Book

Gonzalez, Guillermo, 1963-

The privileged planet : how our place in the cosmos is designed for discovery / Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards.

Washington, DC : Regnery Pub. ; Lanham, MD : National Book Network [distributor], ©2004.

xv, 444 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Arguing that life may be rarer than some astronomers and philosophers have said, the author details the delicate balance of factors that make life possible on this planet and reveals the rarity of these conditions in the universe.

Planets.

Cosmology.

Discoveries in science.

Richards, Jay W. (Jay Wesley), 1967-

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-416) and index.

Our local environment -- Wonderful eclipses -- At home on a data recorder -- Peering down -- Peering up -- The pale blue dot in relief -- Our helpful neighbors -- The broader universe -- Star probes -- Our galactic habitat -- Our place in cosmic time -- A universe fine-tuned for life and discovery -- Implications -- The revisionist history of the Copernican revolution -- The Copernican principle -- The anthropic disclaimer -- SETI and the unraveling of the Copernican principle -- A universe designed for discovery -- The skeptical rejoinder -- Conclusion: reading the book of nature -- The revised Drake equation -- What about panspermia?.

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523.2 Gonzalez