Contact

by Carl Sagan

[jamiereadthis]

1. Sagan wrote the review for me. On page 18: “The book was better than the movie. For one thing, there was a lot more to it.” He’s talking about Pinocchio, and Ellie reading it as a girl, but it applies to his book too. Layers.

2. Carl Sagan, astrophysicist, is better than Carl Sagan, novelist. Some of the characters, pacing, plot, etc. just falls flat. But at the science and imagination of it, he shines.

3. Once they hit the wormholes, it’s the best part of the book. I hate that that part is so short.

4. I think each review here says some version of this, but: the ending of Contact, the novel, is so much better than Contact, the movie.

5. “You mustn’t think of the universe as a wilderness. It hasn’t been that for billions of years.”