Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientists Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence By Seth Shostak
This book is full lame similes, alliteration, and HORRIBLE puns.
There's just NO EXCUSE for this cheesy style of writing!!!
What was Seth thinking?
Maybe he intends to keep the reader's attention, or something.
Instead, it reads like a low-budget, local car commercial.
I don't know why all SETI books all have to pander to the layest of layperson.
Ben Bova and Paul Davies both wrote really poor ones, too.
Though, Seth does a good job dismissing the case for Neutrino and Gravity Wave communication as being too expensive.
Paul Davies should take note.
Also, he tells some interesting first hand tales from inside SETI.
That alone is worth giving it a read, if you can stand the writing style.
He really likes to use the word opine...
UPDATE: I had the pleasure of meeting Seth at a SETI convention.
He's a very nice man and his schtick works MUCH better in person! 9781426203923 I had the extreme honor of sharing a 2 hour car ride with Seth. This was sometime in the 1990s, when I believe SETI was still part of NASA. I was DJing at a weekend-long rave in Kentucky. The promoters were huge X-Files and sci-fi fans, so they booked Seth to give a speech on the outdoor stage under the stars. Here I was, having a conversation with the main person on the planet in charge of searching for alien life. One of the coolest experiences in my life. I remember him predicting that the first ET contact would be with artificial intelligence that had left their planet of origin and were now floating through space. He does go into that possibility in this book, along with the history of the SETI program(s) and some of his own background. The reasoning for monitoring radio signals over other technologies is explored, as well as potential options as costs drop and technical capabilities improve over time. The biggest hurdle to any sort of contact, aside from being focused in that specific direction, at that specific time, at the correct range of frequencies, is the time that it takes for signals to make it to us. By the time we detect a signal, interpret any included message, and develop a way to send a signal back, who knows if the intended species (or ours) will still be around. Still, it's good to know there are dedicated scientists/explorers like Seth that are able to do the tedious work needed to even have a slim hope of finally answering the question of whether or not we are along in the universe.
Funny story, I ran into Seth again at the rave and, nodding to the ravers around us, said I think you found some aliens. 9781426203923 A Senior astronomer at SETI Institute in this work covered the inner workings, principles, science and motive force behind people searching for sentient beings around our planetary home. It's more like a memoir; His early life in Holland, working with Jill Tarter (Inspirational character-protagonist of Sagan's Contact Novel) and colleagues at SETI, collaborating with Hollywood directors for Sci-fi blockbuster movies like Contact, The Day the Earth Stood Still.
But as a memoir of scientist it has to be more than that. The confrontations and lack of surmountable appreciations faced by his SETI community whenever they face a crisis in detecting intelligent signal from the distant objects which were later found to be bogus, parallel to the pseudoscience claims by many theorists refuting the works as government cover-up. For the first time, came to know about some familiar conspiracy theorists like Richard Hoagland, Stanton Friedman, Whitley Strieber, and about their works which motivated me to not concentrate on their works spending much time.
My favorite part is the tech side. How does the SETI analyze the millions of data collected from the chunk of billions of stars? Which part of the sky do they prioritize and concentrate the search for signals? Upcoming frontier of SETI community with probable applications of observatories with spellbinding capabilities such as SKA to be built in South Africa and Australia before 2030 which can even detect 5khz radio shows from a distant of tens and thousands of light-years away. Future is really exciting.
It also chronicles in the early history of our civilization's whimsical notions on alienated life forms right from Moon, Martian Canals and the author's experience in recent history of our civilization's (delusional) notions on alienated UFOs and abduction experiences. It's ironical to ask a SETI scientist for help from preventing some people from the happenings that happens to happening inside their heads.
Although as a space enthusiast you may have already heard about half of what he has portrayed in the book, it is worth revisiting those parts wearing his shoes. Highly Recommended. 9781426203923 This (audio)book had the opposite effect of what the author intended. That's partially his fault for writing a too-cheeky book about a multi-million dollar pseudo-scientific endeavor. As another reviewer mentioned, the book is packed with terrible similes, puns, and alliteration. I'm a big fan of word play but I shouldn't be rolling my eyes at a book that's asking for more private and government money to find aliens.
To be fair, the author gives us a sufficient outline of the creation of SETI and its intellectual precursors. I got to hear about my two hometowns, Dayton Ohio and Silicon Valley, both of which feature prominently in the development of space travel and computation.
This book, unfortunately, struck the final nail into the coffin of my belief in extra-terrestrials. As a kid, I was obsessed with a grab bag of supernatural and occult topics, including UFOs and cryptozoology. I've never believed in aliens as an adult, but always harbored a statistical optimism that one day we would make contact with someone out there. I still believe its more likely than not that Earth isn't the only planet with some sort of life on it. The intelligent part is a little hazier. The author's history and arguments (he is pro-SETI, obviously) didn't move the needle much for me on the existence of life off Earth.
What the book did do, however, was make me think about the massive amount of wasted time and money that has been spent thinking about and testing what if aliens throughout the 20th century. In light of the Trump administration threatening to decrease science funding, especially funding for research related to climate change, I wonder whether Stephen Hawking and the scientists and engineers at SETI should have been thinking a bit harder about the problems here on Earth instead of fantasizing about whether the aliens we contact will have developed artificial intelligence or not (and therefore we would be contacting their sentient robots, not the alien creators themselves). Look, I support aggressive public funding for science and I think NASA does a great job marketing its tangible research accomplishments to the taxpaying public and deep pocketed private space community. All kinds of inventions associated with space travel have been adapted into the civilian (and military) world, but I'm not sure if SETI can post any similar externalities.
I'd love to be proved wrong, but I'm not sure the specific project of looking for extra-terrestrial intelligence has given us anything besides lucky discoveries that were picked from the random noise of the vast majority of what SETI processes. Maybe they've learned a lot about transmission in space or computation, but its not obvious that those innovations were specific to a search for aliens.
It could be possible that the funding SETI has received over 40 years is miniscule compared to other serious scientific endeavors. Carl Sagan seemed to like the project, but I wonder if in 2017 he would advocate sending precious research dollars to SETI over a project related to climate change. There's a debate raging in some corners of the science community about the psychological risks of attempting to colonize Mars in the midst of a global climate crisis. Is it immoral to throw money at Mars exploration and colonization with the stated intent of using Mars as a second Earth in 100 years in case climate change wrecks first Earth, rather than prioritizing solutions to climate change right now?
Obviously we should do all kinds of science at the same time, and I'm not saying that SETI shouldn't receive any more. But the author left a bad taste in my mouth with his regular laments about the lack of public and private interest in funding his project. If I had any money to throw around for science, I think SETI would sit lower on my list of priorities today than before I had read this book.
[Excuse typos. Just drank an Icelandic Wee Heavy Ale] 9781426203923 This is a fun read and my biggest complaint is that it came out in 2009 (just as the Kepler space observatory launched) and hasn't been updated, so there's a lot of near-future discussion about systems that have since come online.
Conversely, we still haven't detected extraterrestrial intelligence since then, either. :P
Some might be put off by Seth Shostak's breezy writing style, peppered with puns and humor, but I felt he always pulled back just in time to let the hard science and sober speculation take over. And if you've seen Shostak on TV--having more than a casual interest in astronomy, aliens or some combination thereof makes it likely, as he's not just SETI's senior astronomer, he's also their main go-to for interacting with the media--then the light tone is not surprising. He is passionate about his work, but he is a wonderfully droll person. I suppose that may help when you're willing to offer straightforward commentary on episodes of Ancient Aliens.
Despite being nearly a decade old at the time of this review, the book remains a thorough examination of SETI's history, its goals, and its then-current operations. Shostak brackets the nuts and bolts of SETI with his own background leading up to joining the group, and offers tidbits from his work as an advisor on films like Contact and the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (he helped them make the scientists sound more like real people and less like jargonbots).
A lot of the book centers around the inevitable questions arising from SETI--what would SETI do if a signal was confirmed? How might the public react? What would aliens look like? How long will it take to scan the visible galaxy? Is it all just a goofy waste of time?
People who favor the waste of time side may not be moved by Shostak's arguments, but most others are likely to come away with an appreciation of SETI's work, and perhaps even a sense of hope in the continuing search for signs of intelligent life somewhere out in space.
Recommended. (But an updated version would be spiffy.) 9781426203923
Aliens are big in America. Whether they’ve arrived via rocket, flying saucer, or plain old teleportation, they’ve been invading, infiltrating, or inspiring us for decades, and they’ve fascinated moviegoers and television watchers for more than fifty years. About half of us believe that aliens really exist, and millions are convinced they’ve visited Earth.
For twenty-five years, SETI has been looking for the proof, and as the program’s senior astronomer, Seth Shostak explains in this engrossing book, it’s entirely possible that before long conclusive evidence will be found.
His informative, entertaining report offers an insider’s view of what we might realistically expect to discover light-years away among the stars. Neither humanoids nor monsters, says Shostak; in fact, biological intelligence is probably just a precursor to machine beings, enormously advanced artificial sentients whose capabilities and accomplishments may have developed over billions of years and far exceed our own.
As he explores what, if anything, they would tell us and what their existence would portend for humankind and the cosmos, he introduces a colorful cast of characters and provides a vivid, state-of-the-art account of the past, present, and future of our search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientists Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
What. A. Slog.
I picked this one up at a library sale back in 2019, and ended up being rather surprised by how little I enjoyed it. I was definitely expecting more of a scholarly approach to discussion about equipment, space itself, and potential extraterrestrials. Instead, this book wavers between forced lightheartedness (think high school principals trying to sound cool at a cookout) and academic pretension. I did not find it to be engaging and was rather stunned by the colonizer mindset the book has overall. This is likely my fault for not reading reviews first, but the capitalistic ideologies and overall tone of the writing had me rolling my eyes on more than one occasion. Relieved to be finished. 9781426203923 I love the irony of the title!
The hunter is a person that is going to resist the elements, evade the predators, and find his prey. Usually that implied that the hunter only ate if he could catch something.
Shostak is an overweight White male, who sits in a large office, at a desk. He is eating the taxpayer's money, hence the few extra pounds. For him, the elements is that 2 minute walk from his AC car, to his AC building. And, unlike the hunter, as time passes with ZERO results, his pay increases.
These confessions are the 21st century crap the tailors were giving to the Emperor's servants. Hunter for the Emperor. 9781426203923 He seguido desde la década de los 90 el programa SETI. Cuando lanzaron seti@home, lo bajé apenas un mes después y empecé a buscar señales de radio y a contemplar el protector de pantalla que indicaba el avance del proceso. Mis amigos decían que estaba buscando marcianos, que parecía una ufóloga desatinada. Quizá por eso siempre sentí simpatía por todos los miembros de la Planetary Society, en especial, por Jill Tarter y Seth Shostak, que en su podcast enriquece cualquier tema con su inagotable energía y su dad-humor, su investigación y deseos de compartir el proyecto.
Por eso, al escuchar este audiolibro, me quedé perpleja por el tono: si se dirigía a los seguidores de siempre o cualquier persona interesada en la cosmología, astronomía o ciencias del espacio y la búsqueda de vida en otros planetas, entonces no hubo casi nada nuevo que valiera la pena. Pero si el libro tiene un interés divulgativo dirigido a novatos en el tema, entonces el tono, las anécdotas y las críticas que Shostak hace pueden llegar a caer como plomo y espantar a cualquiera.
Es una pena, pues Shostak es un investigador apasionado e incansable en su misión. Encontrar aliados resulta más difícil que encontrar señales de vida extraterrestre. 9781426203923 Comprehensive and well thought out guide to the search for extra terrestrial intelligence. It is very well written, highly informative but a little bit annoying. I suspect the author needs some sensitivity training. The author peppers the text with what I'm sure he thinks are highly amusing and witty remarks, but they borderline on being insensitive and are often inappropriate. Using words like psycho is not very good. It was a little bit hard to finish this book, because these comments appeared almost every second page, which detracted from the book's very thorough and well thought out overview of what is in fact a very exciting area. 9781426203923 all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About the Book: Author, balancing between skepticism and hope, or rather, trust in science, tells us of his life’s work, and does his best to answer the age old question, and every other that arises out of it: so are we alone in the universe?
My Opinion: It’s well written, but sometimes forgets about such mere mortals as myself, with gaps in either knowledge or education. Still, was interesting. Just, I guess, not what I expected or wanted. 9781426203923