Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb (2021) Book Review

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb Book Cover by  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Much of the Articles hyping up this Book before it was released talked about Oumuamua, so my expectation was really to learn more about it. However, it turns out that Oumuamua covers just some Parts of the Book, most of it discussed other things instead. 

The Author discussed his Biography and his Work, which gives us a good idea of his background and experience. He is what could be called as a “Mainstream Scientist”, meaning much of his work revolved around mainstream Scientific Endeavors. 

Some of his other Work was fascinating, others not so much. He also dedicated a good portion of the Book about the conservativeness or close-mindedness of the main Scientific Community about some Topics like Extraterrestrial Civilizations while accepting other Topics like the Superstring or Multiverse Theories which are about as “exotic” or even more so. 

As for Oumuamua itself, the Author does make a good argument about it being an Extraterrestrial Artifact based on a number of reasons:

- First, it is too shiny, shinier than any Asteroid or Comet that we know of;

- Despite the fact that most of the Artist’s Illustration of the Object depicts it as Sausage-shaped, there is a more than 90% chance that it is actually Disc-shaped. 

- It exhibited Non-Gravitational Acceleration without any evidence of Outgassing, indicating some type of a Propulsion.

The Author though thinks it is likely a Remnant of an Extraterrestrial Civilization that did not survive The Great Filter. His discussion about The Great Filter Theory and arguments for the Colonization of Space were also I felt one of the highlights of the Book. 

Overall despite some shortcomings, I thought it was entertaining enough, I Highly Recommend it.