Science Speaks! with Lee Billings

Come join us for our March 14 Science Speaks! book signing and presentation hosted by the NYC DOE STEM Department and the National Archives at NYC. Lee Billings will talk about his book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars. He says of his book, “When people ask about the book at cocktail parties and the like, I simply say that it’s about the search for other Earth-like planets, which is true, but not the whole truth. The whole truth is that the book is about the unique moment of time in which we now find ourselves, this unprecedented period in the history of our civilization and our entire planet during which we can rationally hope to discover that we are not alone in the universe. It’s a book less about other Earth-like planets, and more about the Earth itself, viewed in a cosmic context that informs whether or not our world and our time might in any way be privileged or special. Most importantly, it’s a book about people, and the mysterious forces that drive us, individually and collectively, to search for meaning in our everyday lives by gazing up into the heavens.” Lee Billings writes about the intersections of science, technology, and culture for Nature, Nautilus, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, Scientific American, and many other publications. This talk is relevant to teachers of all grade levels. All participants will receive a free copy of Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars.