Cosmos

by Carl Sagan

Neil Degrasse Tyson (Foreword) and Ann Druyan (Introduction)

Renowned astronomer Carl Sagan’s classic bestseller that “dives into the past, present, and future of science, dealing with the mind-staggering enormity of the cosmos in which we exist” (Associated Press)—with an Introduction by Ann Druyan and a Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson
 
“Sagan dazzles the mind with the miracle of our survival, framed by the stately galaxies of space.”—Cosmopolitan
 
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE FOX MINISERIES COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS, HOSTED BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON AND STARRING SETH MACFARLANE AND SIR PATRICK STEWART

In clear-eyed prose, Carl Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring full-color illustrations, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped shape modern science.

• ISBN10: 0345539435
• ISBN13: 9780345539434
• Publish Date: 10 December 2013 (first published 1 September 1980)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 11 October 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Ballantine Books Inc.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345539434

Reviews

[kerrydarkeyes]

This was a 3/3.5 for me, which feels disrespectful because I know it’s an iconic book in making science accessible for the masses. Certain parts were not so accessible for *me*, and as a casual reader, I had to push myself through the science-heavy passages. Every time he started in on a new paragraph about a historical figure or event, I was like, thank God, here’s something I can work with! Also it was hard to gauge how much was still relevant, how much had changed since the first edition — if there isn’t already an annotated version with someone providing the current state of astronomy, I think it’d be helpful, and save me a lot of Googling (do we know what quasars are now?!). Overall, I learned a lot, even if I missed a lot, too, because my brain couldn’t process it all equally, and there were some ideas he touched on that definitely had me pondering.

[remo]

Magna obra de divulgación científica de una de las personas que se ha consagrado al oficio de divulgador. Existe un proceso físico, llamado “Saganización”, mediante el cual un científico que investiga deja de hacerlo para dedicarse a hablar de cosas sobre las que no investiga. Probablemente sea un término acuñado por los envidiosos. El libro está muy bien. Se tratan muchos temas interesantes (Relatividad, el Big Bang, la comunicación con hipotéticos seres extraterrestres...) mediante ejemplos muy para el gran público. Hay un trasfondo profundo, llamémosle “humanista”, en todo el libro: El mundo, ¿para qué sirve? ¿Por qué son así las cosas y no de otra manera? Preguntas que no corresponden al ámbito de la Ciencia (todavía) sino al de la filosofía o la religión (aunque tampoco tengan mucho que decir al respecto).