The Eerie Silence

Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence

By: Paul Davies

Narrated by: George K. Wilson

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake pointed a radio telescope at nearby stars in the hope of picking up a signal from an alien civilization. Thus began one of the boldest scientific projects in history, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). But after a half century of scanning the skies, astronomers have little to report but an eerie silence---eerie because many scientists are convinced that the universe is teeming with life. The problem, argues leading physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, is that we've been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way. Davies should know. For more than three decades, he has been closely involved with SETI and now chairs the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, charged with deciding what to do if we're confronted with evidence of alien intelligence. In this extraordinary book, he shows how SETI has lost its edge, then offers a new and exciting road map for the future.

Davies believes that our search so far has been overly anthropocentric: we tend to assume an alien species will look, think, and behave like us. He argues that we need to be far more expansive in our efforts, and in this book he completely redefines the search, challenging existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact. A provocative and mind-expanding journey, The Eerie Silence will thrill fans of science and science fiction alike.

©2010 Paul Davies (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Paul Davies has written a most delightful book, perhaps the most thoughtful, thorough, and comprehensive book ever published on the key question: are we alone in the universe? Davies addresses one of the most pivotal questions facing humanity, and does it with wit, style, and rigor. The Eerie Silence will satisfy the curiosity of anyone interested in big cosmic questions about intelligence in the universe." (Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics and author of Physics of the Impossible, Hyperspace, and Parallel Worlds)

Interesting if you like this topic

Nothing really new here, but I've been fascinated with the idea of Fermi's Paradox and the drake equation lately so I wanted more on this topic. I really wanted to read Stephen Webb's "Where is everybody" but could not find it in audio format and that is really the only way I can afford time to read. This book scratched that itch, but I did long for something better. It's worth a listen though and I have no major complaints.

Issues with playback

What made the experience of listening to The Eerie Silence the most enjoyable?

Easy listening voice.

Any additional comments?

At each chapter mark my iPod skipped to the next book in my playlist. I had to go back manually and enter the unheard chapter area by scrolling with the diamond cursor. I tried downloading a second time to see if that would help, but no luck. I'm using 3 audio.

Thought provoking and interesting AF

Paul Davies delivers his and other great mind’s best guesses at what’s out there.

One idea I feel was left out: Maybe E.T. knows humans are alive here on Earth and given our behavior as a species want absolutely nothing to do with us!

Good

It’s a good book that covers a lot of ground, but only very lightly.

It’s heavy on philosophy, with not so much history, and even less on actual science.

Big events get one sentence or are otherwise glossed over completely. For example, there’s one sentence on the Wow! signal. None on other spurious signals or what they turned out to be. Nothing about ocean signals. It has one sentence on SETI@Home. Nothing on alien signal analysis except “it’s hard to differentiate from random noise”.

By the end I felt very empty and like I hadn’t gained much.

Big Headed Parochialism

Don’t send music or art or philosophy to the aliens….send basic physics which they already know and learn in the nursery (if they even NEED to learn it). To send our “achievements” in science to a species thousands of years advanced beyond us would be silliness beyond belief.
Send something the aliens would really be interested by: “we have been searching here and here using these methods for this long and we only found YOU so far”.
You make yourself infinitely interesting and enjoyable by talking about the other person not yourself. :-)

Great book!

Great book from a brilliant author, one of the best minds around for this subject matter and most importantly an actual professional in the field who has done the work. Looking forward to reading more of his books which I’m sure will be as well written as this one.

If a picture were to illustrate the SETI people...

What disappointed you about The Eerie Silence?

Not "provocative" and definitely not "mind-expanding". The author is only slightly less parochial and idiotic than the typical SETI mindset.

Would you ever listen to anything by Paul Davies again?

NO!

What does George K. Wilson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Nothing

What character would you cut from The Eerie Silence?

The author

Any additional comments?

The picture would be a cartoon where SETI would be represented by a myopic nitwit caveman with his ear against the bottom of a wooden cup held against a desert cave wall with his eyes wide shut, while alien visitors buzz all around him in spaceships far above his perceptual ability, sometimes attempting to communicating with him, but to no avail, because the closed dummy only believes that these were his hallucinations and the taps on his shoulder must have been icicles falling from the ceiling of his desert cave. carl sagan, seth shostak, and others in that lineage of dunderheads are the Lord Kelvins and Charles H. Duells of the present era. Paul Davies is only slightly less hardheaded and has a slightly better clue than the rest of that bunch.


Einstein was right about human stupidity being infinite. Reincarnation will always ensure that the dumb ones will represent the majority in every era.