The Great Silence

Cansu Hepalayan, Aja Watkins, Russell Powell, Acta Biotheoretica First and foremost, it offers the most extensive, meticulously researched, and scientifically current analysis of Fermi's paradox to date. It is also likely to become the go-to text on the theoretical foundations of SETI research. irkovi expounds complicated scientific concepts in instructive and clear language without over-simplification, an achievement that makes the book accessible to a wide non-specialist audience.

Russell Powell, Department of Philosophy, Boston University, The Quarterly Review of Biology It is a book that dreams bigly and boldly in space and time-a paragon of ambitious philosophy of science that does not rely on excessive quantification to be taken seriously. With this valuable study, irkovi has sealed his place as a leading proponent of SETI research and, more importantly, as a preeminent champion of the scientific imagination.

Jason T. Wright, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres Journal irkovi brings an encyclopedic familiarity of the professional and popular literature and history of the Fermi Paradox, including important contributions from science fiction... He also brings a wide background to the discussion, using a broad range of artistic and popular references to illustrate points.

Simon Mitton, St Edmunds College Cambridge This is a delightful and thought-provoking book that cleared my mind of clutter and confusion concerning Fermis Paradox and the Drake Equation.

Andrea Giammanco, CERN Courier I warmly recommend The Great Silence to any curious reader.

G. David Brin, American Journal of Physics A much-needed critical analysis of the many logical and philosophical fallacies that pervade this fieldthe most important scientific topic that lacks any known subject matter... [a] speculative extravaganza.

Andrew May, The Fortean Times Magazine If you've already read a few books about the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, and you're looking for something a little deeper, then this would be a great book for you.

David Brin, author of Earth and The Postman A detailed, logical, impartial and much-needed exploration, examining one of the most fascinating controversies of this (or any) era.

Milan M. Cirkovic is a research professor at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, and a research associate of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. His primary research interests are in the fields of astrobiology (Galactic habitable zone, SETI studies, catastrophic episodes in the history of life), risk analysis (global catastrophes, observation selection effects, epistemology of risk), and philosophy of science (anthropic principles, philosophy of physics, future studies).

1: Fermi's Paradox / Great Silence problem 2: What's past is prologue: Cosmological and astrophysical background 3: Underlying philosophy: Realism, naturalism, Copernicanism, and all that 4: L'Annee derniere a Marienbad - Solipsist solutions 5: Terra Nostra - "Rare Earth" and related solutions 6: In the Mountains of Madness - Neocatastrophic solutions 7: The Cities of the Red Night - Logistic solutions 8: The tournament: How to rate solutions and avoid exclusivity 9: The last challenge for Copernicanism?