Talking About Life ─ Conversations on Astrobiology

With over 500 planets now known to exist beyond the Solar System, spacecraft heading for Mars, and the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence, this timely book explores current ideas about the search for life in the Universe. It contains candid interviews with dozens of astronomers, geologists, biologists, and writers about the origin and range of terrestrial life and likely sites for life beyond Earth. The interviewees discuss what we've learnt from the missions to Mars and Titan, talk about the search for Earth clones, describe the surprising diversity of life on Earth, speculate about post-biological evolution, and explore what contact with intelligent aliens will mean to us. Covering topics from astronomy and planetary science to geology and biology, this book will fascinate anyone who has ever wondered 'Are we alone?'

Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor and Deputy Head of te Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. His research interests are observational cosmology, gravitational lensing, and the evolution and structure of galaxies. He has 160 research papers to his name, has co-authored two introductory textbooks, and wrote the well-received astrobiology book The Living Cosmos (Random House, 2007). His most recent popular science book, How It Ends (Norton, 2010) covers endings, from personal to cosmic.