Why am I passionate about this?

I was never going to hack it as a scientist. So I became a journalist instead. After all, both careers stem from a sense of wonder about the world and asking questions, looking for answers, and accepting that there might not be any. In 2018, I started my narrative podcast Wild Thing, which let me explore some of our weirder collective fascinations (like aliens) using science, history, psychology, and humor. I’d never aimed the podcast at kids, but I realized that all those big open-ended questions that I had about everything were the same kinds of questions that kids had - which really set me up to write the Wild Thing book series. 


I wrote

Is There Anybody Out There?: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

By Laura Krantz,

Book cover of Is There Anybody Out There?: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

What is my book about?

In this middle-grade nonfiction book, journalist Laura Krantz is back to investigate another age-old mystery: Are we alone in the…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Children of Time

Laura Krantz Why did I love this book?

If you’re searching for aliens, you have to think about the time and distances involved in space travel—and what might happen to us as we head out into the great unknown. Tchaikovsky’s fantastic science fiction novel cleverly plays with the concepts of evolution, intelligence, faith, and survival.

This book is full of smart, mind-blowing ideas and made me realize that, despite our egocentric view of humanity’s place in the cosmos, ours may not be the only species with intergalactic potential. I couldn’t put it down. 

By Adrian Tchaikovsky,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Children of Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 30th anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel

Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed, stand-alone novel Children of Time, is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

Who will inherit this new Earth?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the…


Book cover of The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World

Laura Krantz Why did I love this book?

Imagine for a moment that we found life on Mars.

That discovery would shake our world, change our outlook on the universe, and answer the question of whether we’re alone.

Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist, has spent her life thinking about this possibility and delves into both her and our obsession with the Red Planet in this beautifully written book. Part memoir, part historical account, and part scientific exploration, this book made me want to ditch a career in journalism and take up astrobiology. You’ll never look at Mars the same way again. 

By Sarah Stewart Johnson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Sirens of Mars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As a new wave of interplanetary exploration unfolds, a talented young planetary scientist charts our centuries-old obsession with Mars.

'Beautifully written, emotive - a love letter to a planet' DERMOT O'LEARY, BBC Radio 2

Mars - bewilderingly empty, coated in red dust - is an unlikely place to pin our hopes of finding life elsewhere. And yet, right now multiple spacecraft are circling, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium and Mare Sirenum - on the brink, perhaps, of a discovery that would inspire humankind as much as any in our history.

With poetic precision and grace,…


Book cover of Aliens: The World's Leading Scientists on the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Laura Krantz Why did I love this book?

So you want to find aliens. But where to begin? Digging up microbial neighbors on Mars? Encountering big-brained, tentacled beings in flying saucers? Searching for far-flung habitable exoplanets?

This compilation of essays from astrobiologists, AI experts, psychologists, planetary geologists, and NASA scientists (plus more!) gives the alien-hunter a well-rounded, thoughtful start for their search.

Some of the essays will leave you laughing out loud; others will remind you how much we still have to learn about the universe. I came away feeling both smarter and smaller, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

By Jim Al-Khalili,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Aliens as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In these lively and fascinating essays edited by theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili, scientists from around the world weigh in on the latest advances in the search for intelligent life in the universe and discuss just what that might look like.

Since 2000, science has seen a surge in data and interest on several fronts related to E.T. (extraterrestrials); A.I. (artificial intelligence); and SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence). The debate has intensified over whether life exists outside our solar system, what that life would look like, and whether we’ll ever make contact.

Included here are essays from a broad spectrum of…


Book cover of The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle

Laura Krantz Why did I love this book?

Fred was a pilot. He also was an avid ufologist. In October 1978, on a short flight in a private plane from Melbourne to King Island in Australia, Fred has a conversation with air traffic control and claims to see a large aircraft — a UFO — flying around him… until it vanishes. 

That is Fred’s last conversation with anyone as both he and his plane disappear, never to be found. Was it an alien craft? Pilot error? Weather phenomenon?

There are no answers in Krasnostein’s chapters about Fred. But the story and her lyrical writing left me thinking about the nature of belief, the fascination we have with UFOs, and why we want our alien encounters to be real. Why do we want to believe?

By Sarah Krasnostein,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Believer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New Yorker Best Book of 2022

A Best Book of the Month at The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Deeply beautiful, and never simple.” ―James Gleick, author of Time Travel: A History

An unforgettable tour of the human condition that explores our universal need for belief to help us make sense of life, death, and everything in between.

For Sarah Krasnostein it begins with a Mennonite choir performing on a subway platform, a fleeting moment of witness that sets her on a fascinating journey to discover why people need to believe in absolute truths and what happens when their beliefs crash into…


Book cover of A Brief History of Time

Laura Krantz Why did I love this book?

If there is a book that truly helped me understand the vastness of the universe — the sheer scale of things — it’s this one.

True, it did make me doubt whether we’ll ever actually shake hands with our counterparts from a distant planet (do they have hands?). But Hawking’s explanations of the physics of the cosmos are clear and thoughtful. Ultimately, the search for alien life is a scientific inquiry, and there’s not much better science writing than this classic. 

By Stephen Hawking,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked A Brief History of Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some of the questions considered in an internationally acclaimed masterpiece by one of the world's greatest thinkers. It begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time, from the Big Bang to black holes, via spiral galaxies and strong theory. To this day A Brief History of Time remains a staple of the scientific canon, and its succinct and…


Explore my book 😀

Is There Anybody Out There?: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

By Laura Krantz,

Book cover of Is There Anybody Out There?: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

What is my book about?

In this middle-grade nonfiction book, journalist Laura Krantz is back to investigate another age-old mystery: Are we alone in the universe?

Analyzing reports of UFO sightings, examining deep-space technology, and interviewing scientists searching the farthest stars and planets for anything out of the ordinary, Krantz uses the scientific method to help us think critically and explore the possibility of extraterrestrial life, from the single-celled to the big-brained. Even if what’s out there remains a mystery—for now—Krantz shows why it’s important to stay curious about our universe. 

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Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

By Kalvin Thane,

Book cover of Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

Kalvin Thane Author Of Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Artist Reader Gamer Father Coder

Kalvin's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Unlike the typical tales of a flawless fighting unit, this story follows Commander Kami Trenn and her ragtag squad of mixed-race space marines.

Dog Squad fights a mysterious adversary whose presence remains shrouded in secrecy. The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, but will they be able to make enough of a difference?

Can they hope to uncover the enemy’s plans for galactic dominance before the Alliance falls? Maybe. If they can stop fighting each other.

Cytress Vee: A Dog Squad Story

By Kalvin Thane,

What is this book about?

Across the void formed by two galactic spiral arms, vast forces face each other.

The tenuous Alliance, sixty civilizations united only by fear of invasion, prepare to resist the encroachment of their as-yet unseen enemy, known only as the Creeps.

The Void has become a battleground. Three thousand light years across, and populated by a scattering of ten thousand ‘dark’ worlds, it is the Alliance’s last chance to protect their way of life. Self-destructive, robotic drones pour across the Void in ever-increasing numbers, testing the Alliance fleets to breaking point.

In the midst of the surging tides of war, a…


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Interested in extraterrestrial life, space horror, and Mars?

Space Horror 25 books
Mars 75 books