When I was in my pre-teens I read all that was to read about aliens, the blue book, history is wrong, chariot of the gods, etc, I actually though this book would be kind of a remake or a modern view of this books that I have mentioned before, like Mulder, I wanted to believe, so aliens are kind of a romantic dream… but this book wasn't was I was expecting, its more like a glossary of books and authors and how they talked about life outside our planet… maybe I was expecting too much and this book is not for me…

I am sorry I couldn’t like this book more.

Thank you NetGalley for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Skyhorse Publishing for an advanced copy of this book discussing the science of beings from other worlds in the genre of science fiction.

Humans have always wondered what was in the night sky. Gods, demons, monsters from beyond floating above the Earth, strange lights in the heavens blazing back and forth. Humans began to make stories about them, for religious, political or just for fun. These tales all were based on what humans knew at the time about science, and about each other. Mark Brake, noted science writer and author of many books about the science of different fictional milieus has in his book The Science of Aliens: The Real Science Behind the Gods and Monsters from Space and Time presented an overview of how writings about aliens has changed over the years as man has become more aware and knowledgeable about the world around him.

The book begins in a museum with discussion about a large exhibition entitled The Science of Aliens which dealt with that question of us being alone in the universe. A brief description of SETI and other investigations into the search for intelligent life are discussed before we get to the basis of the book. How our stories about aliens and our contact with them have changed as man's understanding of the world and universe have changed. For example one early traveller to the moon used geese to carry him to the moon. From there we have ideas of solar sails, and even worm holes. Even the idea of alien biology have changed as humans began to have thoughts about evolution and even the study of bacteria in our bodies.

The book is very well written and researched with a lot of nerdy notes and ideas. The narrative is interesting, and never drags, nor does the science get in the way or become to textbook in the reading. What I found of interest was the discussions on early stories, the ideas of ram jet propulsion 400 years ago in story is intriguing. And the idea of Cyrano de Bergerac going to the moon just seems fun. Oh and the geese. I really liked the geese.

Recommended for science fans and fans of speculative fiction. The book reads very well, and has a lot of interesting ideas and facts that could send a reader into a rabbit hole of research. Also this would be a good book for writers to looking for ideas, or something to kick their imagination into overdrive.