FIVE BILLION YEARS OF SOLITUDE: A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF LIVING WORLDS
Book ID/图书代码： 13000511B47784
English Summary/英文概要： As long as we humans have existed on Earth, our planet has seemed an isolated oasis, the sole living world known in a vast and silent universe. Now, after nearly five billion years, that isolation is ending, and we can no longer consider ourselves alone. Astronomers are discovering thousands of planets beyond our solar system, some of which may prove to be quite like Earth. They are building giant observatories on the ground and in space to study these strange new worlds, racing to be the first to find alien life on distant planets orbiting other suns, wondering whether worlds like ours are common or rare. But to have any hope of recognizing signs of life across the gulfs of interstellar space, astronomers must return from the stars and confront life’s intricate mysteries right here on Earth.
In FIVE BILLION YEARS OF SOLITUDE, the science writer Lee Billings reveals the intertwined history of our planet and of planet-hunting, elegantly depicting the unique moment in time when life on Earth gains a cosmic context. In a journey that takes him from our world’s deepest origins to its far-distant future, he comes face to face with the pioneering researchers who, in their historic efforts to discover other living worlds, are rediscovering and redefining our own. Readers will meet colorful characters such as the brilliant astrophysicist calculating the monetary value of the Earth, the heroic astronaut battling bureaucracy to build a billion-dollar planet-imaging space telescope, the influential climatologist forecasting a grim fate for our biosphere, and the visionary planetary scientist imagining the Earth viewed as an alien world.
In his encounters with the men and women who will be the first to explore other living worlds, Billings finds that their searches for Earth-like planets and speculations about alien civilizations are not only scientific pursuits, but also deep reflections of our hopes, dreams, and fears for human destiny. FIVE BILLION YEARS OF SOLITUDE is an intimate portrait of our planet, a chronicle of an unfolding scientific revolution, and a meditation on the uncertain legacy of humanity.
With his vivid description of characters, appetite for details, and ability to capture the essence of a complex subject in succinct, lyrical prose, Billings does for living worlds and the scientists who study them what John McPhee did for the geology and geologists of North America.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 自从我们人类在地球上存在，我们的地球似乎是一个孤立的绿洲，它是这个庞大而沉默的宇宙中已知的唯一有生命的球体。现在，近50亿年后，隔离已经结束，我们再也不能单独考虑自己。天文学家发现了我们太阳系之外的上千个星球，其中一些可能会被证明相似于地球。他们正在建设巨型的地面观测站，研究这些奇怪的新球体，比赛发现这些遥远的外球体上的生命，并考虑我们的世界到底是宇宙中很平常的，还是稀有的。但是，有任何希望发现星际空间的生命体，天文学家就必须从星球上返回，生活中的复杂奥秘就在地球上。
在《 50亿年的孤独 》一书中，科普作家李•比林斯揭示了地球和其他星球交织的历史，优雅的描绘了生命在地球上出现的独特时刻。在这个旅程中，他探讨了地球最原始的起源和最远的将来，他和研究先驱们面对面的交谈，他们为发现其他星球上的生命体做了很大的贡献，这些重新发现和重新定义了我们自己。读者会遇到丰富多彩的人物，如优秀的天体物理学家计算地球的货币价值，英勇的宇航员同官僚主义作斗争来建立一个数十亿美元的行星成像太空望远镜，有影响力的气候学家预测我们的生物圈，有远见的行星科学家想象将地球看作是一个陌生的世界。
在他关于外星球上发现的第一个生命到底是男人还是女人的探索中，比林斯发现他们对地球类似的行星搜索和外星文明的猜测不仅仅是对科学的追求，也是对我们的希望和梦想的深刻反思，以及对人类命运的担忧。《50亿年的孤独》是对我们星球的近距离描述，一部科学革命的编年史，以及对人类遗留下来的神秘事情的冥想。
他对人物的生动描述，对细节的仔细捕捉，将复杂问题简单化的能力，以及他抒情散文的功底都非常成功。他研究世界上的生命体和科学家，如地质学家约翰•麦克菲为北美地质所做的贡献。(LNL)
Awards/获奖情况："Graceful... the best book I have read about exoplanets, and one of the few whose language approaches the grandeur of a quest that is practically as old as our genes."--New York Times Book Review
"Will leave readers who aren’t rocket scientists slack-jawed"--New York Times
About the Author/作者介绍： 李•比林斯是一个30岁的科学记者。他在天文学，行星科学，天体物理学和宇宙学的科学性和政策方面的文章在如“自然”，“新科学家”，“大众机械师“和”种子“等杂志上出版。在2011年2月，为配合由美国宇航局的行星狩猎开普勒任务所公布的重大发现，比林斯应邀为 contribute写稿。他的博客文章两个星期内累计超过约350条现场评论，有成千上万的页面访问，并被很多杂志引用，包括“每日邮报“，”有线科学“，”MSNBC.com“，”新罕布什尔州公共广播电台“以及”美国航空航天局的官方开普勒主页“。从2006年1月至2011年3月，李是作家和“种子”杂志的编辑，他为很多杂志编辑内容如“纽约时报”，“华尔街日报”，“华盛顿邮报”和"Slate.com"。他住在纽约。LEE BILLINGS is a 30-year-old science journalist. His articles on the science and policy behind breakthrough work in astronomy, planetary science, astrophysics, and cosmology have appeared in publications such as Nature, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, and Seed magazine. In February 2011, to coincide with the announcement of major discoveries from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission, Lee was invited to contribute to BoingBoing.net. His blog posts over a two-week period accumulated around 350 on-site comments, delivered hundreds of thousands of page views, and spawned spin-off coverage in a host of other venues, including the Daily Mail, Wired Science, MSNBC.com, New Hampshire Public Radio, and NASA’s official Kepler homepage. From January 2006 to March 2011, Lee was a writer and editor for Seed magazine, where he produced content noted by outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Slate.com. He lives in New York City.
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