Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. “The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. We are immensely tiny in the perspective of the universe, to such an extent that the actual size of the universe is incomprehensible to humans. One of the notions that is often demonstrated in Cosmos that really grabbed my attention was how small we humans are. Many of the other books Sagan has written were co-written by Ann Druyan – his wife and fellow author. He helped NASA decide where to land the Viking probes on Mars, as well as co-design the messages inside of the Pioneer and Voyager probes that were sent beyond the solar system.Ĭarl Sagan has written other books and novels such as Contact, Pale Blue Dot, and The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. In 1968, he began to work at Cornell University as director of Laboratory and Planetary Studies. From 1962 to 1986, Carl worked at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory-there he studied the physical conditions, more specifically, the atmospheres of Venus and Jupiter. He majored in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960.

He studied the solar system and theorized about the possibility of life in not only our solar system, but the universe as a whole. Sagan attended the University of Chicago, where he applied when he was only sixteen. Sagan depicts mysteries and discoveries of the universe through impactful language and history. Quotes like this are one of the reasons Cosmos drew me in. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.” Interpret that as you wish. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us - there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. But what is the Cosmos exactly? Sagan describes it as, “ the Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. One of the ideas Sagan illustrates often is the concept that everybody-meaning you, me, and everyone around us-is made of starstuff, and that we are part of the Cosmos.

Sagan illustrates wonders of the universe through comprehensible language and engaging storytelling. I picked this book off of a bookshelf in my house in hopes of finding a fascinating story that I wouldn’t be able to put down.

The book was also adapted into a television series on PBS created and hosted by Carl Sagan. Readers in the 80s were fascinated by the way Sagan illustrates the Cosmos through words. The book was well received by many who read it, whether they were a book reviewer, a student, an author, or a person who merely picked up the book because it had an intriguing cover. Cosmos by Carl Sagan is a science book originally published in 1980, ranging from the topics of cosmology to the history of human discoveries.

Pbs cosmos carl sagan