Aliens Like Us?

“This fascinating and thought-provoking volume applies insights from the social sciences and humanities to the search for life beyond Earth, from exoplanets to aliens and UFOs. Aveni brings his unique expertise in the cultures of the Earth to illuminate possible cultures in the heavens. The result is an important, readable, and unusual contribution to the literature of astrobiology, illuminating not only possible extraterrestrials, but also the humans who search for and believe in them.”—Steven J. Dick, former NASA chief historian and author of Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact

“One of today’s most exciting research efforts is focused on detecting the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence. But are we, in fact, looking for ourselves?”—Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute and author of Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

“Aliens Like Us? is an important contribution to the emerging dialogue between astrobiology and social science communities. It shows some of the deep and powerful assumptions and biases that have shaped SETI to date.”—John Traphagan, author of Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Imagination: SETI at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Culture