“What if First Contact is alien porn?” Clifford Pickford muses in his book “The Science of Aliens” which tops my list of Best UFO Books. I’ve found books about UFOs tend to focus on three general areas: the philosophical, the political and the evidentiary. My picks explore all three areas are great reads and available at your local public library. Here’s the list:
“The Science of Aliens”
by Clifford Pickover
Pickover asks many thought-provoking questions about aliens, much of it based on the weird and unusual creatures of Earth, and provides provocative answers. A must read for anyone who has doodled aliens in the margins of their school notebooks, or corporate lecture notes for that matter.
“Are We Alone?
Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life”
by Paul Davies
Turns out there might be a lot of controversy if, say for instance, an alien world had been visited by Jesus. Explores this and many other facets of what First Contact might mean for our world from a historical and spiritual perspective.
“Faint Echoes, Distant Stars
The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth”
by Dr. Ben Bova
Dr. Bova, a prolific author of science fiction in his own right, has also written many books in field of extraterrestrials. In “Faint Echoes, Distant Stars” Dr. Bova poses the questions of extraterrestrial life from the point-of-view of an astrobiologist, one who studies the living universe and answers these questions: are we alone in the universe, what is the history of life, and what is the future of life. He explores the history of astronomy and gives the political implications of discovery, both astronomical and extraterrestrial. His geologic tour of the galaxy sheds light on what life may be out there and where we might find it.
“Lonely Planets
The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life”
by David Grinspoon
Takes the reader on an intellectual journey through various theoretical worlds and concepts. One such expedition explores the idea of planets with “inhospitable surfaces” that may only be the thick protective skin covering a thriving underground world. He also gives nuts and bolts analysis of the cosmos, such as the Drake Equation:
NL
The number of civilizations in the galaxy is approximately equal to the average lifetime, in years, of a civilization. Which left this reader wondering if our lack of discovery of extraterrestrials to date is due to the fact that civilizations haven’t lived long enough to find each other.
