Astrobiology
A Brief Introduction
Michael Gross author Kevin W Plaxco author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press
Published:7th Jul '06
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Is there anybody out there? Is ET trying to phone home? In the past decade or so, astrobiology has come of age. Once regarded as a laughing stock - physicists turned Roswell freaks - astrobiologists are increasingly greatly in number. Their subject is one of the few that has actually seen an increase in funding in recent years. Astrobiology blends astronomy, chemistry, and biology to search for amino acids and other building blocks of life. Practitioners seek new planets beyond our solar system, to seek out new life forms, to boldly go...Questions are posed, such as whether all life must be carbon based, whether only Earthlike planets can support life, and whether there "can be life, Jim, but not as we know it." This book is probably the first serious yet accessible book written on the subject. Plaxco is a chemist, Gross a molecular biologist and popular science writer.
A comprehensive yet concise introduction to the field.
—The Space Review
Certainly the most readable introduction to astrobiology now available.
—Chemical and Engineering News
Well-written . . . Technical enough to demand some background in physics, chemistry, and earth science, general readers will benefit from it.
—Choice
Plaxco and Gross bring us as close to aliens as we can currently get. I recommend this book to anyone interested in science's newest kid on the block.
—Steve Ringwood, Astronomy Now
Comprehensive . . . A good read for all those who are fascinated by the search for extraterrestrial life and the origin of life on our own planet. I shall certainly value it in my own library.
—Anthony Campbell, Chemistry World
An accessible guide to this young and interdisciplinary field.
—Physics World
The fascinating world of extremophiles is well presented, and a broad overview of the searches for evidence of life beyond Earth rounds off the book. The text is liberally illustrated with relevant figures that greatly enhance the content, and entertaining snippets of information detailing the quirks of research in this field nicely supplement the scientific content.
—Astrobiology
Plaxco and Gross do an excellent job . . . theirs may well be the best textbook available on the subject.
—Choice
ISBN: 9780801883668
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 24mm
Weight: 499g
272 pages