Oceans and vessels -- A history of propulsive ideas -- The high plains -- The Terrans -- To distant shores -- The red siren -- The monuments at the edge of the believable -- The inners and the outers -- The furnace -- The country of a billion shires -- The dispersal

"The story of life has always been one of great transitions, of crossing new frontiers. The dawn of life itself is one; so, too, is the first time two cells stuck together rather than drifting apart. And perhaps most dramatic were the moves from the sea to land, land to air. Each transition has witnessed wild storms of innovation, opportunity, and hazard. It might seem that there are no more realms for life to venture. But there is one: space. In The Giant Leap, planetary scientist Caleb Scharf argues that our journey into space isn't simply a giant leap for humankind-it's life's next great transition, an evolution of evolution itself. Humans and our technology are catalysts for an interplanetary transformation, marking a disruption in the story of life as fundamental as life's movement from sea to land, and land to sky. Inspired by Darwin's account of his journey on The Beagle, The Giant Leap thrills at both life's creativity and the marvels of technology that have propelled us into the cosmos. And it offers an awesome glimpse of the grander vistas that wait in the great beyond"--