Texts and Teaching Resources

Texts for Astrobio 101

The following five books are among those most often used (as of 2002/3) in teaching introductory astrobiology, or ”Astrobio 101”.

Life in the Universe
By Jeffrey Bennett, U. Colorado at Boulder, Seth Shostak, SETI Institute & Bruce Jakosky, U. Colorado. Addison Wesley (2003)

1. A Universe of Life?
2. The Science of Life in the Universe.
3. The Nature of Life.
4. The Geological History of the Earth
5. The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth
6. The Search for Life in Our Solar System
7. Mars
8. Life in the Outer Solar System
9. The Evolution of Habitability
10. Distant Abodes for Life
11. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
12. Interstellar Travel
13. The Fermi Paradox
14. Contact--Implications of the Search and Discovery

The Search for Life in the Universe (3rd edition)
By Donald Goldsmith, Interstellar Media, & Tobias Owen, U. Hawaii. University Science Books (2002)

1. The Search from the Human Perspective
2. The Universe Small and Large
3. The Birthplaces of Stars
4. Energy Liberation in Stars
5. How Stars End Their Lives
6. Galaxies and the Expanding Universe
7. The Nature of Life on Earth
8. The Origin of Life
9. From Molecules to Minds
10. How Strange Can Life Be?
11. The Origin and Early History of the Solar System
12. Venus
13. Mars
14. Is There Life on Mars?
15. The Giant Planets and Their Satellites
16. Is the Earth Unique?
17. The Discovery of Extrasolar Planets
18. Extraterrestrial Civilizations: How Many? How Distant?
19. Interstellar Spaceflight
20. Interstellar Radio and Television Messages
21. Extraterrestrial Visitors to Earth?
22. Where is Everybody?

The Search for Life on Other Planets
By Bruce Jakosky, U. Colorado at Boulder. Cambridge University Press (1998)

1. The Search for Life in the Universe
2. Impacts, Extinctions, and the Earliest History of Life on Earth
3. The History of Life on Earth
4. The Earth's Geological Record and the Earliest Life
5. Energy and Life in Unique Environments on Earth
6. Origin of Life on Earth
7. Requirements for Extraterrestrial Life
8. Is Life on Mars Possible?
9. Possible Fossil Martian Life in Meteorites from Mars
10. Implanting Life on Mars
11. The Exobiology of Venus
12. Titan -- A Natural Exobiology Laboratory
13. Exobiology in the Jupiter System
14. Formation of Planets Around Other Stars
15. Searching for Planets Around Other Stars
16. The Habitability of Planets Around Other Stars
17. Intelligent Life in the Universe
18. Life in the Universe

Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World
By Jonathan I. Lunine, U. Arizona. Cambridge University Press (1999)

1. An Introductory Tour of Earth's Cosmic Neighborhood
2. Largest and Smallest Scales
3. Forces and Energy
4. Fusion, Fission, Sunlight, and Element Formation
5. Determination of Cosmic and Terrestrial Ages
6. Other Uses of Isotopes for Earth History
7. Relative Age Dating of Cosmic and Terrestrial Events: The Cratering Record
8. Relative Age Dating of Terrestrial Events: Geologic Layering and Geologic Time
9. Plate Tectonics: An Introduction to the Process
10. Formation of the Solar System
11. The Hadean Earth
12. The Archean Eon and the Origin of Life: Properties of and Sites for Life
13. The Archean Eon and the Origin of Life: Mechanisms
14. The First Greenhouse Crises: The Faint Early Sun
15. Climate Histories of Mars and Venus, and the Habitability of Planets
16. Earth in Transition: From the Archean to the Proterozoic
17. The Oxygen Revolution
18. The Phanerozoic: Flowering and Extinction of Complex Life
19. Climate Change Across the Phanerozoic
20. Toward the Age of Humankind
21. Climate Change Over the Past 100,000 Years
22. Human-Induced Global Warming
23. Limed Resources: The Human Dilemma

The Spark of Life: Darwin and the Primeval Soup
By Christopher Wills and Jeffrey Bada, U. C. San Diego. Perseus Publishing (2000)

1. Introduction
2. The Rise and Fall of Spontaneous Generation
3. Primordial Soup
4. The Earth's Apocalyptic Beginnings
5. Prebiotic Soup: The Recipe
6. Sorting Out the Gemisch
7. The First Protobionts
8. From Top to Toe
9. Journey to the Center of the Earth
10. Life Elsewhere
11. Epilogue

Other Astrobiology Learning Resources

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