Plant the Seed of Wonder In a Young Person

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	• Cosmos Carl Sagan Random House, 2002 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 153 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Awe-all, not just some

I have to laugh that one of the tags for this book is atheist. Was he an atheist? I don't know. But I truly enjoyed this book, and it was a further shovel of dirt on religion in the ground for me. A number of things had led me to that point (taking a philosophy course way back when I was in college), but this book really gave religion in a frank light: nothing more than an explanation of the unknown for societies. The ones that took hold and didn't go away when science explained away are what we have today. But seriously, lets only go as far as agnostic, please.

Religion aside, this is truly a magnificent travel through space. I read it whilst camping that really assisted in its fine journey. A little outdated, but highly recommended nonetheless.

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Carl Sagan is missed

I have read many many books pertaining to astronomy and cosmology over the years, but until this book, I had never read anything written by Carl Sagan. What interested me enough to purchase this book was not only the topic it covered, but that the book was itself written by Carl Sagan.

I best remember Carl Sagan from those TV specials he narrated that were aired on public TV many years ago. I was always impressed with Mr. Sagan's knowledge and manner of presentation of the material. His enthusiasm to tell what he knew about the cosmos was never masked by a scripted TV presentation; his enthusiasm was very infectious. So recently, I thought I had to rectify my having never read a book written by Mr. Sagan and I purchased the book Cosmos. I was not disappointed; I felt as if I was watching one of those old TV specials narrated by Mr. Sagan. In my mind's eye, I could see everything I was reading and I did not want the book to end.

Despite that the book may be dated, and cosmology has moved on a bit since the publishing of this book, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics and even history. I only wish Mr. Sagan was still alive to write something new. He is missed by me.

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Brilliant!

Carl Sagan's book and TV series called Cosmos has opened the vast universe to millions and millions of people. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and watching the series.

It is not surprising that Cosmos is the best-selling science book ever published in the English language...and the series has been seen by half a billion people!

Carl Sagan was able to accomplish this feat by tapping into his psyche as a little boy who asked many questions about the universe. He then wrote and produced the series from the heart. His enthusiasm and fascination with the earth, planets, stars, galaxies, extraterrestrial life and more is contagious! He took an incredibly difficult subject and made it fun, exciting and educational for anyone from 8 to 80 who has looked up at the night skies...and wondered.

The book and series are not to be missed!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

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Fantastic Introduction

I first bumped into Carl Sagan when I saw his TV documentary series called "Cosmos" many years ago. It has only been recently that I have got off my rear and read the book. It has to be said that I had waited far too long to do this.

"Cosmos" (the book) is a great overall introduction to the universe about us and the history of its discovery by people. Mixing hitsory and astronomy, Sagan covers the major efforts that went into discovering different things out there and what thos discoveries meant. There is also a healthy level of how astronomers do what they do, such as light spectrum analysis, radar mapping and so on. Despite this, there is virtually no mathematics involved, which is a good thing for general readers.

The hardcover edition also has plenty of pictures, photos and diagrams relating to the text. This makes the book very interesting and quite amazing to read. I was very impressed with the quality of the photos and what they showed. They added a great deal to the text, especially for more visual people such as myself.

The only drawback with the book is its age. It was written over 20 years ago and references to future missions planned for 1986 highlight this aspect of the book. There may have been discoveries since the time of writing that would add more to the reader's knowledge. However, in spite of this drawback of age, the book is still valuable as a very readable introduction.

Carl Sagan writes with a very fluid and relaxing style. He doesn't overload the reader with specialised jargon, and when he does use it, he explains it very well. When the explanations are a bit heavy, I have noticed Sagan's tendency to supply diagrams. I was at no point confused or lost by Sagan's text.

Overall, the book makes a great starting point into the world of astronomy, the path people have taken to get us to where we are today and just what is out there. This is a very interesting book about a very interesting subject. I definitely recommend it, despite the age problems refered to above.

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Plant the Seed of Wonder In a Young Person

The best advice I can give, regarding this book, is to GIVE it to a young person interested in science or space. You will plant a seed that will grow forever. Sagan's masterpiece takes the mind on a wonderful journey through the stars as well as through other space centered events. Highest recommendation as a text for learning as well as a fine read for anyone interested in the subject.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

This visually stunning book with over 250 full-color illustrations, many of them never before published, is based on Carl Sagan?s thirteen-part television series. Told with Sagan?s remarkable ability to make scientific ideas both comprehensible and exciting, Cosmos is about science in its broadest human context, how science and civilization grew up together.

The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds.

Sagan retraces the fifteen billion years of cos-mic evolution that have transformed matter into life and consciousness, enabling the Cosmos to wonder about itself. He considers the latest findings on life elsewhere and how we might communicate with the beings of other worlds.

Cosmos is the story of our long journey of discovery and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science, including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huy-gens, Champollion, Lowell and Humason. Sagan looks at our planet from an extra-terrestrial vantage point and sees a blue jewel-like world, inhabited by a lifeform that is just beginning to discover its own unity and to ven-ture into the vast ocean of space.

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