Karel Schrijver, Astrophysicist, retired Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA

Karel Schrijver, is a stellar astrophysicist specialized in the study of the Sun and the space around it, stellar magnetism and its impacts on the environments of planets, and space weather. He was lead scientist and Principal Investigator on two of NASA's scientific spacecraft studying the Sun: TRACE and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. He (co-)authored over 200 research publications and articles. He wrote a textbook on solar and stellar magnetism, was lead editor on the five-volume series of Heliophysics books, and co-authored a popular science book entitled Living with the Stars (OUP, 2015) about the connections between the human body, the Earth, the planets, and the stars.

"The book strikes a delicate balance between conveying complex ideas and remaining accessible to a non-technical reader. There are no equations, but there are extensive bibliographies for each chapter for further reading. I would recommend this book widely for its summarization of the state of many sub-disciplines within exoplanet science and enlightening historical background." - Edward W. Schwieterman, Nature Astronomy

"The text is written in a light, narrative and yet scientific style and abstains from mathematical formalism or unnecessary jargon. It is interesting to read at any point, owing also to the view on the subject from different angles, including historical, cultural, technical and scientific aspects." - Manuel Vogel, Contemporary Physics

"Schrijver's style is so accessible, almost conversational ... If you are into exoplanets and the possibility of life elsewhere from an astronomy perspective (as opposed to a bio- and geo-science viewpoint) then this could well be this year's choice ... Fascinating stuff." - Jonathan Cowie, Concatenation

"Karel Schrijver's lucid, fact-packed primer ranges over everything from the Goldilocks zone and stellar nurseries to disrupted exosystems and the vagaries of living on a pale blue dot." - Barbara Kiser, Nature

"A very readable and up-to-date account of the ongoing search and discovery of extra-solar planets throughout the Universe, with emphasis on finding those that resemble Earth to a greater or lesser degree, and those that may harbour some kind of life." - Fred Taylor, University of Oxford