Weird life by David Toomey

The author has done a pretty commendable job in sufficiently dumbing down a very scientific topic to a novice level. Trouble for me was that I was so far away from any Genesis of life theories that at time I had difficulty picking up the thread but on the positive side I picked up a lot. The book challenges all assumptions and definitions pertaining to life in the Universe and successfully posits the phenomenon of weird life along existing familiar life. I am now open to all forms of life as a result, whether carbon based, silicon based or hydrogen based. Who says science is mundane? Books like these are very important in interconnecting disparate sciences like biology, astronomy etc, not afraid to delve with the imagination. I particularly enjoyed the coverage of science fiction novels and even movies. Credit should be given to the author for mixing up the narrative between the know a and the unknowns so fluidly. Donald Rumsfeld would be a proud man....