool introduction to all things astrobiological for those willing to spend some quality time poking around the nooks and crannies of (fingers crossed!) The Living Cosmos.