This must be one of the most influential books I have ever read. I read it for the first time when I was a teenager when I read more than I do today and was a lot less forgiving. I loved it to bits and I still do. It is especially comforting to go back to it in 2022, for obvious reasons.

I wish we had people like Carl Sagan in public space today. His expertise and sensibility are still unmatched. ( )

Simplesmente sensacional!! ( )

Marvelous book. ( )

Originally published in 1980. A very hard read for me! The first 6 chapters were reasonable and I actually did learn a few interesting things about our universe. After that, I found it to be such a brutally dry read full of science facts way over my head that I could barely understand. It is full of Sagan’s endless dreamy, ‘what if’ situations. I gave it a 2 star simply for the fact that I did learn something from it.

One thing I learned from this book is that when scientists speak of finding "aliens" or "Martians" in space, it can actually mean living microbes that they could possibly study and work with...not necessarily other intelligent creatures with intelligent minds like us, living in outer space. (eBook loc 2472) This I can accept! Although, after finishing this book, I do believe that Sagan truly believed that there definitely could exist intelligent creatures in outer space, and that it’s just a matter of time before future generations discover it. I also got the hint that he wasn’t really a firm believer of a divine creator before the universe was created.

I love Sagan's explanation of the meaning and truth of Cosmos: "...there are regularities in Nature that permit its secrets to be uncovered. Nature is not entirely unpredictable; there are rules even she must obey. This ordered and admirable character of the universe was called Cosmos." (eBook loc 3187)...but...my opinion, not his...it was all created by God.

Without imagination, curiosity and, I will add skepticism, we might still be stuck in the stone ages. And without changes on earth and elsewhere in our universe, we would have no need or desire to ask questions and to search for any truth. But, great scientists who have come before us have paved the way for each new generation, allowing even further progress. When I read that a thousand earths could fit inside Jupiter (eBook loc 1594), it really opened my eyes to the enormity of our universe. ..."this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky." (eBook loc 173). Isn’t that an amazing and beautiful quote! I definitely view the sky and the night stars with a new pair of eyes.

The author has a nice theory on the evolution of the beginning of human life, but that's all it is...a theory. He presents proven facts, more recently discovered, on how molecules themselves evolve and change over time. In fact, as a scientist, he concludes that trees and humans share a common ancestry if you go far enough back. We are both made of the same atoms and molecules that work exactly the same, just put together differently, but depend greatly on each other. Trees and plants thrive on the carbon dioxide we humans release, and we humans and animals thrive on the fresh oxygen the trees and plants release. I love Sagan's way of wording it: "What a marvelous cooperative arrangement, plants and animals each inhaling the other's exhalations." This is synergy! Without one or the other, we would all cease to exist. Period!

This book is a mix of personal speculations, theories and hypotheses and few facts that have been proven, or disproven, by science over many years. They have NOT proven evolution. There is not one instance or proof that humans were once apes, like an orange was never an apple. But, specific traits (cells, DNA) of each can change to adapt in life. Sagan includes the earlier beliefs in the Greek gods of the universe, as well as the beliefs of atheist scientists and religious scientists throughout time. I believe now, more than ever, that it has to be a Divine being, God, who created such an intricate system that works so perfectly in every single aspect of the human life and of our magnificent universe.

For those who want to rate this book on religious merits, Sagan has perfectly summed up his life’s work, and the works of other scientists here: "Many hypotheses proposed by scientist as well as by non-scientists turn out to be wrong. But science is a self-correcting enterprise. To be accepted, all new ideas must survive rigorous standards of evidence...Science is generated by and devoted to free inquiry: the idea that any hypothesis, no matter how strange, deserves to be considered on its merits. The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science." (eBook loc 1697)

Evidence today is proving that random evolution doesn't hold together. They have discovered, and can't explain, certain things in life that were designed to perform, very specifically, certain jobs in this universe of life. My next read will be on proof that evolution remains to be unproven and based on pure speculations: "Creation: Remarkable Evidence of God's Design" (2003) by Grant R. Jeffrey. ( )

A classic, the companion to his public tv series by the same name. I enjoyed both the book and the series. ( )