Arik Kershenbaum’s The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy is a fascinating look into what the appearances and traits of animals on our own planet could tell us about those living their lives in other parts of the universe.
Kershenbaum, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, asserts that the “universal laws of biology” that govern life on Earth also apply to aliens. “The most important is that species evolve by natural selection, the bedrock idea of evolutionary biology proposed by Charles Darwin,” Kermit Pattison said in a review for The New York Times.
“No matter how alien biochemistry might work and no matter how planetary environments might differ, Kershenbaum argues that some version of Darwinian selection would be at work — and would have channelled alien evolution to restricted menus of possibilities,” said Pattison.
Thus, Kershenbaum “predicts that alien life will bear striking parallels to earthly life,” Pattison added.
Kershenbaum “writes with a conversational tone and some humor, as he clearly explains natural selection and why it might be applicable elsewhere in the universe,” said the review.
