ONE OF TEN BILLION EARTHS How We Learn About Our Planet's Past and Future From Distant Exoplanets

Listeners won't visit Proxima Centauri anytime soon--the journey could take 255,000 years. Still, we live in a great era of exploration, even if only by telescope and theory, since planetary systems outside of our own have been discovered only in the past 10 years. Narrator Steve Menasche delivers the author's concepts and explanations clearly, making for a lively lecture with occasional references to science fiction. Schrijver discusses the fast-growing field of exoplanet studies, even down to research papers and funding proposals, while detailing its progress. The many things science has learned come together in an ending that will get listeners' attention: a discussion of the possibilities of other life in our own solar system and the possible fates of planet Earth. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2018]