Secret Life of the Universe

Publishes 30/10/2024

Lindsay Hasluck's Review 

Perhaps like me you remember helping the SETI data-crunching with your personal computer back in the 1990s, when the public network of volunteers took the place of the supercomputers we now use. If you feel it’s time for an update on our search for life in the universe, then this soon to be released book is exactly what you’re looking for. Written by SETI astrobiologist and Director of the Carl Sagan Centre, it takes us on a deep dive into our planetary system. Often reading like a geological and chemistry instructional masterpiece, Dr Cabrol guides us through the scientific intricacies of the birth of carbon-based life forms and their likely locations in our solar system, from planets to moons to asteroid belts. She also considers microbiological life forms based on other chemical reactions and how these interplay with the necessary geological systems and formations. Her search then continues beyond our galaxy and further afield, a reworking of the Drake Theory figures bringing new hope for future discoveries. 
 
In the past decades, thousands of planets have been discovered, and even mapped, in our galaxy. The technology behind this remarkable feat has come a long way since the 1990s, with AI accelerating at warp speed. It’s a great time to renew one’s understanding of the parameters of SETI’s search, and to gain insight into the functioning of the new technologies and what this might mean for our immediate future. Cabrol makes a clear distinction between SETI’s search for extra-terrestrial life, the astrobiologists’ search for microbiological life or traces of life, and the UFO phenomenon. An open-minded scientific review of the current knowledge about the possibility of encountering extra-terrestrial life, the book is also an informative and highly readable account of the philosophical changes within this area of science. 
 
The Secret Life of the Universe, with its enticing cover, would make a wonderful gift for both the well-informed and the intellectually curious. I recommend pre-ordering the book for Xmas. 

Publisher's Review 

Over the last few decades, space exploration has revolutionised our understanding of our place in the cosmos. We now know that there are many habitable environments within our solar system. Yet a profound question remains: are we alone in the universe?

Nathalie A. Cabrol, leading astrobiologist and director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, takes us to the frontiers of the search for life. This book’s odyssey begins by searching for how life began on Earth in order to understand what’s necessary for life to exist elsewhere. What role did our Moon play? And could life on Mars, or another world, have seeded life on Earth?

Cabrol continues this dazzling interplanetary tour, illuminating the likeliest places for life in our neighbourhood: Venus, Mars, the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and Pluto. Finally, we seek life beyond our Solar System, looking at the recent revolution in the night sky: the realisation that there are millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life.

The Secret Life of the Universe is both a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the latest discoveries and an awe-inspiring exploration of what this means for us as humans on Earth today. It’s an exhilarating journey, perfect for anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what might be out there.

‘A mind-altering and exhilarating read’ - Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
 
‘Of all the popular books on the search for life that are now being published, this one is quite special’ - James L. Green, former NASA chief scientist