From the author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright comes another cutting-edge cosmic space adventure for anyone who's ever looked up at the stars and wondered about the universe. An exploration of the constellations, an appreciation of the courage of astronauts, and a loving father-son story. Perfect for fans of Scott Kelly's Astrotwins series. How amazing would it be to have a dad who's an astronaut? To see him go on rocket launches, live in zero gravity, and fly through space like a superhero? Jamie Drake knows. His dad is orbiting Earth in the International Space Station. Jamie thinks it's cool, and he's proud of his dad, but he also really misses him. Hanging out at the local observatory one day, Jamie is surprised when he picks up a strange signal on his phone. Could it be aliens? Are they closer to our planet than anyone realizes? With his dad in space, Jamie feels he has no choice but to investigate on his own. But when something goes wrong with his dad's mission, Jamie is reminded that space is a dangerous place. He decides it's time to prove that he's a hero too.

Noah Grow is a bird-watcher. If you're picturing some kid in a big floppy hat, peering up into trees through giant binoculars . . . well, good job. That's exactly what he does. Right now, Noah is on a quest to find a wood duck. According to his calculations, aka the Drake Equation, the odds are good -- really good -- for spotting one. That's why he gets off the bus at the wrong stop. And that's how he ends up running down a hill, crashing into a fence, and landing right next to a strange, glittery disk. Noah and his best friends, Jason and Jenny, soon discover that the mysterious disk is, well, mysterious. It gives Noah peculiar powers. As things go from odd to outrageous, Noah is swept up in a storm of intergalactic intrigue and middle-school mayhem. There's much more at stake than Noah realizes. Bart King delivers a hilarious sci-fi adventure with just the right mix of heart and humor that will have readers looking out for birds-and strange alien objects.

Miscellaneous facts and ideas are interconnected and represented in a visual format, a "visual miscellaneum," which represents "a series of experiments in making information approachable and beautiful" -- from p.007

This book introduces the Statistical Drake Equation where, from a simple product of seven positive numbers, the Drake Equation is turned into the product of seven positive random variables. The mathematical consequences of this transformation are demonstrated and it is proven that the new random variable N for the number of communicating civilizations in the Galaxy must follow the lognormal probability distribution when the number of factors in the Drake equation is allowed to increase at will. Mathematical SETI also studies the proposed FOCAL (Fast Outgoing Cyclopean Astronomical Lens) space mission to the nearest Sun Focal Sphere at 550 AU and describes its consequences for future interstellar precursor missions and truly interstellar missions. In addition the author shows how SETI signal processing may be dramatically improved by use of the Karhunen-Loève Transform (KLT) rather than Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Finally, he describes the efforts made to persuade the United Nations to make the central part of the Moon Far Side a UN-protected zone, in order to preserve the unique radio-noise-free environment for future scientific use.

From the author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright comes another cutting-edge cosmic space adventure for anyone who's ever looked up at the stars and wondered about the universe. How amazing would it be to have a dad who's an astronaut? To see him go on rocket launches, live in zero gravity, and fly through space like a superhero? Jamie Drake knows. His dad is orbiting Earth in the International Space Station. Jamie thinks it's cool, and he's proud of his dad, but he also really misses him. Hanging out at the local observatory one day, Jamie is surprised when he picks up a strange signal on his phone. Could it be aliens? Are they closer to our planet than anyone realizes? With his dad in space, Jamie feels he has no choice but to investigate on his own. But when something goes wrong with his dad's mission, Jamie is reminded that space is a dangerous place. He decides it's time to prove that he's a hero too. The Jamie Drake Equation is about the wonders of space, the courage of astronauts, and the lengths to which we will go to protect the ones we love. "Thrilling, smart and surprisingly poignant . . . will leave young readers with a hunger to know more about the universe and our planet's place it it. --BookPage

This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. The book emphasizes the consequences of contact rather than the search, and takes account of popular views. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.