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The recent report of the possibility of extraterrestrial life was a
sensation. In The Hunt for Life on Mars (Dutton, $24.95, ISBN 0 525 94336
6) Donald Goldsmith provides a sober, but absorbing, story of the discovery of
apparent evidence of ancient life forms in a meteorite found in Antarctica. The
space-travelling rock is undoubtedly Martian. The evidence for life is
controversial and Goldsmith weighs up for and against with admirable clarity. He
is at his best in examining further and fundamental questions inevitably raised
by the find in the ice.