About book Vijf Miljard Jaar Eenzaamheid: De Zoektocht Naar Leven Tussen De Sterren (2014)
Sharply and compellingly written history of the search for extraterrestrial life, or at least planets. Since necessarily the actual history and science of exoplanets is somewhat limited, Billings brings, on the history side, deft character sketches of key people in the field, and the motivations and insights that drove them to gamble their careers on exoplanets or SETI, when those fields were (and still are) looked upon by mainstream astronomers as beneath their dignity. On the science side, Billings recounts the history of the earth, since we have as yet no other data points to bring to the question of how planets evolve. It's familiar territory, but he tells it well and it frames much of the rest of the book.Perhaps an impossible wish, but I did end up a little unsatisfied at the amount of actual science content. There's mentions galore of greenhouse effects, habitable zones, orbital periods, but somehow it felt a step away from the content. Compare this to Ward and Brownlee's _Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe_, a very pointed manifesto taking a position that advanced life is very rare and possibly unique.One minor but nagging note. Among his scientific portraits is Sara Seager, a professor at MIT. It's glowingly positive, nearly a hagiography, and it's clear that she's a remarkable, brilliant, and driven woman. And yet, alone among the other character sketches (all men), Billings describes: her clothes, her figure, her eyes, her relationship with her children. He shows her cooking and doing laundry. I am certain that none of this is meant to take away from her brilliance; if anything I think Billings intended to show that she's raising her kids (alone, since the tragic death of her husband, also recounted in detail) and still forging a career that could transform our understanding of life in space. And yet I was left somewhat uncomfortable at the contrast. "Five Billion Years" is one of the most interesting books I've read in quite a while. My copy is covered with yellow-highlighted passages I want to remember. Lee Billings brings a fresh and stimulating approach to complex concepts, both astronomical and philosophical. I'll be thinking about this book for a long, long time. That said, Billings occasionally wanders off into the personalities of some of the astronomers and planetary scientists who devote their lives to studying the place humans occupy in the cosmos. To the extent of these digressions, the book is, in my opinion, flawed. I would be happier if he had confined himself to the larger issues involved in our search for life among the stars. Make no mistake, however. "Five Billion Years" is fascinating and well worth reading for anyone interested in trying to understand where and how we fit into the universe.
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Interesting research into the search for exoplanets.
—mdeweaver
