That number was changing fast. "Most probably have at least one. Many have several. The Milky Way alone might have nine billion Earth-like planets in their stars' habitable zones. Add the dozens of other galaxies in the Local Group ..."

Then, Dad ... ?

He was a boy attuned to loss. Of course the Great Silence hurt him. The outrageous size of emptiness made him ask the same question Enrico Fermi did over that famous lunch in Los Alamos, three quarters of a century ago. If the universe were larger and older than anyone could imagine, we had an obvious problem.

Dad? With all those places to live? How come nobody's anywhere?

Excerpted from Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Copyright © 2021 by Richard Powers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.