Looking back over the half century of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), senior astronomer Seth Shostak offers an enlightening and entertaining glimpse into the program's high-tech hunt for alien life. In the case above, the mysterious radio signal proved to be from a satellite-but it's quite possible that by the year 2025, SETI will find conclusive evidence of a civilization light-years from our home. If that happens, what will we learn from it? How will we respond? Will we ever come face to face with these alien beings? With stellar credentials and brilliant writing (chock full of humor that would make even Mr. Spock chuckle), Shostak brings insider stories and on-the-job insights to a captivating, controversial subject-one that may hold heightened importance for Earthlings in the not-too-distant future. Book jacket.

Seth Shostak is a scientist, author, and frequent commentator on TV and radio. He writes a monthly column on SPACE.com, and often lectures on his work at SETI. He lives in Palo Alto, California.