The Possibility of Life : Searching for Kinship in the Cosmos

For fans of Ed Yong, Brian Cox and Carl Zimmer: a dazzling scientific and cultural adventure through our ideas about extraterrestrial life and the cosmos

One of the most powerful questions we ask about the cosmos is: Are we alone?

The Possibility of Life traces our scientific understanding of what and where life in the universe could be, from Galileo and Copernicus through to our current tracking of exoplanets in the ‘Goldilocks zone’, where life akin to ours on Earth might exist. Along the way, Jaime Green studies insights from a long tradition of science fiction that uses imagination to extrapolate worlds, in turn inspiring scientists and their research.

Bringing together expert interviews, cutting-edge astronomy, philosophical enquiry and pop culture touchstones ranging from A Wrinkle in Time to Star Trek, The Possibility of Life delves into our evolving conception of the cosmos to pose an even deeper question: What does it mean to be human?