Cosmos. Carl Sagan. 1980, 1985.

Book Review by Jane
Janet from the book club selected this book.

The adventure starts with a definition of cosmos, "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." The Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary, Third Edition, calls cosmos "the universe seen as an orderly system". The book actually deals with cosmos on both of these levels. Reading Cosmos gives a person an understanding of the history of astronomy and related science.

It was particularly engaging to read about the conflict created by the advent of new scientific discoveries; moreover, it was interesting to learn of the similar belief in and love of the work by the early scientists, despite often governmental and religious objections. Many scientific names are covered here; some with intimate details of their personal lives. They become regular people in this book.

One thing not apparent at first is the fact this book is over 17 years old. Unless a reader is familiar with advances in astronomy, it is hard to imagine that probes actually landed on Mars and Venus early enough to be included in this book. Carl Sagan provides a fascinating account of discoveries. Included in his observations is the famous red shift, which provides astronomers a method to measure speed and distance of objects based on movements away from earth. One interesting inclusion is the Drake equation, which allows for an estimation on how many planets support life.

Carl Sagan presented Cosmos in an effort to include the masses in understanding our universe, as well as other scientific disciplines. The best part about him is his unpretentious, enthusiastic desire to share with all of us what he and others, through deliberating, painstaking tasks, have learned. He passed away while still a long time atheist, and yet carried so much love for cosmos--where he obviously needed a great amount of faith to look further into what is out there.