Exobiology: Bibliography: Part One

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. To investigate life-in-the-Universe one needs a solid grounding in the relevant literature. A comprehensive relevant bibliography would run to many thousands of pages and be rather off-putting. So, perhaps something on a slightly smaller scale might be more in order to help the novice get started. 

For something that doesn’t yet exist, extraterrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise, has hatched a massive amount of literature, both technical and popular, in English and otherwise. There are speculative books, articles, documentaries, etc. that number in the tens of thousands. Add the sci-fi contributions into the mix, and you have tens of thousands more entries. Here are just samplings of some of the non-fictional monographs that have touched on some of the topics raised so far.

Further Readings: Exobiology/Astrobiology in General

Aczel, Amir D.; Probability 1: The Book That Proves There Is Life In Outer Space; Harcourt, Inc., San Diego, California; 1998:

Barnett, Alex & Shostak, Seth; Cosmic Company: The Search for Life in the Universe; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2003:  

Baross, John A. & Sullivan, Woodruff T. (Editors); Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2007:

Basalla, George; Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Intelligent Extraterrestrials; Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2006:

Bova, Ben; Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth; Perennial, New York; 2005:

Clark, Andrew J.H. & Clark, David H.; Aliens: Can We Make Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence?; Fromm International, New York; 2000: 

Cohen, Jack & Stewart, Ian; Evolving the Alien: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life; Ebury Press, London; 2002: 

Darling, David; Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology; Basic Books, New York; 2001:  

Genta, Giancarlo; Lonely Minds in the Universe: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Copernicus Books, New York; 2007:

Heidmann, Jean; Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1995: 

Impey, Chris; The Living Cosmos: Our Search for Life in the Universe; Random House, New York; 2007:

Impey, Chris (Editor); Talking About Life: Conversations on Astrobiology; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2010:

Jakosky, Bruce; The Search for Life on Other Planets; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 1998: 

Kasting, James; How to Find A Habitable Planet; Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey; 2010:

Koerner, David & LeVay, Simon; Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life; Oxford University Press, New York; 2000:

Michaud, Michael A.G.; Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials; Copernicus Books, New York; 2007:

Parker, Barry; Alien Life: The Search for Extraterrestrials and Beyond; Plenum Trade, New York; 1998:

Pickover, Clifford; The Science of Aliens; Basic Books, New York; 1998: 

Shapiro, Robert; Planetary Dreams: The Quest to Discover Life Beyond Earth; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York; 1999:

Shostak, Seth; Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life; Berkeley Hills Books, Berkeley, California; 1998: 

Sullivan, Walter; We Are Not Alone: The Continuing Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Dutton Books, New York; 2^nd Edition; 1993:

Verma, Surendra; Why Aren’t They Here? The Question of Life on Other Worlds; Icon Books, Cambridge; 2007:

Further Readings: Life Not As We Know It

Ward, Peter; Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life; Penguin Books, New York; 2005:

Further Readings: The Origin and Evolution of Our Universe: Cosmology

Burbidge, Geoffrey & Narlikar, Jayant V.; Facts and Speculations in Cosmology; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2008:

Carr, Bernard (Editor); Universe or Multiverse?; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2007:

Chown, Marcus; Afterglow of Creation: Decoding the Message from the Beginning of Time; Faber and Faber, London; Revised Edition; 2010:

Chown, Marcus; The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead: Dispatches from the Frontline of Science; Faber and Faber, London; 2007:

Clegg, Brian; Before the Big Bang: The Prehistory of Our Universe; St. Martin’s Press, N.Y.; 2009:

Davies, Paul; The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life?;

Allen Lane, London

; 2006:

Gates, Evalyn; Einstein’s Telescope: The Hunt for Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe; W.W. Norton & Co., New York; 2009:

Gilmore, Robert; Once Upon A Universe: Not-So-Grimm Tales of Cosmology; Copernicus Books, New York; 2003:

Gleiser, Marcelo; Imperfect Creation: Cosmos, Life and Nature’s Hidden Code; Black, Inc.; Melbourne, Victoria; 2010:

Goldsmith, Donald; The Runaway Universe: The Race to Find the Future of the Cosmos; Basic Books, New York; 2000:

Gribbin, John; In Search of the Multiverse;

Allen Lane, London

; 2009:

Guth, Alan H.; The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for A New Theory of Cosmic Origins; Vintage, London; 1998:

Hawking, Stephen; A Brief History of Time; Bantam Books, New York; 2^nd Edition; 1996:

Hawking, Stephen & Mlodinow, Leonard; A Briefer History of Time; Bantam Press, London; 2005:

Hawking, Stephen & Mlodinow, Leonard; The Grand Design; Bantam Press, London; 2010:

Hooper, Dan; Dark Cosmos: In Search of Our Universe’s Missing Mass and Energy; Smithsonian Books, New York; 2006:

Kaku, Michio; Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternative Universes and Our Future in the Cosmos; Penguin Books, London; 2005:

Moring, Gary F.; The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Theories of the Universe; Alpha Books, New York; 2002:

Rees, Martin; Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others; Free Press, London; 2002:

Silk, Joseph; On the Shores of the Unknown: A Short History of the Universe; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2005:

Silk, Joseph; The Infinite Cosmos: Questions from the Frontiers of Cosmology; Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2006:

Singh, Simon; Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It; Harper Perennial, London; 2005:

Vilenkin, Alex; Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes; Hill & Wang, New York; 2006:

Further Readings: The Origin of Life and Panspermia

Crick, Francis; Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature; Simon and Schuster, New York; 1981: 

Davies, Paul; The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life;

Allen Lane, Ringwood, Victoria

; 1998:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Lifecloud: The Origin of Life in the Universe; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1978:

Hoyle, Fred & Wickramasinghe, Chandra; Diseases from Space; J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1979

Ponnamperuma, Cyril (Editor); Comets and the Origin of Life; D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland; 1981:

Seargent, David A. J.; Genesis Stone? The Murchison Meteorite and the Beginnings of Life; Karagi Publications, The Entrance, NSW: 1991:

Further Readings: Microbes

Cockell, Charles S.; Impossible Extinction: Natural catastrophes and the Supremacy of the Microbial World; Cambridge University Press, Canbridge; 2003:

Friend, Tim; The Third Domain: The Untold Story of Archaea and the Future of Biotechnology; Joseph Henry Press, Washington, D.C.; 2007:

Gold, Thomas; The Deep, Hot Biosphere; Springer-Verlag: 1999:  

Taylor, Michael Ray; Dark Life: Martian Nanobacteria, Rock-Eating Cave Bugs, and Other Extreme Organisms of Inner Earth and Outer Space; Scribner, New York, 1999:

Wharton, David A.; Life at the Limits: Organisms in Extreme Environments; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2002: