Is There Anybody Out There?

Scholastic £12.99  HB

Dara Ó Briain is perhaps best known as the comedian who chairs TV’s Mock The Week, but astronomers remember him also as the co-presenter of the BBC’s Stargazing Live. He is also a qualified scientist, having studied mathematics and theoretical physics at university.

Is There Anybody Out There? is the latest in a series teaching younger children about science: this compact volume looks at the prospect of alien life.

We learn how the notion of aliens has fascinated humankind throughout history, with imagined canals on the Red Planet and visits by flying saucers. Scientific attempts to answer the title question include the famous Fermi Paradox and Drake Equation, as well as experiments listening for messages using radio telescopes.

A potted description of how the Universe, stars and planets formed is followed by a look at how life begins and evolves, and why Earth is a particularly good host for it. Ó Briain ponders whether similar life might exist elsewhere in the Solar System, or beyond. If it does, how can we visit or communicate with it?

As you might expect, the style is very off-beat. Each page is presented in a variety of typefaces and font sizes to appeal to younger readers, which may induce a migraine in older readers. The text is heavily peppered with jokes, and you can almost imagine Ó Briain delivering it as a stand-up routine in Live at the Apollo. But this is a topic that fires the imagination, and if the light humour helps teach a bit of science, then that’s great too.

★★★★★