Bahcall, John N., Jeremiah P. Ostriker. eds. Unsolved Problems in Astrophysics. Princeton: Princeton Univ Press, 1997.
Bova, Ben, Byron Preiss, William R. Alshuler. Are We Alone In The Cosmos?: The Search for Alien Contact in the New Millennium. New York: ibooks, 1999.
Chela-Flores, Julian, F. Raulin. eds. Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
Copernicus, Nicolaus. On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995.
Darling, David. Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of
Astrobiology. Basic Books, 2001.
An astronomer provides an overview of astrobiology, describing its goals and
methods as well as his predictions for coming advances. It exposes the creationist
roots of the "Rare Earth" hypothesis and the "Intelligent Design"
theory. The discussions include definition of "life," the conditions
that produce life, the mechanisms of evolution, and the development of intelligence.
Davies, Paul C. W. Are We Alone? Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life. Basic Books, 1996.
Dick, Steven J. The Biological Universe: The Twentieth-century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Dick, Steven J. Life on Other Worlds: The 20th-century Extraterrestrial Life Debate. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Dick, Steven J. ed. Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life and the Theological Implications. Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2000.
Dole, Stephen. Habitable Planets for Man. Elsevier, 1970.
The first, compact study of what makes a livable environment.
Dyson, Freeman. Infinite in All Directions. New York: Harper, 1985.
Galilei, Galileo. Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems—Ptolemaic and Copernican. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1953.
Harrison, A. After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life.
Perseus Press, 1997
Focuses on the psychological, sociological, political, and cultural aspects
of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Establilshes that the
human sciences are as important to SETI as are the physical and biological sciences.
Harwit, Martin. Astrophysical Concepts: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library.
Springer Verlag, 1998.
A good survey of astronomical, astrophysical, and cosmological concepts.
Harwit, M. Cosmic Discovery. Harvester Press, 1981
This book discusses different limits which are imposed on our knowledge of the
cosmos. Limits of our understanding of UR in astronomy.
Hoyle, Fred, N. C. Wickramasinghe. Astronomical Origins of Life: Steps Towards Panspermia. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
Jaki, Stanley. Is There a Universe? Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1992.
Jaki, Stanley. Planets and Planetarians: A History of Theories of the Origin of Planetary Systems. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1978.
Kepler, Johannes. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy & Harmonies of the World. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995.
Koerner, David W., Simon LeVay. Here Be Dragons: The Scientific Quest for Extraterrestrial Life. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Krauss, Lawrence. The Fifth Essence: The Search for Dark Matter in the Universe. Basic Books, 1990.
Krauss, Lawrence. Quintessence: The Mystery of Missing Mass in the Universe. New York: Basic Books, 2000.
Lemarchand, Guillermo A., John Orbo, Juliban Chela Flores. eds. Astrobiology: Origins from the Big-Bang to Civilisation. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.
Shklovskii, I. S., Carl Sagan. Intelligent Life in the Universe. Holdin-Day, 1966.
Smoot, George, Keay Davidson. Wrinkles in Time. New York: Avon Books, 1993.
Ward, Peter Douglas, Donald Brownlee.
Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe. Copernicus
Books, 2000.
While it is widely believed that complex life is common, even widespread,
throughout the billions of stars and galaxies of our Universe, the astrobiologists
argue that advanced life may, in fact, be very rare, perhaps even unique. While
microbial life may well be more prevalent throughout the Universe than previously
believed, the conditions necessary for the evolution and survival of higher
life - and here the authors consider everything from DNA to plate tectonics
to the role of our Moon - are so complex and precarious that they are unlikely
to arise in many other places, if at all.
Zuckerman, Ben, Michael H. Hart. eds. Extraterrestrials—Where Are They? Cambridge University Press, 1995.