Is Anyone Out There?

While many people wonder if extraterrestrial (ET) intelligent life-forms exist, few of us have the training and tools to conduct our own search. But Gerrit L. Verschuur, PhD, does. For over forty years, Verschuur kept a journal of his thoughts, questions, and pioneering work in the astronomical search for radio signals from ET.

"Is Anyone Out There?" is Verschuur's autobiographical account of his journey into the unknowns of human experience. The first radio astronomer to conduct a search for radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) using the world's largest radio telescopes, Verschuur published his results in a technical journal edited by Carl Sagan.

However, over the next several years, he began to doubt humankind's ability to receive alien radio signals-and this belief produced a virulent reaction from colleagues who wanted NASA to invest more money in the search. Instead, Verschuur dedicated his life to looking for other ways to confirm the existence of ETI using alternative methods for making contact-including communication with the only ETI we unequivocally know exists: dolphins.

This candid telling of a scientist's search for ETI will captivate anyone who wonders if we are truly alone in the universe.