Cosmos (Television program)

Renowned astronomer Carl Sagan's classic bestseller that “dives into the past, present, and future of science, dealing with the mind-staggering enormity of the cosmos in which we exist” (Associated Press)—with an Introduction by Ann Druyan and a Foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson “Sagan dazzles the mind with the miracle of our survival, framed by the stately galaxies of space.”—Cosmopolitan THE INSPIRATION FOR THE FOX MINISERIES COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS, HOSTED BY NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON AND STARRING SETH MACFARLANE AND SIR PATRICK STEWART In clear-eyed prose, Carl Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring full-color illustrations, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped shape modern science. This Book Is About Science In Its Broadest Human Context, How Science And Civilization Grew Up Together. It Is The Story Of Our Long Journey Of Discovery And The Forces And Individuals Who Helped To Shape Modern Science, Including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huygens, Champollion, Lowell And Humason. The Book Also Explores Spacecraft Missions Of Discovery Of The Nearby Planets, The Research In The Library Of Ancient Alexandria, The Human Brain, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, The Origin Of Life, The Death Of The Sun, The Evolution Of Galaxies And The Origins Of Matter, Suns And Worlds. The Author Retraces The Fifteen Billion Years Of Cosmic Evolution That Have Transformed Matter Into Life And Consciousness, Enabling The Cosmos To Wonder About Itself. He Considers The Latest Findings On Life Elsewhere And How We Might Communicate With The Beings Of Other Worlds. The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean -- One Voice In The Cosmic Fugue -- The Harmony Of Worlds -- Heaven And Hell -- Blues For A Red Planet -- Travelers' Tales -- The Backbone Of Night -- Travels In Space And Time -- The Lives Of The Stars -- The Edge Of Forever -- The Persistence Of Memory -- Encyclopaedia Galactica -- Who Speaks For Earth? -- Appendix 1. Reductio Ad Absurdum And The Square Root Of Two -- Appendix 2. The Five Pythagorean Solids. Carl Sagan. Based On C. Sagan's 13-part Television Series. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [350]-355. Introduction — xi 1 — The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean — 3 2 — One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue — 23 3 — The Harmony of Worlds — 45 4 — Heaven and Hell — 73 5 — Blues for a Red Planet — 105 6 — Travelers’ Tales — 137 7 — The Backbone of Night — 167 8 — Travels in Space and Time — 195 9 — The Lives of the Stars — 217 10 — The Edge of Forever — 245 11 — The Persistence of Memory — 269 12 — Encyclopaedia Galactica — 291 13 — Who Speaks for Earth? — 317 Appendix 1: Reductio ad Absurdum and the Square Root of Two — 347 Appendix 2: The Five Pythagorean Solids — 348 For Further Reading — 350 Index - 357 Told with Sagan's remarkable ability to make scientific ideas both comprehensible and exciting, Cosmos is about science in its broadest human context, how science and civilization grew up together. The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds. -- from publisher This is a book about Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton; about the Milky Way, about gaseous planets without a surface, and a universe of a hundred billion galaxies. It is about whirlpool galaxies and the ancient Library at Alexandria, Egypt - the place "where we humans first collected, seriously and systematically, the knowledge of the world." Introduction The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue The Harmony of the Worlds Heaven and Hell Blues for a Red Planet Traveler's Tales The Backbone of the Night Travels in Space and Time The Lives of Stars The Edge of Forever The Persistence of Memory Encylopaedia Galactica Who Speaks for Earth?