Preface

History: Spirits from the vasty deep

Plurality of worlds

Wobbly ladder to the stars

Planets at last

Science: Greatest story ever told

Earth birth

Life itself

Childhood

So what?

Lives of planets

Venus and Mars

Growing up with Europa

Enter the exoplanets

Exobiology: Life on the fringe

Astrobiology

Is it science yet?

Living worlds

Belief: SETI: Sounds of silence

Fermi's paradox

Have you seen the saucers?

Cons, piracies, conspiracies

Believing is seeing

Immortals

astrotheology

Notes on sources and suggestions for further reading

Credits and permissions

Index