The past few years have seen an incredible explosion in our knowledge of
the universe. Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered
more than two thousand exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.
More exoplanets are being discovered all the time, and even more
remarkable than the sheer number of exoplanets is their variety. In
Exoplanets, astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil
explore these remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around
pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, and
numerous rogue planets wandering through the emptiness of space. This
captivating book reveals the latest discoveries and argues that the
incredible richness and complexity we are finding necessitates a change
in our questions and mental paradigms. In short, we have to change how
we think about the universe and our place in it, because it is stranger
and more interesting than we could have imagined.