Out There

"Wow!" It's the introduction's first word, and Will Collyer tries to keep the wow factor in his narration. He sounds flip and funny, keeping a sense of wonder in his voice as author Michael Wall considers the future of space flight and the possibility of finding alien life. Wall's first stop on his survey of space is 1977, when a radio telescope received "The Wow Signal," which could have been an alien transmission. He weighs the odds of finding life in our solar system and beyond, and humanity's chances in space. He also reviews current efforts to explore and settle the moon and Mars. Collyer makes sure the basics of the various theories and developments come across along with the humor and enthusiasm. J.A.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

August 20, 2018
With a humorous, accessible tone, Wall, a senior writer for Space.com, answers questions about alien life and space travel. He draws on the opinions of various experts—for instance, on the question of “Will Aliens Kill Us All?” he shares both the concerns of Stephen Hawking and the optimism of others like Doug Vakoch, president of METI (“messaging extraterrestrial intelligence”) International. Wall does remind readers that, as on Earth, extraterrestrial life will be “mostly microbes,” and returns several times to the subject of ALH 84001, the Martian rock that, in 1996, researchers reported had signs of life. After discussing these and other questions, such as “Could We Talk to ET?” (possibly not—the gulf between species might be too vast), Wall turns to human space travel. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos get their obligatory mentions in the chapter on colonizing the Moon and Mars, while Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre and his theoretically possible warp drive leads off the chapter on interstellar travel. Readers of Michio Kaku’s The Future of Humanity will find some overlap, but this should appeal to anyone who has ever looked up into the sky and wondered what is out there. Agent: Matt Latimer, Javelin.