Product Description

This collection of essays covers a range in subject matter from the invention of the game of chess to whether there is life on Mars, via discussions on the abortion issue and Greek mythology. It highlights the major issues faced at the end of the 20th century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905843 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 246 pages

Customer Reviews

A Thought Provoking Collection of Carl Sagan's essays.
I discovered Carl Sagan late in life and this book was my first introduction to his work. This book has now taken its place as one of the best books that I own. It is a collection of essays written by Carl Sagan covering a range of topics including an extremely touching story about the illness from which he died.

Carl Sagan is an excellent writer and I found this book so compelling that I really was unable to put it down. A fantastic introduction to his work.

Highly readable, very enjoyable and thought provoking.

Sagan stirs us and gives us hope in a blind world.
This is one of the most impressive books I own (out of about 1700). With this work alone Carl Sagan has bequested, if we (as a species) have the intelligence to take note, probably the most valuable and timely gift possible. If only potitians of all persuasions can have the courage to recognise the imperative of consensus (to eliminate political advantage) in acknowledging their predecessor's follies, and how crucial it is that they tackle - as a matter of extreme urgency - the issues raised. Then we can all rest easier when considering the welfare of our children and future generations - but particularly when we just simply stop for a moment to contemplate this amazingly beautiful and possibly unique planet and all that it supports. I wonder if it is guilt for our selfish despoiling of the atmosphere, of electing shortsighted politicians who promise greater riches and omit to reveal the true costs, as Carl Sagan never fears to do (after all, he wasn't running for office!) - costs that we know are there but refuse to see them - that is behind the curious malaise that exists these days (in the West, at least)? I place this book beside Hermann Hesse's 'If the War Goes On...' (which focuses on the inner self as Sagan does upon the outer, and with almost the same eloquence), and also beside Philip Slater's magnificent testament to the future 'A Dream Deferred' - the warmth of which remains with me. Of these three remarkable human beings, Sagan is the one who makes you want to do something now, write to a politician, walk or use the train instead of the car, install solar cells.... The others, well, they give you beautiful and gradiose dreams which maybe, like Carl Sagan's, will come to pass. Let's hope.

Sagan at his greatest.
For those who have discovered Carl Sagan, little is needed here for you other than to know that this is Sagan at his finest, but then again, he always is. For those who have not yet encountered this mans work, you are hopefully about to discover something that will at times bring you to tears , but at all times will make you think, about you, about us, about where we live and about where we may go in the future IF we become wiser.

God bless Carl, If I could ever have met anyone dead or alive , it would have been you.