Having read Toomey's _Weird Life_ very recently, I was perhaps bound to find this book on the same subject a bit pedestrian by comparison. The reader will find pretty much the same collection of topics as many earlier astrobiology popularizations offer. (E.g., lots on Mars and Europa.) "Two thousand years of astronomical endeavour have not yet proved conclusive enough to decide [the 'Rare Earth' hypothesis] either way." (p 211)