I was never going to hack it as a scientist. So I became a journalist instead. After all, bothcareers 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,whichlet 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 bigopen-ended questions that I had about everything were the same kinds of questions that kidshad - 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
If you’re searching for aliens, you have to think about the time and distances involved in spacetravel—and what might happen to us as we head out into the great unknown. Tchaikovsky’sfantastic 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, despiteour egocentric view of humanity’s place in the cosmos, ours may not be the only species withintergalactic potential. I couldn’t put it down.
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…
That discovery would shake ourworld, change our outlook on the universe, and answer the question of whether we’realone.
Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist, has spent her life thinking about thispossibility 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, thisbook made me want to ditch a career in journalism and take up astrobiology. You’ll never look atMars the same way again.
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.
Bernard Marks and Martha Alford met by chance. The odds were long that they would hit it off. That wasn’t in the cards they’d been dealt at birth. But, as gamblers in love, they rolled the dice. And then they worked hard, took risks, caught lucky breaks, built satisfying careers,…
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 habitableexoplanets?
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 willremind you how much we still have to learn about the universe. I came away feeling bothsmarter and smaller, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
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…
Fred was a pilot. He also was an avid ufologist. In October 1978, on a short flight in a privateplane from Melbourne to King Island in Australia, Fred has a conversation with air traffic controland claims to see a large aircraft — a UFO — flying around him… until it vanishes.
That is Fred’slast conversation with anyone as both he and his plane disappear, never to be found. Was it analien craft? Pilot error? Weather phenomenon?
There are no answers in Krasnostein’s chaptersabout Fred. But the story and her lyrical writing left me thinking about the nature of belief, thefascination we have with UFOs, and why we want our alien encounters to be real. Why do wewant to believe?
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…
The aftermath of human first contact, written from the extraterrestrial's perspective.
Kelvoo is overcome with wonder at the arrival of the humans. With flawless memories and innate curiosity, Kelvoo’s community embraces the benevolent humans and their knowledge of the boundless universe beyond the cloud-covered sky. After the departure of the…
If there is a book that truly helped me understand the vastness of the universe — the sheer scaleof things — it’s this one.
True, it did make me doubt whether we’ll ever actually shake hands withour counterparts from a distant planet (do they have hands?). But Hawking’s explanations of thephysics of the cosmos are clear and thoughtful. Ultimately, the search for alien life is a scientificinquiry, and there’s not much better science writing than this classic.
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…
In this middle-grade nonfiction book, journalistLaura 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 interviewingscientists searching the farthest stars and planets for anything out of the ordinary, Krantz usesthe 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—fornow—Krantz shows why it’s important to stay curious about our universe.
I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…
Me and The Times offers a fresh perspective on those pre-internet days when the Sunday sections of The New York Times shaped the country’s political and cultural conversation. Starting in 1967, Robert Stock edited seven of those sections over 30 years, innovating and troublemaking all the way.
