Is Anyone Out There?

University of California astronomy and astrophysics professor Drake, aided by science journalist Sobel, responds to the title's classic question with an account of his career-long quest to gamer hard scientific data that might point to some answers. One of America's pioneer radio astronomers, Drake provides firsthand descriptions of breakthrough moments in the past 30 years of astrophysics-no encounters of any kind, just straightforward astrophysics with inconclusive experimental results. Drake's medium is science, his theory technical and his slightly anthropocentric conclusions more modest than those of the average UFO abductee. Readers wowed by Communion and Chariots of the Gods will not find a similar level of excitement here, but Drake and Sobel provide a detailed record of a group of scientists' thorough, determined efforts to detect the extraterrestrial transmissions they believe may very well be out there. BOMC and QPB selections. (Oct.)