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An analysis of the search for extraterrestrial life reflects on larger issues of science, superstition, and spirituality to examine the elusive question of aliens' existence and discusses Carl Sagan, alien abductions, and other related topics.
- Sales Rank: #2043202 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Simon n Schuster
- Published on: 1999-11-11
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.27" h x 6.50" w x 9.58" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 416 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Amazon.com Review
Joel Achenbach (Why Things Are) describes Captured by Aliens as a travelogue, a record of his strange journey into "alien country." With Carl Sagan as a sort of totem animal on this spirit quest (in fact, one of the author's first stops is Sagan's living room), Achenbach plots an eccentric course through the land of UFOs and the search for extraterrestrial life, going from NASA headquarters in Washington, DC to local MUFON meetings, from an asteroid-blasted quarry in Belize to a Las Vegas hotel room in which he's hypnotized by an alien abductee. He even visits the set of the X-Files. (Achenbach reveals Gillian Anderson's very un-Scully-like take on alien beings: "[T]hey operate, vibrate--this is going to make me sound like a complete nut--they vibrate on a different energy level than we do.")
With the investigative skill of a seasoned reporter (which Achenbach is, for the Washington Post) and the wit and charm of an NPR commentator (which he also is), Achenbach turns out to be the perfect companion for such a cosmic road trip. This curious, earnest, and frequently hilarious writer proves equally at ease with legit figures like Sagan and NASA administrator Dan Goldin as he is with self-described "Starseeds" (aliens in human bodies) and technophiles like Mars-booster Bob Zubrin. Achenbach knows his science, but he always brooks just the right amount of nonsense. --Paul Hughes
From Publishers Weekly
In energetic, engaging prose, Washington Post staff reporter Achenbach (Why Things Are) introduces readers to an eclectic mix of scientists, millennialists, channelers, UFOlogists, debunkers and true believers who have been captivated, if not captured, by the notion of extraterrestrial life. The central figures are Carl Sagan ("a visionary, a poet of science, a quote machine for reporters on deadline") and Frank Drake, who promulgated a famous equation to predict N, the number of intelligent, communicating civilizations likely to exist in a galaxy like ours. In 1975, Drake estimated N to be 10,000; Sagan guessed a million. Urged on by Sagan and Drake, scientists have tried to eavesdrop on cosmic chat. Nearly 25 years later, the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence has continued to reveal nothing, in Achenbach's view, beyond static and the optimism of its advocates. In addition to respected scientists, Achenbach travels to a UFO convention, where he meets a man convinced that the aliens have the medical technology to cure his aching back and that President Clinton traveled by spaceship from Arkansas to New York (it took 15 minutes). ET is here, say many of those Achenbach interviewed, but we don't believe the evidence because of government deception and coverups. Achenbach's book can be appreciated for its assortment of characters and for its witty style. Whether N is one or one million, and whether intelligence is the result of deliberate creation or natural evolution, he concludes, we are privileged to be members of a species able to wonder about it. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Journalist Achenbach has devoted much effort over the past several years to studying a broad spectrum of views on the question of extraterrestrial life, extending his inquiry from the most hard-nosed scientists to the most credulous, irrational members of the UFO fringes. The contents of his new book are best represented by the volume's subtitle; it is quite clear that Achenbach gives no credence to alien abduction stories or similar looniness. Despite his openness to hearing and reporting nonscientific speculation, in the end he supports science as the best method of inquiry in the notoriously tricky search for possible life in other worlds. His hero is Carl Sagan, who stretched far in the hope of finding extraterrestrial life but who, in the long run, honored the constraints of the scientific method. This book is well written, and Achenbach's adroit use of nicely timed, appropriate humor further enhances its readability. Although not a scientist himself, Achenbach has absorbed and reliably reported the current "state of the art." Strongly recommended for public and academic libraries.AJack W. Weigel, formerly with Univ. of Michigan Lib., Ann Arbor
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Captured by Achenbach
By Kenneth Feder
Joel Achenbach has accomplished the impossible; he has written a funny, engaging, enormously informative, highly skeptical, yet, at the same time, touching book about the search for extraterrestrial life. He includes in his discussion of SETI, the work of scientific luminaries like Sagan and Drake, but perhaps the most fun here is his affectionate look at the oddly endearing folks who show up at UFO conferences with their heads shrouded in aluminum foil. As Achenbach shows, though the methods of the scientists and the UFO enthusiasts are wildly different, their passion comes from the same place in the human spirit. You will not find a better written book on the human cry in the dark: "Is anybody out there?"
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Fun to read, but mixes apples with oranges
By M. A Michaud
This lively, amusing book touches on many ways that people relate to the cosmos, from astrophysicists to the Heavens Gate cult. That is a virtue, in the sense of providing the reader with a wide variety of material. It also is a weakness, in that highly reputable scientists are implicitly equated with flakes. The author should have drawn a sharper distinction between those he took seriously and those he found ridiculous. The net effect is to introduce a giggle factor into our views of anyone who finds the external universe fascinating and relevant to our future.
Achenbach is a bit too worshipful toward Carl Sagan and former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. In particular, he glosses over the fact that Goldin's faster, better, cheaper policy led to three major mission failures in the late 1990's.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Lively accounting of fringe and mainstream views on ET
By Kevin W. Parker
Joel Achenbach, a reporter for the Washington Post, covers current thinking about life in the universe in this lively and very personal account.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part could be considered to reflect the "establishment" view, giving the perspective from mainstream science and personages including Carl Sagan and NASA administrator Dan Goldin. Even within the mainstream, though, there are controversies: the well-known one about whether meteorite ALH84001 contains life and the lesser-known issue over whether the Viking landers really did find signs of life, as one of the investigators on that mission continues to claim. Achenbach covers these as well as an overview of the Drake Equation, a profile of Dan Goldin, and other such relevant items.
Part Two takes a very different tack, covering the fringe: those who believe the aliens are here already, including those who think they themselves are the aliens (from the Pleiades, as I recall). Achenbach tries to be sympathetic to these, though not with complete success. As he concludes, "It is not the evidence of extraterrestrial creatures but, rather, the idea of the Alien that makes ufology such a powerful faith." As he makes clear, almost everyone would be delighted to find life elsewhere in the universe. The skeptics, however, require evidence before they will give in to their hopes.
All of the parts are rather loosely organized, jumping from subject to subject, but Part Three is the loosest of all, seemingly only tied together by the concept of "what might happen." Here he jumps from possible new technologies ("Zero Point Fields") that might get us to the stars, reports on a conference of Robert Zubrin's Mars Society, spends a chapter on the Mars Face, revisits what's going on now with SETI, and more.
He concludes with a celebration of Carl Sagan's enthusiasm tempered with skepticism: "A scientist needs evidence. Faith is not part of the game. ... Sagan's greatest professional achievement may have been his ability to stick to science and resist the incredible allure of sentimental thinking." The last paragraphs cover his funeral.
All in all, the book is comparatively lightweight but is easy reading and hard to put down. Those interested in a hard-science approach to astrobiology should consider books such as Rare Earth and Is Anyone Out There? But for an overview of both the mainstream and fringe viewpoints, this is an excellent book.
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