LUCKY PLANET:
Why earth is exceptional and what that means
for life in the universe
By David Waltham
Icon Books. 224 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978 1 848 316 560
This is a fascinating book on a popular topic. It is basically an easy read (though some technical sections will slow the reader down). The book is written like a detective story – and that’s what science is: the what, when, how and, sometimes, who? David Waltham describes himself as a geoscientist, but with a strong interest in cosmology.
He begins by summarising the different approaches to the Earth: is it special or is in just another mediocre planet in a vast universe? He carefully argues that it is, in fact, a unique planet. But why? His position is that, rather than being the result of ‘divine providence… I put it down to good fortune: a good fortune that is inevitable somewhere in a big enough universe’ (p.14). An interesting reversal of the usual position that in such a large universe there must be many Earths!
