The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy

What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens--and Ourselves

By: Arik Kershenbaum

Narrated by: Samuel West

From a noted Cambridge zoologist, a wildly fun and scientifically sound exploration of what alien life must be like, using universal laws that govern life on Earth and in space.

Scientists are confident that life exists elsewhere in the universe. Yet rather than taking a realistic approach to what aliens might be like, we imagine that life on other planets is the stuff of science fiction. The time has come to abandon our fantasies of space invaders and movie monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.

But short of aliens landing in New York City, how do we know what they are like? Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution--which applies throughout the universe--Cambridge zoologist Dr. Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like: how these creatures will move, socialize, and communicate. For example, by observing fish whose electrical pulses indicate social status, we can see that other planets might allow for communication by electricity. As there was evolutionary pressure to wriggle along a sea floor, Earthling animals tend to have left/right symmetry; on planets where creatures evolved in midair or in soupy tar, they might be lacking any symmetry at all.

Might there be an alien planet with supersonic animals? A moon where creatures have a language composed of smells? Will aliens scream with fear, act honestly, or have technology? The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy answers these questions using the latest science to tell the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.

Brilliant analysis

Rarely am I struck simply by how intelligent, thoughtful and logical an author is. Really worth the thought provoking read.

Ate this book up.

Finished it in two days. Absolutely entranced by the picture the author paints. If you have any interest in astrobio or zoology, read this book.

Not what I expected, but better

This book takes a scientific look at life on Earth and what it predicts about life or elsewhere in the universe. I enjoyed it immensely and found it very thought-provoking

A enchanting peek at who we may meet in the future

Arik Kershenbaum has created a very intriguing template for use when realistically trying to predict what beings from other worlds might be like. He took characteristics from life on Earth and scaled it back to its most basic qualities and then looked at how and why those characteristics evolved here on our planet. He then projected all of that onto the blank screen of our minds as possibilities of how "aliens" may have evolved and what they may be like. In so doing, he teaches us a lot about ourselves and why we are the way we are. All-in-all, this is a very entertaining as well as educational book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in such endeavors.

Excellent Selfish Gene-like Writing and Reasoning

An enjoyable trip through evolutionary biology as it might reveal characteristics of life universally. Only brief consideration of post-evolutionary effects, such as artificial intelligence and gene editing, but that’s not surprising given the author’s expertise and stated purpose of the book.

Audio is slightly low.