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Once, in German class, I recommended Carl Sagan’s magnificent Cosmos television series to a classmate. “Wow,” she said. “That’s the first time somebody suggested Carl Sagan to me who wasn’t a pothead.” I wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment; I said “thanks” anyway.Although I’m sure Carl Sagan can be enjoyed in a variety of altered states, he can be enjoyable for those of us here on earth too. In fact, the message of this book can (if one can stomach the cliché) justly be described a...
Humbling vistas 'Pale Blue Dot', updated version of a photograph of the Earth, 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away, taken by Voyager in 1990, part of the 'Family Portrait of the Solar System' series of photographs Main themes:- A quick overview of the history of mankind, our migrations & thirst for discovery, our technical achievements, ...- The actual place of mankind in the known universe (exposing various anthropocentrist myths about the unique position of the human species, Earth...
This was enlightening, though a tad outdated. (Not surprising, considering that it was published in 1994. The space programmes in various countries have crossed several new frontiers since.) The content covers not just what the tagline suggests (human future in space) but also focusses on space insights through the ages. In other words, it devotes an equal time to how we reached here and where we go from the “here” as of 1994. I enjoyed the various space related anecdotes such as the naming of t...
Consider this book as Part 2 to Carl Sagan's Cosmos. If you enjoyed reading the Cosmos, then feel free to pick this one up, if you haven't read the Cosmos, read it first then continue with a Pale Blue Dot.I've read the Ballantine Book 1994 Edition / Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan / 384 pages / 103,295 words.
WOW....WOW....WOW. Carl Sagan, what a champ. Fiction from scientists/astrologists may be a bummer (see Contact), but Carl drops the BOMB in this work. Truly ahead of his time and a great american. A great intro into science/astrology and really helped me understand a lot about all the planets and their make-up. Once we kill earth (pretty soon), perhaps we aren't TOTALLY fucked, their are other options out there if we get with it...but hey, we killed earth so why listen to Sagan. I drive an SUV,
For the majority of my life, reading was never an interest. At all. I spent most of my childhood watching movies and playing video games and football. Reading was boring, time-consuming and pointless. But then, when I was around sixteen or so, something happened that changed my life drastically. I discovered Carl Sagan. I still remember buying the DVD set of Cosmos, unpacking it, excitedly starting it, and turning the volume up to the max. I watched all the episodes in a day: I couldn't stop. An...
I recently came across several references to this book while reading the superb God Delusion. I was intrigued, and since it had been quite a while since I read Cosmos, I decided to give Carl Sagan another go.Besides his beautiful evocative descriptions of moons and worlds in our own Solar system, Sagan gave us a surplus of inspirational and cautionary passages in this work which--even as an adult--make you want to grow up to be an astronaut.
There was a time when I simply could NOT get enough of Carl Sagan. I read everything he wrote, watched every documentary that he made. I adore him still. Pale Blue Dot is NOT like Cosmos, the book with which most people are familiar. Cosmos dealt with astronomy and gave you a basic understanding of the entire "cosmos" in a way that you would understand. It's one of the reasons it is so popular. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan is speaking to those who love the Earth, love its relationship to the Cosmos,
Inspirational.As Oscar Wilde once said: "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".Carl Sagan is one of those thought leaders who direct our sights and aspirations to the best of what humankind can potentially achieve, and inspires us to find the courage to ask the deeper questions, and to nurture our willingness to embrace "what is true rather than what feels good".
The title of the book, Pale Blue Dot, was taken from the instantly infamous Pale Blue Dot photograph taken by Voyager 1 in 1990. The back story to that image is worth describing before actually talking about the book itself.Here is the image,Can you see Earth? Can you see our tiny little Earth? Look harder. There, ‘suspended in a sunbeam,’ is a tiny pale blue dot.This is what Sagan had to say: From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’...
Even though this book was written in 1994 it's still highly relevant today. We have learnt a lot more about the planets since then with the numerous Mars rovers, the Cassini mission to Saturn and other missions way out as far as Pluto. Advances in space based telescopes have told us that exoplanets are very common, in fact most stars seem to have them. Back when this was written it was only a theory that other stars would have planets. I found myself wondering what Carl would have written if he
I was impressed by how much I enjoyed this one. I've not read any Sagan before, so I didn't know what to expect, but he's one of those brilliant scientists who understands how to clearly explain things to laypeople. His story (I use the term though it reads more like a collection of journal entries or brief reports) covers wide-ranging topics about the implications and necessity of space travel, posing questions frequently, answering them occasionally, and leading inexorably to a single conclusi...
I brought this book to work with me during the incredibly slow weeks of the holiday season. The book was repetitive, full of purple prose, and overly sentimental about "science" in a way that reminded me of my parochial school days. I had expected a good book explaining stuff about astronomy, science, whathaveyou, but it was mostly emotional pandering to atheists who think they're morally/intellectually superior to non-atheists. There was a whole lot of nothing for a couple hundred pages that ca...
Pale Blue Dot was Carl's last book, written while he was battling cancer and published after his death. Sagan was responsible for having NASA rotate a Voyager spacecraft (as it was leaving the solar system) and photograph the planets, including of course the Earth, which was appeared as a pale blue dot. I think Carl Sagan is a must read for any person who wants to be educated. Carl was a true Renascence Man, and his best gift ( of many) was teaching us about perspective. Perspective makes us wis...
Pale Blue Dot refers to the Earth as photographed from the Voyager craft at a point beyond the orbit of Neptune. Of course at that distance, the Earth is barely discernible - a very small, unremarkable, pale blue dot among a myriad of billions of other unremarkable points of light. Yet all our history, civilization, and culture that we have ever known has occurred on that dot.Even though our ingrained geo-centric and ethno-centric biases cause us to become deflated and even depressed at the real...
Take Carl’s revered “Pale Blue Dot” speech, and multiply it by, say, the power of ten. That’s Pale Blue Dot. And the fact that it’s only by the power of ten... well, that’s how great that speech is.
The greatest experience you get by reading a book is to plunge into the mind of the author. When you understand someone so closely, you tend to develop a strong connection with them.The authors that I've read - I find some of them closer to my heart than most of the people I've known in my life. They are always there by my side - guiding me, opening my mind and giving me strength. Carl Sagan is one of those few, now...
This book was very well written by an excellent physicist. It was one of those books that really makes you consider the world around you and the massive scale of the Universe.The first chapter contemplated the arrogance and self-centred nature of humans, and presented the notion that humans are exceedingly small compared to the vast Universe. For the first time I really comprehended how tiny our species are. It is quite an obvious concept that gets lost in everyday worries, fears and troubles. N...
I read this shortly after it came out back in the mid-90s & really liked it, so when I found an audio edition, I jumped on it. Glad I did! This edition was made partially with the original audio that Carl narrated, but there is progressively more narration by his wife filling in gaps left by time. Both were excellent & really have a lot of enthusiasm. They're slow, though. This is one of the few books where I went up to 2x rather than 1.5x, my normal listening speed.There wasn't much new to me,
The entire Earth is but a point, and the place of our own habitation but a minute corner of it.—MARCUS AURELIUS, ROMAN EMPEROR The is my first packed-with-information book, ever. One might think that it is a pure scientific text which goes on and on about facts and numbers and laws and whatsoever that can drag the soul out of you - not denying that it isn't - but seriously, look at the title - A Pale Blue Dot - isn't poetic enough? As the writer suggests "Knowing how things work doesn't make the...