Imagined life : a speculative journey among the exoplanets in search of ice creatures, supergravity animals, and intelligent aliens /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The captivating possibilities of extraterrestrial life on exoplanets, based on current scientific knowledge of existing worlds and forms of life

2023 Canopus Awards for Interstellar Writing Finalist

It is now known that we live in a galaxy with more planets than stars. The Milky Way alone encompasses 30 trillion potential home planets. Scientists Trefil and Summers bring readers on a marvelous experimental voyage through the possibilities of life--unlike anything we have experienced so far--that could exist on planets outside our own solar system.

Life could be out there in many forms: on frozen worlds, living in liquid oceans beneath ice and communicating (and even battling) with bubbles; on super-dense planets, where they would have evolved body types capable of dealing with extreme gravity; on tidally locked planets with one side turned eternally toward a star; and even on "rogue worlds," which have no star at all. Yet this is no fictional flight of fancy: the authors take what we know about exoplanets and life on our own world and use that data to hypothesize about how, where, and which sorts of life might develop. Imagined Life is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn how the realities of our universe may turn out to be far stranger than fiction.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. 1)
• 1 The Unexpected Galaxy (p. 5)
• 2 Opportunities and Constraints: A Universe of Laws (p. 11)
• 3 Life: What Is It? (p. 25)
• 4 The Rules of the Game: How Every Living System Has to Work (p. 35)
• 5 Looking for Life: Is It Really Out There? (p. 51)
• 6 Iceheim: Life in the Deep Freeze (p. 65)
• 7 Nova Europa: The Ocean beneath the Ice (p. 81)
• 9 Neptunia: Water, Water Everywhere (p. 93)
• 9 Goldilocks World: Just Like Us (p. 107)
• 10 Halo: Life at the Terminator (p. 117)
• 11 Lonesome: All by Itself (p. 129)
• 12 Big Boy: The Heavy One (p. 143)
• 13 TRAPPIST-I: A Crowded System (p. 155)
• 14 A Closer Look: It Gets Even Stranger (p. 169)
• 15 Life That Is Not Like Us: What If We're Not the Only Kind? (p. 181)
• 16 Life That Is Really Not Like Us: It Can Get Pretty Weird (p. 195)
• 17 Open Questions (p. 211)
• A Final Word (p. 225)
• Index (p. 227)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Following up Exoplanets: Diamond Worlds, Super Earths, Pulsar Planets, and the New Search for Life Beyond Our Solar System, astronomers Trefil and Summers examine how the laws of chemistry and physics would shape the evolution of life and civilization on unusual worlds. Their survey includes an internally heated "snowball," a tidally locked windswept planet, and four (renamed) theoretical celestial bodies featured in their previous work. While cautioning that terrestrial biases might lead us to overlook unusual life forms, the authors openly indulge in "water chauvinism" (even though other liquids might substitute as biochemical solvents elsewhere in the universe) and "chemical chauvinism" (although it's possible that complex structures could evolve through purely electromagnetic processes). Exoplanets' carbon, stellar, and surface chauvinisms also reemerge. NASA's striking "Exoplanet Travel Bureau" graphics and amusing discussions by hidebound space alien academics, incredulous that anything could survive on planets different from theirs, offset a dull chapter enumerating already discovered extrasolar planets. This relatively easy read is an appealing addition to the growing body of recent works addressing the possibility of extraterrestrial life. VERDICT Both popular science and sf readers will enjoy this extrapolative natural history.--Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono

Publishers Weekly Review

Posing a far-reaching question-what will alien life look like when humankind finds it?-the coauthors of Exoplanets explore possible answers in this lively, imaginative, and accessible look at cutting-edge exobiology. The first step for physicist/science writer Trefil, and Summers, a member of NASA's New Horizon mission, is deciding how to define life. The basic definitions are broad, selected to cover every possibility imaginable so far. Next, the authors explore the clues, or "biomarkers," that hint that a planet does-or did-harbor life. With those basics down, the book ranges widely, exploring an exotic variety of hypothetical life that might evolve on everything from Earthlike "Goldilocks" worlds with some surface water, to stormy, entirely water-covered worlds or dark "rogue" planets adrift in space with no home star. The discussion closes with a look at some really alien possibilities-life evolving in methane or ammonia instead of water, or inorganic life based on metals instead of carbon. Throughout, the spirited, nontechnical discussion is detailed enough to fascinate nonspecialist readers without overwhelming them. This is a marvelous introduction to a field fueled by both imagination and science. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Humanity's understanding of the universe has never been better, write physicist Trefil and astronomer Summers (Exoplanets, 2017), yet one of the oldest and most profound questions remains: Are we alone in the universe? The authors' attempt at an answer (or, more precisely, answers) takes form as a systematic and inventive exploration of the nature of life in distant and unknown worlds, informed by their guiding principle: If you can imagine a world that is consistent with the laws of physics, then there's a good chance that it exists somewhere in our galaxy. They consider the possibility of life like us (organic beings in imagined worlds based on actual discovered exoplanets), life not like us (formed by something other than carbon or water), and life really not like us (like artificial intelligence). As galactic tour guides, the authors demonstrate an infectious, playful curiosity alongside their technical prowess, maintaining a light touch with some heavy science. Will appeal to sf newcomers and budding space nerds.--Chad Comello Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Are we alone in the universe? Two well-known astronomers tackle the possibilities in this tour of exoplanets.We know of only one planet on which life existsEarthbut is life an everyday chemical and physical reaction in the universe or a unique fluke? We have a pretty good idea of some of the steps that led to life on Earth and a firm understanding of how it evolved since then. So how does this apply to the types of exoplanets we may encounter? Would life develop there as it did on Earth? How different could it be? Given the complexity and diversity of exoplanets we have found, will the answers be correspondingly complex and diverse? These are some of the questions approached by George Mason University physics and astronomy professors Trefil and Summers (co-authors: Exoplanets, 2018, etc.) in this sober yet enervating examination of possible life scenarios on a variety of exoplanet settings. First, the authors define life, which can be handled as a list (adaptation, growth, homeostasis, metabolism, organization, reproduction, responsiveness), a process (the NASA definition is "a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution"), or in terms of thermodynamics. The authors then take these definitions and apply them to a variety of possible planets: one with a rocky mantle and a metallic core overlaid with ice; one with an ocean beneath ice; in another, a land-and-water combination, etc. They probe each scenario to imagine how life could have taken shape given the opportunities and constraints. Trefil and Summers try their best to keep the language geared to a lay audience, but they can't avoid some formulas: "Galileo's argument rests on the fact that the volume, and hence the mass, of a structure depends on the cube of its dimensions, while the size of the support area depends on the square." Overall, though, the prose is straightforward, and the authors make the potentialities of exoplanet life intriguingly real. Finally, they consider nonorganic life forms, for instance silicon chemistry replacing carbon-based life forms.A curiosity-whetting investigation of imagined life beyond our world. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

MICHAEL SUMMERS is a planetary scientist and professor of physics and astronomy at George Mason University. Since 1989, he has served on the mission teams of several NASA space probes in the role of science planning and interpretation of spacecraft observations. He is currently a coinvestigator on the NASA New Horizons mission to the Pluto-Charon double planet, where he serves as the deputy lead of the Atmospheres Theme Team. JAMES TREFIL is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University. He has written more than 50 books on science for a general audience. His writing has won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Westinghouse Science Journalism Award, and other honors.