• The Eerie Silence

  • Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence
  • By: Paul Davies
  • Narrated by: George K. Wilson
  • Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (203 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Eerie Silence  By  cover art

The Eerie Silence

By: Paul Davies
Narrated by: George K. Wilson
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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)

What listeners say about The Eerie Silence

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    92
  • 4 Stars
    82
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    88
  • 4 Stars
    48
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    79
  • 4 Stars
    54
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Scientifically Curious? Hmmm.

I must preface this review by stating that this book is not for UFO buffs. There is no discussion of UFO sightings, or alien abductions, or Area 51. I don't think Betty and Barney Hill are ever mentioned. It just isn't that kind of book.

However, if you are fascinated by the subject of the possibility of extraterrestrial or alien life, and you are somewhat scientifically oriented, this in-depth discussion could be very intriguing to you.

Paul Davies is an English physicist, a professor, and currently the chairman of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.) This book involves much science and attempts to address the possibility of life occurring elsewhere in the universe, with topics such as what are the odds, the means of determination, ways of initiating or receiving contact, whether or not this should even be attempted, first contact, who shall be notified and how, what would post-biological life look like, and so much more. It is very technical in places and contains lots of information.

Toward the end of the book, author Davies gives his own personal opinion on whether there is or has been other life in the universe. I'd love to comment on this, to give you my reactions and response to what he believes. However, that would spoil much of the fun for those that choose to delve into this very interesting, scientific approach to a subject that has fascinated me much of my childhood and all of my adult life.

Narration is well done. Highly recommended for scientifically curious listeners.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Equal parts history, science, informed speculation

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

This book is an excellent listen. At the outset, the author does an excellent job of setting the table, summarizing everything we know to date about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, from science and from theory. Specific programs (notably SETI), physical laws, experimental observations, astronomical and cosmological phenomena, are all covered. From there, the author consider various possibilities for what and where ET might be, and how it might be discovered. His discussion proceeds according to a chain of inductive reasoning, taking the listener through one fact pattern after another, and explaining the conclusions about alien life that would appear to flow from each. His analysis is well organized, beginning with conclusions we might draw from the limited evidence we understand today, then moving on to consider evidence that we do not have today, but that science may be able establish in the future. Finally, he does a great job of explaining the limitations imposed by science and physics, and where the science runs out, he applies theory, math, and imagination, to take the reader through an intelligent and well-reasoned summary of where we may end up. The book leaves with listener with much to consider. At the same time, for a book that focuses on a subject as inherently mysterious and unknowable as ET, the Eerie Silence leaves the listener remarkably satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone who wonders why - in a universe compromised of trillions of stars - we feel so alone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I love the topic and I love this book

This is a great book. The greatest potentially answerable question 'are we alone in the universe?' is explored from every imaginable perspective and with its possible ramifications. I don't think any one explains science to non-scientist better than Paul Davies does. He excels at giving both sides of an argument to a dilemma and lets the reader make the informed decision.

The book doesn't just look at radio astronomy but considers all the other evidence or lack of evidence for what it takes for other intelligence to be elsewhere in the universe. For example, the lack of evidence for non-DNA based life on earth or other planets in our solar system implies that life might not be as easily created as some might state. No systematic harnessing of black hole energy through out parts of the galaxy implies we just might be alone.

The narrator is the same one who read "The Singularity is Near" by Ray Kurzweil. That is good since the themes between the books overlap so much and my mind would naturally go back to that book as I was listening to this book. He gives the best refutation to the Fermi Paradox I've seen so far.

This book is much more than what the title implies. He covers everything related to "are we alone?" and fairly provides all relevant arguments to the table. He has his opinions and states them but always realizing that it's just his opinion and there are not necessarily right answers.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

ET phone home

A pretty entertaining overview of the question: Where are all the aliens?
There’s a tendency to think that people who are interested in UFOs and flying saucers are nutters, like people who believe in ghosts, or think that the Twin Towers was a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. to make Muslims look bad, or that the Moon Landings were faked in a film studio. So I was half-expecting this book to be a bit flaky and daft.

But it isn’t. It’s a fully scientific attempt at answering questions like: Is there is life elsewhere in the universe? How likely is it that life would emerge spontaneously on a suitable planet? Did life emerge spontaneously more than once on earth? Is there life on Mars? What is the probability that life would evolve intelligence? How might an alien civilization choose to communicate with us, etc. etc.

It kept me interested from beginning to end and introduced a few ideas to me that I’d never encountered before. Some of the imagined ways that the aliens might send messages to us were a bit out of left field (e.g. packaged in the DNA of a virus). Sometimes things like this seemed possible but a bit unlikely - but then, who the heck knows what technology is likely or unlikely in distant galaxies with advanced civilizations? I certainly don't, so I'll leave these speculations to boffins like the author of this book. Well worth a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Love it!

Given the billions of galaxies in the Universe, I imagine the Universe is teeming with life. So, why HAVEN'T we heard from any of them? This book examines the paradox in simple terms that even lay people can appreciate.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Carl Sagan, phone home

There are probably many others like me, who are utterly skeptical about the possiblity of encountering intelligent alien life forms, but deep down wish we would live to see the day...

Author Davies resets the business of seeking alien life forms on a foundation of sound science. He proposes that the "alien" life form we are most likely to discover is at the bottom of the ocean, or deep inside the earth. The odds of contacting intelligent life through projects such as SETI are so remote, why not look for life forms on this planet that may be traveling along unique evolutionary paths.

As much as I was inspired by Carl Sagan's Cosmos, I am persuaded that science has not exhausted the search for the origins, nature and prevalence of life right here in our own backyard.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Eerie Silence

Any additional comments?

In a nutshell this book is about what really smart people imagine an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization could be like given what we know about life, intelligence, evolution, civilizations, physics and the universe at this time. It chases many rabbits down many different holes into wonderland. I absolutely loved it. It's remenicent of the science books of the late Carl Sagan. If you're interested in the SETI program and you like watching the science channel then you'll probably like this book.

I have a few issues that kept me from giving this book 5 stars. The first is that chapter three gets REALLY boring. I just wanted him to get on with it. The second is that Mr. Davies is too hard on religion and Christianity. I don't feel like he has a good understanding of what real Christianity is, but he's a scientist and this is a science book. The third is that I would have really liked to have heard his views on the ancient alien theories. He kind of danced around the subject without ever actually addressing it. I gather from some of his other views that he would be adamantly opposed to the idea, but it would have been nice to hear him discuss it.

Anyway, this is a solid 4 star audio book... If you are really interested in the subject matter.

I feel like I've overused the word "really" in this review.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It seemed like a rather long 10 hours

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the book only to someone who either is absolutely fascinated with the concept of alien intelligence or who simply devours outer-space-related science fiction. I am truly confident this book is the definitive "retail" description of the state-of-the-art search for such intelligence. I can't imagine any more informed author than Paul Davies. It is a virtually encylopedic enumeration of what we've discovered thus far (i.e., nothing much) and of the many possible ways we humans could discover alien beings going forward, whether they are intelligent or not. However, such an enumeration--in my opinion--got to be tedious after the first few chapters. On the positive side, the reader will encounter some interesting new scientific developments and increase his understanding of the gargantuan hurdles scientists face in the detection of alien intelligence.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Make it a little less speculative about all possible technologies that aliens might employ to find us or that we might use to find them. It got to be a catalog of scientific frontier knowledge that conceivably could be exploited like creating monopole magnets, or using nanotechnology to create tiny data-encoded vonNeumann computers which could be distributed around the universe in millions and powered by dark energy, etc. etc.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator was OK. I'm satisfied.

Did The Eerie Silence inspire you to do anything?

No.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

SETI at its finest

Any additional comments?

This book was about SETI, the institute named "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence", which overall needed the clarification this book provides. I have learned much more about SETI than I thought I could.

Davies left no question unanswered, and overall I found it a very informative and enlighening experience listening to this audiobook. Definitely give it a listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful