Talking About Life: Conversations on Astrobiology is a book of interviews between astronomer Chris Impey and leading researchers in the effort to understand life on Earth and discover habitable worlds and biology beyond Earth. The book is a snapshot of a fast-moving interdisciplinary field, with a conversational tone, where researchers describe what they do in their own words and convey the excitement of addressing fundamental questions about the universe.
The first section has a range of perspectives on the general topic of life in the universe. Timothy Ferris, noted writer and journalist, talks about being involved in the planning for the Voyager record and on astrobiology in the popular culture.[1]Steven Dick[2] and Iris Fry talk about the history of the search for life in the universe and the history of theories of the origin of life on Earth, respectively. Ann Druyan discusses her long association with Carl Sagan and her work in science education.[3]Neil Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, talks about our halting progress in space travel and the prospects for venturing to find life among the stars.[4]George “Pinky” Nelson gives an astronaut’s perspective on life on Earth and elsewhere,[5] and Steve Benner[6] and William Bains[7] speculate on altering the architecture of life on Earth and on how strange life beyond Earth may be.
The next section of the book covers the fast-moving research on planets around other stars. Alan Boss[22] discusses the theory of extrasolar planets or exoplanets, and ace planet-hunters Debra Fischer[23] and Geoff Marcy[24] talk about their properties and the technical innovations that led to their discovery. Sara Seager summarizes efforts to characterize exoplanets in detail,[25][26] and David Charbonneau talks about the power of the transit method for detecting low mass and Earth-like planets.[27] Last, Vicky Meadows describes how planet models will be used to predict the spectral biomarkers that could indirectly indicate the presence of microbial life on an exoplanet.
Talking About Life ends with the search for intelligent life (SETI) and speculation about the role of life in the universe. Jill Tarter[28] and Seth Shostak[29] describe the strategies that have been used to listen for artificial signal from technological civilizations far from Earth for over fifty years, so far without success. Ray Kurzweil[30] talks about postbiological evolution and Nick Bostrom[31] talks about transhumanism and the odds that the entire universe, and our sense of it and ourselves, is a simulation by a super-intelligent civilization. Next, Paul Davies[32] and Martin Rees[33] talk about fine-tuning and the anthropic principle, which each indicate that biology has a privileged role in the cosmos. To round out the book with a humanistic perspective, Ben Bova[34] talks about our future in space and Jennifer Michael Hecht[35] rekindles our delight in alien yet familiar life on Earth.