Based on material delivered at several summer schools, this book is the
first comprehensive textbook at the graduate level encompassing all
aspects associated with the emerging field of astrobiology.
Volume II gathers another set of extensive lectures covering topics so
diverse as the formation and the distribution of elements in the
universe, the concept of habitability from both the planetologists' and
the biologists' point of view and artificial life. The contributions are
held together by the common goal to understand better the origin of
life, its evolution and possible existence outside the Earth's realm.
The volume ends with 120 pages of a very useful appendix comprising
"Some Astrophysical Reminders", "Useful Astrobiological Data" and "An
Astrobiological Glossary".