Cosmos
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- ISBN13: 9780345331359
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The best-selling science book ever published in the English language, COSMOS is a magnificent overview of the past, present, and future of science. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today’s knowledge and scientific methods to their past roots, blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic and irresistible way.
Amazon.com Review
Cosmos was the first science TV blockbuster, and Carl Sagan was its (human) star. By the time of Sagan’s death in 1996, the series had been seen by half a billion people; Sagan was perhaps the best-known scientist on the planet. Explaining how the series came about, Sagan recalled:
I was positive from my own experience that an enormous global interest exists in the exploration of the planets and in many kindred scientific topics–the origin of life, the Planet, and the Cosmos, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, our tie with the universe. And I was certain that this interest could be excited through that most powerful communications medium, television.
Sagan’s own interest and enthusiasm for the universe were so plain and communicable, his screen presence so engaging, that viewers and readers couldn’t help but be caught up in his vision. From stars in their “billions and billions” to the amino acids in the primordial ocean, Sagan communicated a feeling for science as a process of discovery. Inevitably, some of the science in Cosmos has been outdated in the years since 1980–but Sagan’s sense of marvel is ageless. –Mary Ellen Curtin
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I was a teenager in India when I watched the TV serial, Cosmos. Sorry to say I was swept away by Sagan’s smooth speechifying and thought Sagan’s Science had all the answers. I discarded my Christian faith.
For the next 10 years, I still thought so; I avidly read books like Sagan’s “Dragons of Eden”, “Boca’s Brain” and all the ‘Zen…’ books and many more.
But I came to a road block. There are questions that they cannot answer – Where did I come from?, Where am I going?, What happens after I die?, and the essential, Does my life matter?
The answers to these questions are establish only in the words of Jesus. Sagan died a few years ago, a fervent atheist till the end. But I am certain, that where he is right now, he will agree with me (I am sad to say so) with despair.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Carl Sagan…lets start with the excellent. He is agreed credit for building a 70’s style science series with the same name as this book. People had never seen science specials like this and he cashed in by introducing so many people to it. Aside from having a excellent publicist and some enthusiasm this tv series is Sagan’s ONLY real contribution to astronomy. If you read this book you see why it appealed to people uninterested in astronomy. First it is extremely basic and if you have a college level education than you probably already know most of what is in this book. Second it skips around chapter to chapter like episode to episode. Works fantastic on PBS but it makes for a in a state unorganized book.
Now that was the excellent. As an amatuer astronomer you can only read what is published and inevitably you’ll read a reference about Sagan. In it some will refer to him as though he were a real genius like Steven Hawking. Sooner or later either this book or Pale Blue Dot will come across an amatuer astronomers desk. One day I chose to finally read cosmos and let me tell how disappointed is. This is the only book in the last five years, or in recent memory for that matter, I have been unable to end. Ive read reviews that said the end was slow…I never even got that far. Read any astronomy book and it will be more educational than this one. Not to mention everything is hopelessly dated in the book.
In conclusion Sagan has been dead for nearly a decade. He gets credit way to much for stuff he didnt do. Many books even today reference to him again and again then place out the truly visonary scientists that did all the work. If you want to read about a right visonary find a book on Verner von Braun, it wont be simple cause there are too many books on Sagan that you have to sift through. The reason I use this as an example is that Von Braun is a ghost in american history when he single handedly kept the US from getting blown out of the space race. He is the right opposite of Sagan. Any book in the astronomy section would be a better choice than this one.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Carl Sagan, I judge wrote this book more out to be an essay of what he believes. That sometimes can be a small over-the-top. Usually a long essay will not place out the message fully. The ending of this book didn’t truly fulfill what I wanted to read. The book does have some excellent points about the cosmos but it perhaps place too much emphasis where the book should not have went by doing too much info on the scientists of the cosmo. The truth is, this science book didn’t fulfill what I expected of it. And thats all I have to say about this book.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
Sagan is a magnificent thinker with a clogged mind. His first sentence is “The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” That efficiently snuffs out God or any Chorographer behind the cosmic dance he admires so much and describes so well. “One day, reasonably by manufacturing accident, a molecule arose that was able to make crude copies of itself.” That was one bloody clever molecule! With no brain, to “learn” such a power? See AMERICA, Feb 7, 1981, “Carl Sagan’s Gospel of Scientism.”
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I used to watch “Cosmos” religiously when I was an elementary school student. Every episode of it was delightful and mesmerizing, considering the superb producer Carl Sagan. Back then, I was just a kid trying to explore the Universe around me and demystify the magic in it. Now, I have read the book itself. There is no doubt that Carl Sagan is a brilliant scientist and leader. His absorbing, riveting style takes you from where you are to the remotest corners of the Universe. There are two points that I disagree with him.
For one thing, it might sound very subjective, he was not able to find out the Creator of the Universe, even though he was equipped with a brilliant mind. Every mystery, beauty, harmony in the Universe is ascribed to pure coincidence. To him, somehow the galaxies, planets etc. were formed after the Huge Bang by chance. Then, somehow some amino acids came together (?) and after a few steps formed (?) a living cell. Living cells somehow learned to reproduce (?) and this led to more complex organisms (?). The life ongoing in water, these “fish” then chose to continue (?) their life on land. They got legs, they further evolved and led to a wide variety of animals, one of these animals became (?) a human being. After a long time, human beings have become capable of unraveling the very reasons of their being! Could this extremely long sequence of nearly improbable coincidences be the cause of our being on Planet, in addition to the exquisite harmony and beauty in the Universe, or is there a super-human, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent Creator?
My second objection is to his remarks as to the discontinuity of the evolution of science between the Very ancient Greek Civilization and the European Enlightenment, i.e. 600 AD – 1600 AD. According to his remarks, science did not renovate in this intermission, which happens to last one millennium. Yes, the Greek Civilization came to an end about 600 AD, but Islamic Civilization commenced right afterwards. Between 750 AD – 1500 AD, Muslim scholars contributed to humanity in many ways. They translated very ancient Greek texts to Arabic and Persian, used the knowledge and made their own original contributions. Therefore, Europeans had a chance to see the very ancient Greek texts. [1] Avicenna “Ibni Sina” (981-1037) is known as the father of the modern medicine. His books “The Canon of Medicine” were used as textbooks in European universities until the 18th century. He was also a legendary philosopher. [2] Al-Khwarizmi (770-840) is known as the founder of the modern algebra, and the word “algorithm” is derived from his name. [3] Omar Khayyam (1148-1123) was a legendary mathematician, chemist and poet. [4] Alhazen “Ibn al-Haitham” (965-1040) was the founder of the modern optics and the leader of “Kitab al-Manazir” (Book of Optics). Furthermore, Al-Kindi, Jabir ibn-Hayyan, Al-Battani, Al-Razi, Al-Farabi, Al-Masudi, Alboacen “Al-Mawardi”, Al-Biruni, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Sharafeddin Tusi, Rumi, Al-Baitar, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, Ulugh Beg etc. were only several of the hundreds of well-known scientists, scholars, philosophers, poets. It is stunning and shameful that a professor of astronomy and astrophysics never knew these pioneers!
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5