Eerie Silence（ISBN=） 英文原版

　　In an area more given to fabulation than fact, [Paul Davies’]
level-headedness is positively refreshing. If you ever start
worrying about why no one is talking to us, this is the book to
calm you down — David Papineau Observer Davies is the most
engaging of writers — Clive Cookson FT An immensely readable
investigation of the SETI enterprise — Michael Hanlon New
Scientist A magnificent cosmic tour d’horizon of what we know, and
what we might yet encounter out there, in the apparent emptiness of
deep space — Christoper Hart Sunday Times

　　One of the world’s leading scientists explains why–and
how–the search for intelligent life beyond Earth should be
expanded.
　　Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake first
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). After a half-century of scanning the skies,
however, astronomers have little to report but an eerie
silence–eerie because many scientists are convinced that the
universe is teeming with life. Physicist and astrobiologist Paul
Davies has been closely involved with SETI for three decades and
chairs the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, charged with deciding
what to do if we’re suddenly confronted with evidence of alien
intelligence. He believes the search so far has fallen into an
anthropocentric trap–assuming that an alien species will look,
think, and behave much like us. In this provocative book Davies
refocuses 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 it does.

　　Paul Davies has achieved an international reputation for his
ability to explain the significance of advanced scientific ideas in
simple language. He is the author of some twenty books and has
written and presented a number of TV and radio programmes. He has
also won the prestigious Templeton Prize, the world’s largest award
for intellectual endeavour, and a Glaxo Science Writers’
Fellowship. He is currently Professor at Arizona State University
as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts
in Science.