Rare Earth is an overview of the complexities of, what we consider, life. Unfortunately, the book can easily be summarized in one sentence: life may be rare because Planet Earth may be rare. This simple statement may seem flippant, but the authors really offer no more conclusive information than this simple statement.The book does have some nice summaries of astrobiology, evolution, plate tectonics, snowball earth events, etc. If you are in the simple sciences (physics, astronomy, biology etc.), this book may provide a good read because there is a lot of theory but little real information. If you are looking for analysis and solid conclusions, this book will be a clear disappointment.