New York Times Bestseller Wall Street Journal Bestseller Publishers Weekly Bestseller Publishers Marketplace 2020 Buzz Book Amazon Best Book of the Year Longlisted for the 2022 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "In late 2017, scientists at a Hawaiian observatory glimpsed an object soaring through our inner solar system. Part graceful memoir and part plea for keeping an open mind about the possibilities of what is out there in the universe--in particular, life. Loeb is one of the more imaginative and articulate scientists around . Half memoir, half soaring monologue." -- The New York Times "Well-written and compelling." -- Forbes "Loeb makes a persuasive scientific argument about 'Oumuamua's otherworldly origins.

" -- New York Magazine "A tantalizing, probing inquiry into the possibilities of alien life." -- Kirkus Reviews "Ingenious . Loeb's thought-provoking work of popular science will entertain those who wonder if humans are alone in the universe." -- Publishers Weekly "Part survey of thrilling new discoveries, part memoir of a restless intellect and part polemical airing of grievances, this curious volume from Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb challenges readers--and Loeb's contemporaries in the sciences--to take seriously the likelihood that we are not alone in the universe." -- Shelf Awareness "It's good to be skeptical of audacious ideas. But it's also important to be open to audacious possibilities, and to think through their ramifications. Avi Loeb's sumptuously written book will provoke you to think about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe in new and stimulating ways." --Sean Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime "'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy,' Hamlet tells Horatio.

In this passionately argued, visionary book, astrophysicist Avi Loeb urges us to abandon the arrogant fantasy that we are the only sentient life form in the universe. He proposes that 'Oumaumua, an anomalous interstellar object first sighted on October 19, 2017, was a piece of extraterrestrial technological equipment. The clues, as Loeb carefully reviews them, are fascinating, and still more are his arguments for what they might reveal to us about our own brilliant, blinkered, and quite possibly doomed civilization." --Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern "In this well written and accessible book, a leading astronomer gives a provocative and thrilling account of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, with emphasis on his own imaginative ideas. Above all, Professor Loeb asks us to think big and to expect the unexpected." --Alan Lightman, New York Times bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine "An exciting and eloquent case that we might have seen a sign of intelligent life near Earth--and that we should search further. As a world-renowned scientist and an innovative thinker, Avi Loeb opens your mind to some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and convinces you that scientific curiosity is key to our future success." --Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder, 23andMe.