Cosmos by Carl Sagan
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Book Reviews of Cosmos
Book Review: A question regarding cosmic optimism
Summary: 5 Stars
Most of the readers and reviewers of this book speak of it with wonder and excitement, pleasure and gratitude. Many call it the best popular science book ever written. A number speak of the way it changed their lives, and led them to take deeper interest in scientific enterprises.
I also upon viewing the popular series on television years ago was caught up with this kind of enthusiasm. There was a sense of learning and understanding the latest picture of the universe the best minds of mankind had been able to put together.
I remember regretting it when I missed an episode.
I believe I read the book when it first came out. A couple of reviewers have indicated that some of the science is a bit dated, superseded by developments in fields in which new discoveries are happening all the time.
Nonetheless at the very same time I was so enthusiastic about Sagan's presentation I did feel a certain reservation. It is the reservation of one or two other reviewers I have seen on this site. For Sagan the Cosmos begins with an absence of Intelligence and moves toward greater and greater Intelligence and Understanding with the development of Mankind. For many of us this picture is questionable , for we hold with the idea of a Creator not simply at the Beginning of the Process but throughhout. Sagan and I suspect many who read this will say simply ' unverifiable' and ' non-falsifiable' and therefore non- scientific.' I would counter with something like this. That there is a kind of false hope presented in the story if we make it seems as if the place we have in the Cosmos is one of ever- increasing power, knowledge, understanding. The truth is that the vast worlds opened to us by our new knowledge and scientific instruments are vast worlds largely of dust and emptiness. And that the vast stretches of time too make it seem as if our moment is one small lost one before humanity in some way ceases to exist,either through our own ' Progress'in weapon- making or through some cosmic development we simply have no control over. The picture of mastery and optimism in Sagan's Cosmos I want to say is not borne out by conclusive evidence. Seti or not, ' the silence of the infinite spaces still can cast us into dread' This is not meant to be an anti- scientific diatribe . I too share the sense of wonder and appreciation which comes with the chronicle of developing human understanding of the universe. I also though wonder if Humanity does not need , and is incomplete without the idea of a Creator to whom we owe our origin and our end.
Book Review: Casts a wide net to introduce modern scientific perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the reviewers here boldly declare Sagan as ill-informed because "...[Sagan] was not able to find out the Creator of the Universe, even though he was equipped with a brilliant mind."
This is not a book (or TV series) in search of the answer to explain the/a "creator", and Sagan's presentation never points in that direction. Rather, Cosmos is a summary of the historical and modern scientific view of many different aspects of the universe and life on earth.
The reviewer in question is aghast that Sagan would suggest things that the reviewer's mind is unable to accept: "...every mystery, beauty, harmony in the Universe is ascribed to pure coincidence. To [Sagan], somehow the galaxies, planets etc. were formed after the Big Bang by chance. Then, somehow some amino acids came together (?) and after a few steps formed (?) a living cell. Living cells somehow learned to reproduce (?) and this led to more complex organisms (?). The life started in water, these "fish" then decided to continue (?) their life on land. Could this extremely long sequence of nearly improbable coincidences be the cause of our existence on Earth, in addition to the exquisite harmony and beauty in the Universe, or is there a super-human, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent Creator?"
Those who may share this view can read other, more narrowly-focused books on the subject of evolution, such as The Blind Watchmaker by Dawkins, which clearly explains the basic flaw of this line of thinking: evolution is NOT a result of "coincidences" as many people think. To the contrary, the scientific view of evolution implies that evolution is not only NOT a result of "coincidences", but an unavoidable certainty based on the conditions and time-span.
So, if you want to ponder about your existence and evolution, read "The Blind Watchmaker", "The Selfish Gene" or the "Climb Mount Improbable". Cosmos, on the other hand, is a great scientist's legacy to create more questions in the mind of the reader/viewer than to provide answers for meaning of life.
Book Review: It is now and always will be worth reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Martin Gardner is arguably the greatest mathematician of the last century. Not because he solved a large number of complex theorems, but because of the number of people he influenced via his Mathematical Recreations columns in Scientific American. The same arguments can be made regarding the influence Carl Sagan had on science. While he was a very accomplished scientist, his greatest contribution was in making science understandable to the public. Not only did he steer many young people into science, he was also the leading voice in convincing the public that scientific research should be funded. This is another of his books on popular science that sold well and sold the public on the need for public funding of scientific research.
I have read all of Sagan's popular science books and I consider this one to be the best. He spends most of the time describing the solar system and the remainder of the universe that surrounds it. Although some of the data regarding the solar system and the universe is outdated, the quality of the writing and pictures more than makes up for the time frame. He describes how the solar system was created from the remnants of stars that have already lived the bulk of their lives and how the universe continues to evolve and change. Throughout his explanations, Sagan intersperses short details from human history. He describes what was happening on Earth and how that affected the human perception of the cosmos.
It has been twenty six years since this book was written and many new facts concerning the solar system and the universe have been discovered since then. New technologies have allowed scientists to find many planets around distant stars and probes have studied the planets in our solar system in greater detail. It is too bad that Sagan is no longer around to write about it and push for more work. He had no equal to convincing the public of the necessity of scientific research for its own sake and this book is clear evidence as to how good he was. It is now and always will be worth reading.
Book Review: How To Reach An Audience, Educate It, And Never Talk Down To Those Who Are Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Sagan accomplished a lot in writing Cosmos. This book established him for the rest of his life as the most famous advocate of science in the English-speaking world, made him a household name and a huge figure in popular culture. He introduced if not "billions and billions" then certainly millions to some of science's heaviest concepts, and found a way to do it in terms that bored no one and set off imaginations in a positive way.
In Cosmos, the earth is established as but one speck in a vast ocean of galactic one-ness and the mind is invited to open wide and ponder just how enormous everything that's out there is. Sagan explains supernovas and black holes, tackles concepts like time and the environment of planet earth. He lauds the ancient Greeks and champions the greatest minds of science. Through his personality and charisma and his contagious love for his work, Sagan accomplished a near-miracle and brought an audience to what in other hands might have been the driest topics imaginable.
Cosmos is one of the best works of scientific non-fiction ever composed, and I hope it remains well-read into coming generations. I am old enough to remember when Sagan was a celebrated superstar in the late 1980's, parodied on comedy shows and a soft drink commercial, and it puzzles me how less than ten years after death robbed us of Carl Sagan, he is already slipping away from popular memory and how so few people under the age of about 20 even know who he is. I was having a conversation about this just last night with a high school senior I tutor. She is a bright girl, representative of her peers and social class, and yet when I mentioned this book and its author, she gave me a blank, "I've never heard of that."
I gave her my copy, but, boy, talk about feeling old...
Anyway, I love this book, whole-heartedly recommend it, and I hope this review in some tiny way encourages its reading.
Book Review: A Beautifully Scripted Journey
Summary: 5 Stars
As an extraordinarily curious kid with a mind aching for answers to this universe, I felt invigorated getting the chance to read this brilliant book. Many atheist authors struggle to convey their true message under the immense pressure to garnish juxtaposition amidst the prevailing religiosity of the world. Not Sagan. He seamlessly crosses the line between science and religion, threading the two together with the careful prose you would surely only expect from a seasoned historian.
Rather than trying to proselytize his audience with an immense crescendo of refuting evidence, he describes a universe of such elegance and perfection (or rather imperfection?) that it is nearly impossible not to come to grips with the reality of it all. As a well-read student and Chemical Engineer with plans of grad school and beyond, I spent a lot of spare time in the summer polishing my knowledge with some of the more famous books of physics and quantum mechanics. While it is always an endeavor to engage in the works of Stephen Hawking or some of the modern enthusiasts of the field, I find myself critically vulnerable to this illustration of the Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I can only offer my highest accolades to this book, and it is at least worth a read at some point in everybody's life. Whether you consider science your career or if you are simply a curious reader, I'm more than positive this tale will absorb you into its utter realness and offer some of the finest explanations in modern science.
While this surely won't replace your college textbooks, this is an almost necessary pocket aid and motivation to keep with you and learn from. Sagan writes better than almost anyone in his field, so don't miss out.