Authors ponder alien life
Who Goes There? by Edward Edelson
(Doubleday, $8.95)
Are there intelligent alien beings beyond the walled-in garden of
Earth? The search is on, according to Edelson, author, magazine
writer and science editor of the New York Daily News.
Edelson has written a fascinating book tracing what he calls
SETI — search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Whether that search bears fruit depends first of all, Edelson
writes, on whether there is intelligent life on earth — which can
intelligently deal with such problems as starvation and nuclear war.
SETI presumes we will survive ourselves.
The opening portion of the book deals with the past, explaining
for the scientifically uninformed what has gone before — from the
“big bang” theory of creation and the expanding universe, through
the 1976 Viking probe that tested the soil on the surface of Mars for
traces of organic life — our first step in applied (as opposed to
theoretical) exobiology.
Edelson points out that in a universe of 100 billion galaxies, each
containing 100 billion suns, the odds favor life by something like
100 billion billion to one.
What kind of life? Probably carbon-based. How do we find it?
Either by listening for alien signals, most likely mathematical in
content, or by traveling via an as yet undiscovered technique to
explore the universe for ourselves.
Have the aliens already visited us? Not likely, according to Edel
son, who finds the evidence of saucer sightings illogical, particularly
in view of the swarm of UFOs supposedly sighted and the high cost
of space travel.
It is daunting to think that we are a small planet circling an insig
nificant sun, far from the galactic mainstream — not to mention the
universal center — while vast civilizations may be flourishing.
Somewhere.
Edelson has written an easy-to-read, occasionally witty book that
serves as both primer and survey of what is being done in the
search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
—Joan Hanauer (UP!)
Messages from the Stars, by Ian Redpath
(Harper & Row, $10)
If there is other “intelligent” life in the universe, it may be smart
enough to decide not to get involved with us until we learn how to
live peacefully among ourselves.
But as long as scientists and non-scientists believe that
technological civilizations must have appeared in other solar sys
tems, man will try to contact them.
We may learn something about life elsewhere when Voyagers I
and II pass Jupiter this March and July, and when they get to Saturn
in November, 1980 and August, T 981.
Meanwhile Redpath’s readable, balanced book sets out the rea
sons for believing intelligent life has appeared and still is appearing
on other planets in our own and other solar systems. He examines
the statistics used by theoretical physicists, the pros and cons of
actually making contact once other life has been located, and the
astronomic cost of doing so.
He also reviews — and dismisses — some of the more outrage
ous claims of the arrival of “extraterratorials” on earth, recent and
historical.
His over-all conclusion: “I believe that if extraterratorials exist,
contact with them is inevitable. Whatever our misgivings, we must
be ready to face the existence of other beings in space. First con
tact will be the end of our isolation, and it will also be the end of our
innocence.”
-Glenne Cume_(UPI)_
Storm on the
Range, by Max
Brand
Devotees of Max Brand and
Western novels will welcome the
reprinting of this rags-to-riches
story first published in 1931. Tom
Fernald, a downtrodden and al
legedly slow-witted sheepherder,
has just sold a portion of his herd
to pay debts, including a mortg
age on his rocky patch of land.
While returning to his shack he is
robbed, and thus is unable to
make his mortgage payment.
The banker vows foreclosure
and decides to take Fernald’s
pinto as partial payment to re
place his own lame roan, but the
pinto is a one-man horse and
bucks until the banker is thrown
headfirst into a post and killed.
Fernald assumes everyone will
accuse him of murdering to avoid
having to pay the mortgage, so
he disposes of the body, then
conducts a successful search for
the fortune hidden on the bank
er’s ranch.
Over the next few years, Fer
nald uses the sizeable fortune
and his own shrewd wit to expand
his possessions well beyond a
million dollars through adept buy
ing and selling of sheep and cat
tle.
Fernald maintains his natural
physical strength and also de
velops expertise with pistols to go
along with his tremendous
wealth, and eventually becomes
a widely known and respected
citizen.
Much of Fernald’s problem oc
curs when the man who robbed
him finds out about the fortune,
and threatens to expose Fernald
as a thief and murderer, yet Fer
nald is reluctant to silence him
and has no success trying to
bribe him.
—Charles R. Schultz
(Schultz is a University Archivist)
Blanco, by Allen
Wier
The time is 1959. The action
takes place primarily in the small
town of Blanco is the Texas Hill
Country and in San Antonio, 50
miles to the south. The principle
characters include Mamma;
Eunice Marrs, long time widow of
Armon Marrs who exists on a
small pension, generally com
plains about her problems, and
appreciates the generosity of her
daughter and son-in-law;
Bestseller ‘Gnomes’ now in paperback
The illustration at left is
from the bestseller
"Gnomes,” which was writ
ten by Wil Huygen and illus
trated by Rien Poortvliet.
The paperback edition of
the book came out Feb. 7
and is priced at $9.95,
compared to the hardcover
price of $17.50.
“Gnomes” is a compen
dium of the lifestyle, habits,
legends and philosophies
of small folk who have long
served man, animals and
nature. Many of the illus
trations are in color, and
the size (8 5/16” x 12“) al
lows the art to be ap
preciated to its fullest. The
first printing totals a half mil
lion copies.
Eunice’s son Turk, age 45, a
veteran of World War II and the
local ne’er-do-well whose liveli
hood comes from part time work
at the Sinclair gas station and
from cutting the grass at the
cemetery; Eunice's daughter
June, age 32, who lives and
works at Texas Cut Flower in San
Antonio; and Cage, a former Ohio
wholesale groceryman who be
came a moderately wealthy land
developer in San Antonio, and
who is engaged to June.
Some parts of the story are re
vealed through flashbacks, espe
cially in June’s memories of
childhood in Blanco while her
father Armon was still alive.
Some flashbacks also occur in
Turk’s memories, but many other
parts of the story appear only
through June’s imagination.
The author leaves a lot to the
reader’s imagination also. Why,
for example, does the San An
tonio businessman Cage drive all
the way toTemple to buy a new
car just before his marriage to
June? Making the purchase in
San Antonio would have been
better for business.
Why does Cage insist that
June have her premarital physical
at a free clinic? Money does not
appear to have been the reason,
for he gave her money to take a
taxi both ways.
The portions which deal with
real, current life are well done.
The overall “scene” in Blanco
appears to be accurate. June and
Cage’s honeymoon in Galveston,
Turk’s relationship and activities
with his running buddy Robert Al
len, and even the infrequent ref
erence to the high school football
team are understandable and be
lievable. Had Wier included more
of this and less imagination, I
might have understood the story
and enjoyed the book. As it is, I
found it greatly confusing.
—Charles R. Schultz
Bestsellers
FICTION
1. War and Remembrance —
Herman Wouk
2. Chesapeake — James A.
Michener
3. Overload — Arthur Hailey
4. The Stories of John
Cheever — John Cheever
5. Second Generation —
Howard Fast
6. Evergreen — Belva Plain
7. Dress Gray — Lucian K.
Truscott IV
8. Fools Die — Mario Puzo
9. The Coup — John Updike
10. The Sixth Commandment
— Lawrence Sanders
NONFICTION
1. Lauren Bacall: By Myself —
Lauren Bacall
2. Mommie Dearest — Christ
ina Crawford
3. A Distant Mirror — Barbara
Tuchman
4. The Complete Scarsdale
Medical Diet — Herman R.
Tarnower and Samm
Sinclair Baker
5. American Caesar —
William Manchester
6. Linda Goodman’s Love
Signs — Linda Goodman
7. In Search of History —
Theodore White
8. If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries,
What Am I Doing in the Pits
— Erma Bombeck
9. The Complete Book of
Running — James Fixx
10. Nurse — Peggy Anderson
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY.
In Cooperation With COLUMBIA ARTISTS presents
■/
A
FESTIVAL
of RUSSIAN DANCE
A KALEIDOSCOPE OF DANCERS FROM
THE REPUBLICS OF THE SOVIET UNION
PRESENTED BY MSC OPAS
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15, 1979
8:15 p.m. RUDDER AUDITORIUM
l TICKET PRICES: GENERAL PUBLIC $7.80, $6.35, $5.10
A&M STUDENT/DATE $6.45, $5.30, $4.40
TICKETS AND INFO: MSC BOX OFFICE 845-2916 J
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