Description

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A hilarious, mind-bending investigation into how much humans and aliens might have in common, scientifically speaking—from a best-selling cartoonist and acclaimed physicist.

When the long-awaited day dawns and the aliens finally arrive on Earth, they might eat us and destroy the planet—or, just maybe, they might share the secrets of the Universe with us. When that time comes, will we be able to cross the communication barrier to beg for our lives? If the aliens do hold out those precious jewels of knowledge, will we even be able to grasp them?

It’s long been assumed, in both science fiction and real scientific efforts to communicate with hypothetical aliens, that math and physics could serve as a universal language connecting us with extraterrestrial minds. But as humanity draws ever closer to the possibility of an interplanetary future and expands its agelong search for alien life and intelligence, beloved author and physicist Daniel Whiteson and best-selling cartoonist Andy Warner wonder if we should be so sure. In Do Aliens Speak Physics?, they take readers on a wild adventure to the edges of space-time, science, and the imagination to investigate whether an alien–human mind meld could ever be achieved.

Deploying cutting-edge physics, deep philosophical insight, and plenty of cartoons, Whiteson and Warner explode what we thought we knew about talking to our cosmic neighbors—and even science itself—by asking and answering questions both lighthearted and profound. Would aliens even need science to build the technology that brings them to Earth? Is it possible that they could experience the Universe very differently from us—tasting electrons and smelling photons? Would the extraterrestrials have to perceive “electrons” and “photons” at all, or are these particles only convenient concepts for our human minds? At bottom, does physics reveal fundamental truths about the Universe, as we so often believe, or might it in fact tell us more about ourselves?

As ultimately mind-altering as it is hilarious, Do Aliens Speak Physics? will leave you with a view of the Universe—and humanity—that’s stranger and more marvelous than before.

About the Author

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Daniel Whiteson is a particle physicist and professor at UC Irvine and the coauthor of We Have No Idea and Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe. He lives in Irvine, California.

Andy Warner is a cartoonist, editor, and teacher at the California College of the Arts and Stanford University. His work has been published by American Public Media, Popular Science, KQED, and more. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Praise For…

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Chock-full of insights, from the physics of emergence to the limits of logic. … Charming, funny, and surprisingly philosophical speculations about alien science raise deep questions about science itself.
— Kirkus Reviews

I’ve never met an alien, but contemplating how they might think is a great way of breaking out of our own conceptual cages. Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner have given us a book that is lighthearted and fun, but also shows a way to think truly deeply about what physics is and how we come to learn about it.
— Sean Carroll, New York Times best-selling author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

Lots of fun! . . . I look forward to being on the welcoming committee when the aliens arrive.
— Carlo Rovelli, New York Times best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

A ridiculously charming, fantastically thought-provoking, and remarkably accessible book of Big Questions—with a surprising number of Big Answers to go with them. I absolutely loved it.
— Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything

This book forced us to realize we had a bunch of preexisting assumptions about the nature of communication in our universe . . . all of which we have now had to change. Fun, thought-provoking, and packed with weird science and history.
— Kelly & Zach Weinersmith, New York Times best-selling authors of A City on Mars

[A] charming, thoughtful meditation on the common language of the universe—a book that asks important questions about the fundamental nature not just of our existence but of reality itself.
— Blake Crouch, New York Times best-selling author of Dark Matter

This is good.
— Daniel Dennett, author of From Bacteria to Bach and Back

If we ever meet aliens, the first thing we should do is give them this book.
— Phil Plait, astronomer and author of Under Alien Skies

[A]mbitious and well researched … [Do Aliens Speak Physics?] is an honest exploration of some of the deepest questions behind science.
— Matt von Hippel - Science

[E]ntertaining and thought-provoking.
— Hamish Johnston - Physics World

This book might well make you laugh, but I guarantee it will make you think. Whether you’re just curious about science or you’ve been doing science yourself for years, I suspect that, within the vast array of problems and issues that are raised in this broad-minded book, there will be some you’ve never thought of.
— Matt Strassler - Of Particular Significance

Science fiction has long speculated about the possibility of first contact with an alien species from a distant world and how we might be able to communicate with them. But what if we simply don’t have enough common ground for that to even be possible?… These and other fascinating questions are the focus of [this] entertaining new book.
— Jennifer Ouellette - Ars Technica