Book Review: Taxi From Another Planet

by Anne Newins

subtitled “Conversations with Drivers about Life in the Universe,” by Charles S. Cockell, Harvard University Press, 2022.

Hurrah! At last, a science-based book written about the possibility of life outside Earth has been written that a layperson can understand. Charles S. Cockell is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. He has been a NASA and British Antarctic Survey scientist, is a member of New York’s Explorer’s Club, and leads the Life Beyond prisoner education project in Scotland.

Along the way, Cockell has learned to talk with ordinary people, while traveling in many places around the world, including a large number of taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are good conversationalists and like to pose stimulating questions and opinions while the author is planted, often for long periods, in the back seat.

For example, the first chapter addresses the question “are there alien taxi drivers?’ Cockell lucidly explains the evolutionary processes required on earth that eventually led to the existence of taxi drivers, some of which might be needed on other planets. One amusing hypothesis is that the first taxi drivers might have emerged about 3200 BCE, after the invention of the wheel. After all, people soon would want to take rides and early chariot drivers would be inclined to charge them for it.

Other chapters consider whether alien contact would change us or should we solve problems on earth before exploring space. The chapter titled “Will space be full of tyrannies or free societies?” predicts that space colonies will lean to authoritarian rule because individualism would be too dangerous. There will be no room for errors when a simple air leak could kill everyone.

Special attention is given to Star Trek fans in a chapter exploring the possibility that the universe may be devoid of aliens. Cockell regrets that the crew of the Enterprise “never beamed down to the surface of a planet, collected some microbes, and spent the rest of the episode examining them under microscopes while engaged in long discussions of microbial ecology,” since he posits that the odds of finding microbial life might be higher than finding intelligent aliens.

The final chapter asks “Are we exceptional?” Cockell would like to know “how many paths there are to life, and from there to intelligence?” Are life forms required to follow the same evolutionary paths as on earth or could there be many other possibilities? In earlier chapters, Cockell states no matter where a planet is located in the universe, it will need to follow basic principles of physics for life to emerge.

Residents recently enjoyed Matt Heverly’s presentation about Mars exploration and will be looking forward the upcoming one scheduled for April 18 by Ashwin Vasavada about the Curioslty Rover. This book would be an excellent addition to the lectures.

Readers wanting to learn more about Cockell can find many references on line, including brief YouTube videos, research citations, as well as his University of Edinburgh postings. Those readers wishing carbon-based technology can find a copy of this informative and entertaining book at the RVM and Jackson County libraries.