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Interstellar

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"The world's leading alien hunter" New York Times Magazine

From acclaimed Harvard astrophysicist and bestselling author of Extraterrestrial comes a mind-expanding new book explaining why becoming an interstellar species is imperative for humanity's survival and detailing a game plan for how we can settle among the stars.

In the New York Times bestseller Extraterrestrial, Avi Loeb, the longest serving Chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, presented a theory that shook the scientific community: our solar system, Loeb claimed, had likely been visited by a piece of advanced alien technology from a distant star. This provocative and persuasive argument opened millions of minds internationally to the vast possibilities of our universe and the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth. But a crucial question remained: now that we are aware of the existence of extraterrestrial life, what do we do next? How do we prepare ourselves for interaction with interstellar extraterrestrial civilization? How can our species become interstellar?

Now Loeb tackles these questions in a revelatory, powerful call to arms that reimagines the idea of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Dismantling our science-fiction fueled visions of a human and alien life encounter, Interstellar provides a realistic and practical blueprint for how such an interaction might actually occur, resetting our cultural understanding and expectation of what it means to identify an extraterrestrial object. From awe-inspiring searches for extraterrestrial technology, to the heated debate of the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Loeb provides a thrilling, front-row view of the monumental progress in science and technology currently preparing us for contact. He also lays out the profound implications of becoming—or not becoming—interstellar; in an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the world beyond ours, he powerfully contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe.

Combining cutting edge science, physics, and philosophy, Interstellar revolutionizes the approach to our search for extraterrestrial life and our preparation for its discovery. In this eye-opening, necessary look at our future, Avi Loeb artfully and expertly raises some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and proves, once again, that scientific curiosity is the key to our survival.

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    • Library Journal

      April 1, 2023

      Having argued in the New York Times best-selling Extraterrestrial that our solar system shows evidence of alien technology, Loeb, the longest-serving chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, considers how we can connect with extraterrestrial civilizations in Interstellar (100,000-copy first printing). Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 19, 2023
      Intelligent life is out there, according to this implausible treatise. Harvard astronomer Loeb (Extraterrestrial) urges humanity to take a greater initiative in seeking out extraterrestrial civilizations (“ETCs”) because they “may only wish to be discovered by a civilization capable of doing so” and may have already left “artifacts” on Earth waiting to be discovered. He argues that an interstellar object detected passing through our solar system in 2017 was likely manufactured by aliens, given its unusually flat shape and slow velocity, and laments that scientists didn’t have more sophisticated instruments to study it. To better prepare for potential brushes with ETCs, Loeb stresses the need for observatories dedicated to examining “small near-Earth objects” and more government funding for such projects as the 2023 expedition he’s leading to retrieve fragments of an interstellar meteor—the toughness of which, he suggests, indicates it might be an alien artifact—that landed in the Pacific Ocean in 2014. Loeb makes some questionable assumptions (“The fastest way to ascend the ladder of civilizations is to” receive a hand from more advanced aliens), and his “anything’s possible” attitude will do little to sway skeptics, as when he likens the search for aliens to looking for lost car keys: “The more concerted the effort to find them the more likely, and quickly, you will.” This doesn’t quite convince.

    • Kirkus

      July 15, 2023
      What will be our interstellar future? In 2021, astrophysicist Loeb, the chair of Harvard's department of astronomy, recently shook up the astronomical world with his book Extraterrestrial, in which he argued that some kind of artifact from deep space recently passed through Earth's solar system. In this follow-up, the author delves into our possible reactions when we encounter even more evidence of extraterrestrial civilization. Loeb believes that life exists elsewhere, looming beyond us like Oz, that it began long before Earth was born, and that other forms of life may be billions of years ahead of us--or extinct. He laments that we have not prioritized the search for extraterrestrial technology and unidentified anomalous phenomena. Here and elsewhere, politicians have failed to push for further research, as have many scientists, Loeb notes with chagrin. "The fastest way to ascend the ladder of civilizations is to reach in hopeful expectation of another civilization (even if only by way of a long-discarded artifact) extending us a hand up," writes the author. He discusses in detail his ambitious Galileo Project, which seeks to identify UAP in space, perhaps on Earth and even under the ocean. Loeb consistently argues that "humanity, if it wants to persist, will need to leave this planet. The cosmic clock is ticking. In a few billion years, the Sun will begin to die and life as we know it on Earth will perish." Throughout, he rambles widely across a variety of topics, including the idea of interstellar Xenia, or hospitality--we should welcome visitors even if they're just hardware and AI. "To those concerned that AI's arrival augurs humanity's annihilation," he writes, "I urge optimism." As for dark matter, we still don't know what it is. Loeb is an excellent motivational speaker for the importance of science, but this occasionally dry text lacks the exploratory drama of his previous book. Studded with intriguing insights but mostly for fellow believers.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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