The biological universe : the twentieth-century extraterrestrial life debate and the limits of science / Steven J. Dick.

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.

xvi, 578 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

From the physical world to the biological universe: Democritus to Lowell -- Plurality of worlds and the decline of anthropocentrism -- Life in the solar system: the limits of observation -- Planetary systems: the limits of theory -- Extraterrestrials in literature and the arts: the role of imagination -- The UFO controversy and the extraterrestrial hypothesis -- The origin and evolution of life in the extraterrestrial context -- SETI: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence -- The convergence of disciplines: birth of a new science -- The meaning of life: implications of extraterrestrial intelligence -- Summary and conclusion: the biological universe and the limits of science.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 555-559) and index