Not the book for me and I'm not exactly sure who it is for. I was hoping for a book about astrobiology. I got that. But also got short introduction to just about everything in science, whether or not it was relevant to the topic, from dark matter to evolution to geology to the multiverse. As a result I didn't learn much.

That said, the book is comprehensive and the chapters on the solar system and the search for extra solar planets are reasonably interesting. ( )

Not the book for me and I'm not exactly sure who it is for. I was hoping for a book about astrobiology. I got that. But also got short introduction to just about everything in science, whether or not it was relevant to the topic, from dark matter to evolution to geology to the multiverse. As a result I didn't learn much.

That said, the book is comprehensive and the chapters on the solar system and the search for extra solar planets are reasonably interesting. ( )

Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe, starting with life here on earth and moving out into the rest of the solar system and then into the universe as a whole. This book tries to be an overview of the subject for the general reader. Impey begins with the beginnings of Western science and how we've come to our present understanding of the questions "What is life?' and "How did the universe come to be the way it is?".

While I enjoyed this book, it does cover a multitude of subjects and some seem a bit superficial and others a little too technical for his targeted audience. Also I found a number of typos and I felt that many of the graphs, etc. used to illustrate his points were too small to be easily understood and were missing pointers that the captions indicated should be there. I'm not sure that I would recommend this as a first book that a person reads on astrobiology. That said, there were a number of very interesting anecdotes about the various scientists mentioned in Impey's narrative. An informative but not always easy read.

This was definately an interesting read. Impey is not the greatest author, but he is definately readable, and I never felt bored. I saw him give a presentation at a local book festival, and he did a great job. He is a teacher by profession, and definately knows what he is talking about. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about astrobiology. ( )

So far the greatest book to be written in an era of exoplanetology. Perfect book to arrive in human history of enthusiasm about the discovery of life in outer space.
(see my review at: http://exoplanetology.blogspot.com/2008/02/living-cosmos-inspiration-for.html) ( )