How Unique Are We? : Perfect Planet, Clever Species

by Burger, William C.

• ISBN13: 9781591020165
• ISBN10: 1591020166
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Prometheus Books

Summary

For many years the federal government funded the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), later popularised by Carl Sagan's novel Contact and the movie starring Jodie Foster. Though in actuality SETI never did make contact with signals from an alien civilisation, the search continues to this day through privately funded endeavours. How likely is it that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe? This is the intriguing question that has prompted William Burger's illuminating and absorbing exploration of the unusual circumstances surrounding life on earth. Burger's enlightening evaluation of evolutionary and cosmic history, full of fascinating details, shows that the human achievement may be unique in our galaxy.

Author Biography

William Burger is Curator Emeritus in the Department of Botany at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	7	(9)
Introduction	9	(6)
No Ordinary Star	15	(20)
A Really Good Planet Is Hard to Find	35	(22)
The First 4,000 Million Years	57	(28)
Life Explodes: The Last 560 Million Years	85	(26)
Why Are There So Many Kinds of Plants and Animals?	111	(24)
Random Walks or Progressive Trajectories?	135	(26)
The Escalation of Intelligence	161	(32)
Building the World's Best Brain	193	(30)
An Appetite for Energy: Revolutions in Living	223	(28)
The Origins of Western Science	251	(20)
Perfect Planet, but How Unusual an Odyssey?	271	(24)
Notes	295	(34)
Index	329