Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation

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The book, like the television series, contains a number of Cold War undertones including subtle references to self-destruction and the futility of the arms race. Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization. Their discoveries are compared to the Voyager probes' discoveries among the Jovian and Saturn systems. Along with Microbe Hunters and The Double Helix, he described Cosmos as one of the "books that people cite as 'Hey, the reason I'm a scientist is because I read that book'. Just like Carl Sagan was looking at early astronomers' work and appreciating it with the benefit of hindsight, today's amateur astronomers can look at Carl Sagan's book and get a better understanding of the recent scientific history, with its debates and evolution.

The popularity of Sagan's Cosmos has been referenced in arguments supporting increased space exploration spending. It's a book of education and culture, a book of science and history, a starting point for people to educate themselves. I can see now what most popular books on astronomy over the last 35+ years have tried to emulate (this book).Clarke in a speech promoting an end to Cold War anti-ICBM spending, instead arguing that the anti-ICBM budget would be better spent on Mars exploration. Indeed, as far as we are currently aware, humans represent the first point at which the cosmos became aware of itself; a remarkable and humbling thought (although I hope there are other civilisations). However, the message is very clear: the methods developed by science are the only way to understand the cosmos. His book Cosmos (accompanying his Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning television series of the same name) was the bestselling science book ever published in the English language, and his bestselling novel, Contact, was turned into a major motion picture.

Each of the book's 13 illustrated chapters corresponds to one of the 13 episodes of the television series.Library of Congress Officially Opens The Seth MacFarlane Collection of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive". The 1986 special edition of Cosmos features new computer animated sequences and filmed segments with Sagan, as well as new narration. Carl Sagan does a brilliant job of seamlessly interlacing the subject matter with other branches of sciences not directly related. His Peabody Award-winning public television series, Cosmos, has been seen by more than 500 million people in over sixty countries, and the accompanying book spent seventy weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. He appeared on many television programs, wrote a regular column for Parade, and worked to continually advance the popularity of the science genre.

My critique is that the majority of the book is narrated by LeVar and his constant over-acting of every line and the immense emphasis on every word makes it extremely tiring to listen to. The book could be described as a history of ideas, in particular the supreme achievement of humans, that of Science. Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-seller's list, [17] and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. Carl Sagan's writings are amazingly still so current today, that I am again struck by how much we missed when this genius died so young.Likewise, Ann Druyan is also audibly squinting, straining her voice, and reads every line like it's the most important revelation.