Out There

A Scientific Guide to Alien Life, Antimatter, and Human Space Travel (For the Cosmically Curious)

By: Michael Wall

Narrated by: Will Collyer

We've all asked ourselves the question. It's impossible to look up at the stars and NOT think about it: Are we alone in the universe? Books, movies, and television shows proliferate that attempt to answer this question and explore it. In Out There, Space.com senior writer Dr. Michael Wall treats that question as merely the beginning, touching off a wild ride of exploration into the final frontier. He considers, for instance, the myriad of questions that would arise once we do discover life beyond Earth (an eventuality which, top NASA officials told Wall, is only drawing closer). What would the first aliens we meet look like? Would they be little green men or mere microbes? Would they be found on a planet in our own solar system or orbiting a star far, far away? Would they intend to harm us, and if so, how might they do it? And might they already have visited?

Out There is arranged in a simple question-and-answer format. The answers are delivered in Dr. Wall's informal but informative style, which mixes in a healthy dose of humor and pop culture to make big ideas easier to swallow. Dr. Wall covers questions far beyond alien life, venturing into astronomy, physics, and the practical realities of what long-term life might be like for we mere humans in outer space, such as the idea of lunar colonies, and even economic implications. Dr. Wall also shares the insights of some of the leading lights in space exploration today, and shows how the next space age might be brighter than ever.

©2018 Michael Wall (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Perhaps since the dawn of language, humankind's most profound quest has been to answer the question - 'Are we alone?' Mr. Wall's book takes us on an insightful, engaging, and at times humorous journey through the cosmos, and explains why we may now be on the verge of answering that question!" (Bill Diamond, president and CEO of the SETI Institute)

"This look at some of the key questions of the cosmos and human interactions - it is brain food with flair, and nearly impossible to put down - what a fun ride this book is!" (Alan Stern, principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission and former head of the space agency's Science Mission Directorate)

Must read book of the next trillion years

Very well grounded in science. great imagery, and also a bit humorous too. if you read one book in your life, this should be it

Good read with some good humor

I love a book that the author actually has some sense of humor and applies it to his writings. Highly recommend reading this. Theory’s, hypotheticals, scientifically knowledgeable with a good laugh thrown in here and there!

Mostly good

Needlessly spoils a big Game of Thrones twist halfway trough. Just a warning in case you didn’t expect a science book to spoil tv-shows for the sake of a lame comparison and/or joke. The jokes in this book are pretty hit and miss overall, but it was a good short recap of theories about alien life overall.

Lots of good data

Great topic. Great info. Dude knows his science. I got this book months ago, listened to it several times even. Its much better than I remember. Glad I kept it.

Thought provoking

Entertaining and funny look at us and all things around us. I enjoyed it a lot

alien life

great explaination of alien life, from beginning to what might happen in the future, one of the best audiobooks I've listened to

Really interesting stuff!

Cool ideas and info!
Very accessible and easy to understand, with plenty of sci fi and pop culture references to keep it interesting!

had to stop it after one chapter. obnoxious voice

really difficult to listen to. had to stop after one chapter. content is good. voice performance...very bad. can all books just be read by Bill Kurtis's soothing voice??

Fascinating

Fascinatingly interesting listen, it was so easy to follow the chapters. The whole book was filled with interesting facts, informations and speculations about the future, there were no points in this book where I could have get bored.