tech
Six Books That Take You to Space
When I look at the night sky, I don’t wonder whether alien life is somewhere out there; I think it probably is. Considering the sheer number of stars in the cosmos, and the possibly larger number of planets that revolve around them, the idea that humans are alone in the universe strikes me as unlikely. So, instead, I wonder: What is that life like, and will we ever encounter it?
TL;DR
- Six books, both fiction and nonfiction, use alien life and space exploration to explore human themes.
- Carl Sagan's *Contact* examines faith, evidence, and human unity.
- Octavia E. Butler's *Dawn* explores salvation, exploitation, and consent through an alien species' imperative to merge genes.
- Ethan Chatagnier's *Singer Distance* depicts an alien civilization on Mars that communicates through mathematical proofs, exploring obsession and the universal language of art.
- Max Barry's *Providence* follows a revenge mission against aliens, examining AI, social media, isolation, and humanity's urges to connect and destroy.
- Kim Choyeop's *If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light* collection explores symbiotic relationships, alien perspectives on death, and the transportive power of art.
- Arik Kershenbaum's *The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy* uses evolutionary biology to hypothesize about alien life, questioning our definitions of intelligence and humanity.
- The article suggests that encountering the 'other' in fiction helps reveal truths about ourselves.
- The author, Alexandra Oliva, is also a novelist who explores similar themes.