Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This item is unavailable.Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Aliens are big in America. Whether they’ve arrived via rocket, flying saucer, or plain old teleportation, they’ve been invading, infiltrating, or inspiring us for decades, and they’ve fascinated moviegoers and television watchers for more than fifty years. About half of us believe that aliens really exist, and millions are convinced they’ve visited Earth. Seth Shostak’s informative, entertaining report offers an insider’s view of what we might realistically expect to discover light-years away among the stars. Neither humanoids nor monsters, says Shostak; in fact, biological intelligence is probably just a precursor to machine beings, enormously advanced artificial sentients whose capabilities and accomplishments may have developed over billions of years and far exceed our own. As he explores what, if anything, they would tell us and what their existence would portend for humankind and the cosmos, he introduces a colourful cast of characters and provides a vivid, state-of-the-art account of the past, present, and future of our search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Seth Shostak is the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute in California, a research organisation that runs the world's most sensitive search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He is a frequent commentator on rado and television, appearing on Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor, CNN, National Geographic television, and the Learning Channel among others.