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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

"Where is everybody?" -- this was the question posed by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, back in 1943. Since then, the question has continued to puzzle us. Are we really alone? Is life a freak event, limited to our planet, or is it a universal phenomenon? Since the first edition of this book in 1989, there have been many advances in the field of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) -- exciting developments in scientific research and new ideas to test. This completely revised and upgraded edition includes all the up-to-the-minute information on these topics.

Full of intelligent speculation and sound science, Edward Ashpole's book is about how life, as we know it, came to be and the possibilities for life elsewhere in the Universe. He looks at the evidence within the Solar System and far beyond: data collected from the Hubble space telescope and the search for other planetary systems; the studies of the 'monuments of Mars' photographed by NASA; and UFO sightings -- which (if any) might be evidence of extra-terrestrial artefacts?

He shows how amateur astronomers, even with modest equipment, can now get involved in the SETI adventure themselves, and provides names and addresses of relevant organizations. There is also a section on recommended books and scientific papers for those who wish to pursue the subject in more depth.

(Extracted from the back cover)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Preface.

-Acknowledgments.

-Contents.

-1. From Flash Gordon to SETI.

-2. The Question.

-3. Ceilings.

-4. Planets for Intelligent Life.

-5. Life and ET.

-6. The Inmortal Network.

-7. Ancient Astronauts... and all that.

-8. Could ETs Reach the Solar System?

-9. Looking for Alien Probes.

-10. The Colonization Factor.

-11. Detection by Other Means.

-12. SETI and the Human Situation.

-References and Recommended Books.

-Associations which Promote SETI and Related Space Research.

-Index.

OUR REVIEW

The scientific vision of the phenomenon of extraterrestrial life is in actual disadvantage with respect to the enormous amount of esoteric and speculative publications that hardly contribute anything new and positive to the issue. Where is Everybody? intends to somehow equate this disadvantage, and it does so by updating the original text, published in 1989, incorporating all the technological advances having taken place since then in the field of SETI (including the discussion on the possible existence of former life on Mars according to the discoveries made in the already famous meteor ALH84001).

Its author, Edward Ashpole, a writer and scientific divulger with more than 25 years of experience, confronts the task of telling us in a reasoned form the possibilities that life appears at other places ouside of the Earth, the probabilities that this life is intelligente if it exists, and the evidences (or lack of proof) that their representatives have visited us.

The work is fast and easy to read. With an agile, attractive narrative, it accompanies the reader throughout all the relevant aspects of the SETI issues, and it even provides the necessary information to participate in this enterprise, be it by collaborating with diverse associations specialized in this, or by making our own contribution as amateur astronomers.

Certainly, the author sometimes enters not very concrete terrains where only a rational speculation and scientific prudence have place. The divulgative experience by Ashpole guarantees a rigour that sometimes is not found in other publications.

It does not forget a complete bibliographic section, either, where it reccommends us a series of important scientific articles and books of a general interest to study the issue in further depth.