Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe [Paperback]

 

 

Create your own review

These authors have struck on a perfect book idea -- based on no data whatsoever from Earth's (non-existent) interstellar expeditions, they've concluded that complex life resulted quite by accident from a large set of circumstances unique to Earth. This assumes that the Earth has had basically the same conditions, free of catastrophes, and that assumption is laughable at this point.

I noticed that even in the multi-starred reviews scientific errors are cited. Considering that the authors' conclusions miraculously match their original assumptions, I'm not too surprised to read that, although the high ratings on this title do surprise.

Fossil evidence shows that the Moon couldn't possibly have arisen from an impact on the proto-Earth. Nautilus shells today show about 30 daily growth lines per "month". 420 million years ago they had a mere nine days. The Moon's orbital period was nine days, its distance was less than half its present value, and Earth's rate of rotation was faster. [Larry Gedney, "When the Days Were Shorter", Alaska Science Forum]

Since most of the distance between Earth and Moon has accumulated in the past 420 million years, it's impossible that the Moon was born of impact four billion years ago. That's the hard evidence. The alternatives include that the Earth has had a series of moons and lost the others (Hoerbiger), or that the current Moon is the only one Earth has had, but has lost it and recaptured it at least once, or that the Earth was formerly in proximity to a different larger body (i.e., not a satellite of the Sun).

The simplest model is that the Moon must have been captured sometime during or shortly before the most recent 420 million year interval -- less than ten per cent of the age of the Earth. Microbial life on Earth is believed to be attested in microfossils at least 3 billion years old. Therefore, the Moon is irrelevant to the origin of life on Earth -- unless one wishes to assume repeated captures and losses of the Moon.

Ward and Brownlee think that the Moon has always been around and has been one of the indispensible factors in the rise and evolution of life. It's hogwash. Even without the Moon, the Sun produces one third of the tides -- the tides being W&B's most important consequence of the existence of the Moon.

Since a satellite in prograde orbit and rotation will enjoy a momentum transfer from the parent body, the Earth must have formed closer to the Sun, meaning that the tides (provided there were seas) from the Sun alone were larger four and a half billion years ago.

The book is an elaborate apologia for Darwin. The gradualist drivel -- tides, glaciation, continental drift (oops, "plate tectonics"), axis wobble, etc -- are there as props, but are likewise there to be propped.

While not a creationist or young-Earther myself, the hostility toward some of the better reviews which expressed such a view is pretty much what I'd expect. The similar high ratings for the title by reviewers of both stripes may betray the same level of credulity that could buy into this book's claims. Some creationists reject life on other worlds because the Bible sez humans were created by God. The secular fans of this title reject life on other worlds because that could open the door to UFOs, transluminal space flight, ETs, and other things that they claim to know are impossible.

While this book may prop up a few different believers, it isn't scientific. Lovers of science fiction may enjoy it. Those interested in the sociology of belief may find it, uh, indispensible.

No paperback version has come out (as of early January 2003). I'll also be surprised to see subsequent titles by these authors. Instead of this, read this one in its new edition:

The Deep, Hot Biosphere
by Thomas Gold
foreword by Freeman Dyson
[0387952535]

Also, do a websearch for Louis Frank (comets).

[revised my original review from late August 2001]

_Rare Earth_ is a polemic for the view that complex life, both animals and higher planets, is rare in the Milky Way Galaxy and perhaps even in the Universe. Unfortunately, it fails to provide convincing evidence for this view, is often marked by sloppy writing, and in places borders on being wrong.

As an example of the latter, the authors seem to imply that the Sun has little or no interaction with the Galaxy's spiral arms and that the inter-arm regions of a spiral galaxy have a lower stellar density than inside the spiral arms. Neither is correct. It is true that the Sun is not now located in a spiral arm. However, the Sun orbits the Galactic center, taking about 250 million years to do so. The Galaxy's spiral arms do not rotate with the stars. The Sun therefore probably passes through at least one spiral arm every orbit. Over its lifetime the Sun has made approximately 20 orbits, plenty of time to pass through multiple spiral arms. Indeed the authors seem to be unaware of a proposal that massive extinctions in the Earth's past were caused by passage of the Sun through a spiral arm.

In many places the presentation also seems muddled. If we are told that Jupiter is more than 300 times the mass of the Earth (p. 235), do we really need to be told less than three pages later that Jupiter's mass is 318 Earth masses (p. 238)?

While reading it, I kept finding myself saying, That's not right, or, But what about ....? It's truly disappointing because the title is so provocative and because we are learning so much about the formation of planets and the origin of life on the Earth. However, having read the book, I certainly would not have purchased it initially.

I greatly enjoyed reading this book. Although I am a believer in directed evolution (by a Creator), it was enjoyable to see "pure materialists" coming to the conclusion (by inference) that we may be the only life in the universe wondering who else is looking up. Makes this planet pretty special (and for a materialist - pretty lonely). Perhaps man's existence has a greater purpose (and responsibility) in this universe and on this planet.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 84 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

4.0 out of 5 stars NASA Will Never Like This Book!
Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee have written a very thought-provoking book in "Rare Earth." They have, in fact, given voice to some thoughts that had occurred to me and to a lot... Read more

Published on Feb 15 2004 by David B Richman

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Up to Snuff
OK, I am in the obvious minority with this review, but it's how I see it.

This is a work filled with broad, sweeping suppositions, yet it seems that as always the devil is in... Read more

Published on Jan 15 2004 by William Hopke

5.0 out of 5 stars Gloomy picture for us Trekkies!!
I both hate & love this book. I think it is a must read. Like all reviewers here, I am one of those who hopes that it's a "Star Trek" universe out there but unlike other... Read more

Published on Aug 22 2003 by kannankeril

5.0 out of 5 stars For THINKERS Only!!!
This book has a number of good features --

(1) References: over twenty-five pages that mainly consist of recent journal articles written by respected scientists. Read more

Published on Aug 20 2003 by Stephen Pletko

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
This book is somewhat difficult to read without proper background knowledge on some of these subjects. Read more

Published on Mar 11 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Evaluating the wheels of a speeding train
The only reason I give this book a 3-star rating is that it is already becoming dated by the blinding speed at which exoplanetary science is developing. Read more

Published on Feb 20 2003 by Robert Harding

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting information, in need of editing
This book contains a wealth of interesting information and I recommend it as a source to anyone interested in the subject. Read more

Published on Dec 27 2002 by Peter Kretschmar

4.0 out of 5 stars Important considerations and interesting reading
While I think that it would be fascinating if we do someday discover evidence of an inhabited planet around a distant star, I think that the authors Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee... Read more

Published on Dec 7 2002 by Matthew P. Whitehead

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book!
In addition to arguing very convincingly for a surprising conclusion, it's one of the most lucid introductions to Astronomy, Geology, and Evolutionary Microbiology in existence... Read more

Published on Oct 16 2002 by Amaigus

3.0 out of 5 stars ... life, as we know, ...
I don't own and I haven't read the book but I agree with the authors that "... while simple, microbial life will be very widespread in the universe, complex animal or plant... Read more

Published on Sep 26 2002 by Renato S. N. Costa

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 84 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!