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Beyond Contact (Hard Cover) A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations

By Brian McConnell
March 2001
Pages: 432
ISBN 10: 0-596-00037-5 | ISBN 13: 9780596000370
(Average of 3 Customer Reviews)

Description

In Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations, author Brian McConnell examines the science and technology behind the search for intelligent life in space, from the physics of inter-stellar laser and radio communication to information theory and linguistics. If you've ever wondered whether it really would be possible to communicate with other civilizations, you'll want to read this book.
Full Description

"What do we need to know about to discover life in space?" --Frank Drake, 1961 In the early 1960s, Frank Drake, a young astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, developed what is now known as the "Drake Equation" in an effort to determine how many intelligent, communicative civilizations our galaxy could harbor. For forty years, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has combed the skies in search of signals from star systems within the galaxy. In Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations, author Brian McConnell goes behind the scenes and examines what goes into the search for intelligent life. SETI is a four-step process. First we have to know where to look; then we must be able to send and receive signals to that star system. Once signals arrive, scientists then need to be able to interpret those signals into something that can be understood. And although we haven't yet received any signals (except for our own Earth-based transmissions), we'll eventually have to figure out a protocol for responding. Beyond Contact introduces you to:

The history of SETI research, including the early searches of Project Ozma, traditional radio astronomy, the search for intelligence in optical wavelengths (known as Optical SETI, or OSETI), and the SETI@home project.
An overview of the Drake Equation and the Rare Earth Hypothesis, which scientists use to estimate the number of planets in our galaxy that could harbor intelligent, communicative life forms.
How signals are sent and received over interstellar distances. The author explains the principles of signal and image processing, and how SETI researchers identify and process analog signals using Fourier transforms to see how the power in a signal is distributed across different frequencies.
How to build a general-purpose symbolic language for sending signals, and even computer programs, with present-day SETI equipment. The ability to transmit computer programs enables us to let another civilization know about our knowledge and technological capabilities.

The author also shows how SETI research--though often thought to be a mere flight of fancy--has spawned technological improvements in astronomy, computers, and wireless communications. Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations sidesteps the "little green men" approach to take a hard, realistic look at the technologies behind the search for intelligent life in our universe.

Featured customer reviews

Beyond Contact Review, February 29 2004

Rating:

Submitted by . [Respond | View]

Hmm I expected more from this book, its too much targeting SETI, thats a pitty...
Kate Lea

Beyond Contact Review, April 13 2003

Rating:

Submitted by Danny Yee [Respond | View]

"some interesting bits and pieces ... but a lot of it will be rather tedious for

anyone with a computer science background" - read the full review

Beyond Contact Review, June 17 2001

Rating:

Submitted by David A. Murray [Respond | View]

This is almost the most comprehensive single book on SETI that I have read.

The content is exhaustive, up to date and easily understood by those new to

SETI or radio astronomy. Unlike most SETI books, there is special, extensive emphasis on the possible methods and content of wireless communication between

civilisations.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in SETI.

Read all reviews

Media reviews "It certainly makes interesting reading for anybody interested in modern technology and the many different applications of computers."
--Gerhard R. Fischer, CCPCUG, Nov 2002

"The author describes in fascinating detail the reasons why scientists think that we might not be alone--an apparent accident as it were--in the universe and what the chances are that a given star system might harbor life, or even intelligent life...Although the author presents some simple mathematics and many examples of bit maps demonstrating the feasibility of devising messages that can be deciphered by an alien, intelligent life form on another world, the book can easily be read without delving too deeply into the math. It certainly makes interesting reading for anybody interested in modern technology and the many different applications of computers."
--Gerhard R. Fischer, Charlotte County PC User Group, September. 2002

"Superb book."
--Paul Gilster, Triad Business News, July 19, 2002

Read all reviews

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