The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search For Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies Davies is chairman of SETI's (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) post-detection task group - responsible for defining the protocol for reporting and managing the World's reaction and response to a confirmed alien detection or communication - and has been involved with SETI for many years. One might reasonably expect someone so involved to be something of an evangelist, but Davies is quite objective and realistic. The book briefly covers the history of SETI and how changes in technology have changed the way we scan for potential neighbors.

But after 50 years of searching with no tangible results, he questions whether we are looking for the right thing and looking for it in the right way. Davies posits that it will take a broader imagination, making an effort to not anthropomorphize our speculation of aliens' potential form, environment or motivations. He advocates looking for other "footprints" of alien intelligence, from indicators of solar system or galaxy wide resource consumption to evidence of probes in our solar system, including "nano" probes and even messages encoded in our DNA by engineered viruses. Davies spends some time discussing the assumption that life is imperative, or even common, suggesting that a better understanding of how easy it is for life to develop could be key to SETI strategy.

Four Ways To Forgivess by Ursula K. Le Guin This book features four short stories that occur on the worlds of Yeowe and Werel (and partly on Hain, the mother world of all sentient races) which trace events in the lives of a handful of characters, some overlapping, as each searches for freedom. Le Guin explores aspects and relative meanings of freedom and liberty and reminds us that we don't live in a world of "this or that", "black and white", nor of one-size-fits-all Democracy.

A Fisherman Of The Inland Sea Unlocking The Air by Ursula K. Le Guin Le Guin is one of my favorite Sci-FI/Fantasy authors, most famous for her Earthsea books. But I particularly enjoy her short stories, which might take place on known or unknown worlds, fantastic or familiar lands, or on our own Earth. No matter the setting her stories are always a vehicle for deeper thoughts about society, justice, faith, culture.

The Day We Found The Universe by Marcia Bartusiak This book centers around one great discovery - that our galaxy does not comprise the entire universe and that the universe is expanding - and tells the story of the people and events that led to the discovery and it's verification. For it was not a single discovery, but the culmination of many discoveries, the work of many astronomers who were often at odds with one another. You only really hear a few of the names - Hubble and Lowell chief among them. In this book you'll also be introduced to Shapley, Leavitt, Humason, Slipher, Lemaître and many others.

A Dream Of Armageddon: The Complete Supernatural Tales by H.G. Wells This is another of my Barnes & Noble sale table finds and one that does not disappoint. A collection of short stories by one of the fathers of Science Fiction, some of them familiar and some of them quite new to me, that ranges in genre from science fiction, fantasy, horror and psychological thriller. Wells' novels are among my favorites and through this book I've decided that he's even more brilliant with the short story. Most of the stories are written in the 'documentary' or 'letter' style that was popular at the time, and Wells uses that style to demonstrate an excellent wit and skill at turning a phrase.

Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy Edited by Jack Dann & Gardner Dozois A decent collection of wizardcraft and witchcraft stories from some outstanding authors - Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams, Patricia McKillip, Tanith Lee and Orson Scott Card among them. The stories are set in a variety of places and times and some in our own familiar history. All in all a very good way to while away the time on the train each day.

The New Worlds: Extrasolar Planets by Fabienne Casoli & Thérèse Encrenaz A good overview of initiatives to detect and analyze extrasolar planets, from the very first efforts in the latter half of the 19th Century up to the dawn of the 21st Century. This book is excellent for getting that history and an understanding of the observational techniques that have been used and how those techniques have been refined with advancing technology and increasing knowledge. A lot has happened in this field in the 3 years or so since the publication of The New Worlds, so after reading it there is still quite a lot to catch up with.

Lonely Minds In The Universe by Giancarlo Genta A book that tackles many questions about life beyond Earth not only from the standpoint of science, but also of sociology, psychology, philosophy and religion. It explores not just what if (or when) we might find other life, but how will we recognize it, how will we react to it, and how it might affect us as a species. And, of course, it's not just all about other intelligent life - it's about life of any kind. Genta looks at past and current ideas about how life came to Earth and efforts underway to search for life forms in our own Solar System, efforts to detect signals from alien civilizations and efforts to transmit our own signals to nearby stars, and efforts to locate earth-like exoplanets. Lonely Minds is not a particularly light read, but it is not so technical as to completely daunt the layman either.

A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin After reading the short stories last month and seeing a few reviews of Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire series, I thought I'd give it a chance.

I have not been reading much fiction for the last few years - nothing on the bookstore shelves (the real or the virtual kind) looked appealing. The few books that look promising usually fall flat upon thumbing them open and reading a random page. But this book has been excellent so far. Martin puts together an unsentimental and complex historical fantasy and his writing is nice and direct, and refreshingly free of the kind of formulaic dialog too often used to give fantasy novels a sense of "period". This is no cut and dried, good vs. evil novel, not for the reader looking for some light escapism.

Dreamsongs vol. I & II by George R.R. Martin I picked up up this two volume set of short stories from the sale rack at Barnes & Noble for a bit of light, casual reading with no real expectations. This is my first experience with Martin's work and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. The stories go in chronological order of writing, and the first few were what can best be described as derivative and stilted. But they just kept getting better, deeper, more thoughtful and interesting. Now I suppose I'll have to seek out more of Martin's work.

Forbidden Nation: A History Of Taiwan by Jonathan Manthorpe This book provides a decent history of the colonization and development of Taiwan, which was my main interest. Manthorpe also uses this raw history to shape some understanding around contemporary political and social issues with Taiwan, China, the United States and the Southeast Asia region. There is plenty of information and insight into the culture of Taiwan and what makes it unique. In general it's a good read, well-written, in a style that is engaging and won't put you too quickly to sleep.

Centauri Dreams: Imagining & Planning Interstellar Exploration by Paul Gilster I've followed Paul's blog, Centauri Dreams, for some time - so it was inevitable that I would eventually read the book. This is an excellent introduction, for the nominally technical reader such as myself, to historic and present efforts to design interstellar missions. It's a serious book and has plenty of good detail, but the reader doesn't need to be a Rocket Scientist to understand appreciate the concepts. An inspiring read, Centauri Dreams encourages the reader to think long, as some of the mission plans could take thousand of years. It has been 5 years since the book went into print and there have been both delays and advances in interstellar mission projects, but it provides plenty of starting points for additional research.