Billions And Billions Carl Sagan Pdf
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In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us. These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld sci In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us.
These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan's thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease. Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day. Carl Sagan writes about many topics in this book, but manages to make them all readable and understandable. My favorites are his essays on exponential growth and decay, the universe, and abortion.
He really clearly lays out his thoughts and makes hard to understand concepts reachable in science and mathematics. He makes what is probably the most logical argument I have ever read in the abortion debates about our need to decide what makes us human and determine at what point that happens. His sho Carl Sagan writes about many topics in this book, but manages to make them all readable and understandable.
My favorites are his essays on exponential growth and decay, the universe, and abortion. He really clearly lays out his thoughts and makes hard to understand concepts reachable in science and mathematics. He makes what is probably the most logical argument I have ever read in the abortion debates about our need to decide what makes us human and determine at what point that happens. His short explanation of the history of abortion was enlightening (no, it never used to be a religious issue until recently). His arguments about the need to address global warming and the need to decrease nuclear arms are as timely now as they were 15 years ago. I am sad that our world has lost such a knowledgeable and persuasive man, but I am glad to know he has inspired so many others to follow in his footsteps. The world needs more intellectuals that don't blindly side with party lines, but look at facts and evidence.
We need more people to stand up and honestly educate people about what is happening in our world. I liken Carl Sagan's explanation of physics, mathematics and astronomy in Billions and Billions and all his books to what Steven Pinker did for the field of linguistics in The Language Instinct: he takes extraordinarily complex phenomena and breaks them down so the intelligent reader fascinated by such quandaries, but who just didn't have the passion to study them academically, can understand and muse upon. I used Pinker's work when teaching linguistics in graduate school, and I could see physic I liken Carl Sagan's explanation of physics, mathematics and astronomy in Billions and Billions and all his books to what Steven Pinker did for the field of linguistics in The Language Instinct: he takes extraordinarily complex phenomena and breaks them down so the intelligent reader fascinated by such quandaries, but who just didn't have the passion to study them academically, can understand and muse upon. I used Pinker's work when teaching linguistics in graduate school, and I could see physics and astronomy faculty using Sagan for the same reason: to bring an inspiring and brilliant introduction to life's largest questions to curious minds.Billions and Billions is for the intelligent person fascinated by space - on this planet, in this solar system, in this galaxy and beyond.
Sagan's explanations, comparisons, analogies, and opinions (personal opinion is something that I've noted is left out in his other works) brought me to tears on more than one occasion. Life is incredibly precious, and we're so insignificant in the scheme of things, and it baffles me that many disregard, or at least have no natural curiosity for, this precious, almost improbable gift of life. Sagan forces me to contemplate human problems of politics, overpopulation, starvation, disease, climate change and pollution on not merely a global, but also universal level by using numbers and logic, elements often attributed to objectivity - impassivity, even - that actually are keys that unlock emotion and make us able to truly understand the human plight.Billions and Billions is a beautiful, delightful, aching and depressing, but magnificent and inspiring read. It is my hope that many people pick up Carl Sagan's works - this is his last work, created in 1996 (he died of cancer in 1997), and I, along with many critics, believe this might be why he brings such a meaningful and personal perspective into his finale.
I also hope that if you do have a natural curiosity for physics, quantum physics and mechanics, that you also look into Gary Zukav's Dancing Wu Li Masters and Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics. Physics is not some stale, nerdy numbers game - it's a an intricate, meaningful, emotional, colorful dance! I am a great fan of Carl Sagan and it is with some sadness that I can recommend this, his last book, only partially. It is a collection of nineteen essays, organized into three mostly unrelated parts. Some items are well worth reading—particularly the last—but some not at all.Part 1, 'The Power and Beauty of Quantification,' is merely a simple echo of his famous book Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980).
The first chapter on large numbers, from which the 'Billions and Billions' of this book's title I am a great fan of Carl Sagan and it is with some sadness that I can recommend this, his last book, only partially. It is a collection of nineteen essays, organized into three mostly unrelated parts. Some items are well worth reading—particularly the last—but some not at all.Part 1, 'The Power and Beauty of Quantification,' is merely a simple echo of his famous book Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980). The first chapter on large numbers, from which the 'Billions and Billions' of this book's title is taken, is just too basic. Experienced popular science readers should skip this part entirely.
Those interested in cosmology, the vastness of space, and the possibility of multiple universes should look instead to Sagan's own classic Cosmos or for the up-to-the minute (and deep) account, see Max Tegmark's Our Mathematical Universe (2014).Part 2, 'What Are Conservatives Conserving,' is a series of dated essays covering the relatively new (at the time Sagan was engaged with them in the 1980s and early 1990s) environmental concerns of ozone depletion and global warming. Their outdatedness stems not from any later final solutions, but rather because research has progressed substantially in the last few decades. Another problem is that he links these essays politically to the Carter and Reagan eras, which realistically are too distant for most younger readers. Instead, for an insider's view on global warming politics read Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It (2006). For the science, which despite its over-the-top title is definitive, refer to James Hansen's work from 2009 Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About The Climate Catastrophe And Our Last Chance To Save Humanity.
(Hansen is the NASA climate researcher credited for 'discovering' global warming.)Happily, in Part 3, 'Where Hearts and Minds Collide,' Sagan includes more timeless essays covering the politics of abortion, basic morality, a powerful address at the Gettysburg peace memorial rededication, and a useful look back at the accomplishments of the twentieth century. These display Sagan at his best, and are reminiscent of the sustained intellectual wonder that is his best book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1995).Sagan closes with one of the most affecting short essays I have ever read, 'In the Valley of the Shadow,' where he recounts his battles over the disease that killed him after he finished Billions and Billions but before it was published. He displays ferocious optimism in his own future, and also for humanity. If nothing else, read this eight-page essay at your local bookstore or online. It will move you as it has countless readers and reviewers.With great respect, and with an irresistible fantasy, and indeed hope, that he is now in some way out there among the stars, merged with his beloved cosmos, I leave the last word to Carl:I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue.
But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there is little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides. The core premise of Sagan's final book is, to paraphrase an old Native American saying, ' We have not inherited the Earth from our ancestors, but have borrowed it from our children.' So stop the F screwing it up.Presented as 3 parts of 19 essays in total, some of the essays, especially in the first part, are similar to the material he covered in: cosmology and the vastness of space, our history as a species, general physics, life outside Earth. Some of the other essays are about then emerg The core premise of Sagan's final book is, to paraphrase an old Native American saying, ' We have not inherited the Earth from our ancestors, but have borrowed it from our children.' So stop the F screwing it up.Presented as 3 parts of 19 essays in total, some of the essays, especially in the first part, are similar to the material he covered in: cosmology and the vastness of space, our history as a species, general physics, life outside Earth. Some of the other essays are about then emerging discoveries of our effect on nature such as global warming, the ozone depletion, deforestation, and fossil fuels.
Sagan does what he does best in these pieces: explain in the common tongue how the entire setup is set up, what are the various set pieces in it and their roles, and how what we're doing is causing whatever it is that's happening. Though these essays were written in the 80's and 90's and so might come across as a bit dated, they do cause some serious introspection and a poignant reminder on how much we have actually NOT progressed in dealing with and controlling them.There is an absolutely brilliant essay on the abortion debate between pro-choice and pro-life, which I think covers almost all points on either side while also clinically arriving at a practical and workable answer. A few of the essays do end up being dated, where he exhorts the need to end the cold war between the Soviet and USA, and urges everyone to stop the madness that was the nuclear race. The final essay, 'In the Valley of the Shadow,' where he recounts his battles over the disease that eventually killed him, is so simple and beautifully written that it is both positive and haunting.Throughout the book, though, as always with Sagan, what does come across is his child-like love and wonder for science and nature, and his enthusiasm in talking about what he loves.In the last words of Sagan himself, I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.
I want to grow really old with my wife, Annie, whom I dearly love. I want to see my younger children grow up and to play a role in their character and intellectual development. I want to meet still unconceived grandchildren. There are scientific problems whose outcomes I long to witness—such as the exploration of many of the worlds in our Solar System and the search for life elsewhere.
I want to learn how major trends in human history, both hopeful and worrisome, work themselves out: the dangers and promise of our technology, say; the emancipation of women; the growing political, economic, and technological ascendancy of China; interstellar flight. If there were life after death, I might, no matter when I die, satisfy most of these deep curiosities and longings.
But if death is nothing more than an endless dreamless sleep, this is a forlorn hope. Maybe this perspective has given me a little extra motivation to stay alive. The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence.
Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides. Sagan is eloquent as always. It helps even more to read it out loud to yourself, (muttering lest someone observe) and make up a Sagan accent as you go. He takes a gentle hand, which I think bespeaks desperation in his last years, his last chance to nudge the ball forward amidst tangible fear that forceful will be deemed strident, erudite will sound preachy, and warning the bitter rantings of an old Cassandra.
Carl knows he's on the losing team, he loves humanity, and deeply fears our suicide by Sagan is eloquent as always. It helps even more to read it out loud to yourself, (muttering lest someone observe) and make up a Sagan accent as you go. He takes a gentle hand, which I think bespeaks desperation in his last years, his last chance to nudge the ball forward amidst tangible fear that forceful will be deemed strident, erudite will sound preachy, and warning the bitter rantings of an old Cassandra.
Carl knows he's on the losing team, he loves humanity, and deeply fears our suicide by institutional stupidity, the tragedy of the commons, and Tainter's unwindable commitment to technological complexity beyond the point of diminishing returns.Stale stuff, understood by all in my echo chamber, thus barely worth repeating, maybe. But still, he is gone now, the gentle Lorax of our times, replaced by a stronger, similarly poetic champion (Neil) who has taken up the lance, but the windmill doesn't look worried.I am. I am in arguments I can't win. I lose faith. Like Carl, I fear I cannot push on the rudder enough to effect any change in course. Do you know the thing about Cassandra?about all her whining doom-laden prognoses?She was right.
That's the punch line.Sagan used that and the similar story of Croesus (rich as.) who asked the Oracle at Delphi what would happen if he invaded Persia. He got back the answer: 'you will destroy a great empire.' He did, but it was his own empire that got destroyed. As leaders with an agenda are wont to do, he listened carefully with an ear tuned to hear what he wanted, and he heard it.
That's you, Mr. Cruz, unless you subscribe to the yet more devlish code of knowing the truth and nevertheless perverting it to your will.
For your sake I hope you're just stupid, not flatly evil.I'm afraid I don't think you're stupid. I will never tire of reading Carl Sagan's thoughts on anything and everything.We’ve been here for only about a million years, we, the first species that has devised means for its self-destruction. We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think as well as we can. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future.
I believe we have an obligation to fight for life on Earth—not just for ourselves, but for all those, humans and others, who came before us, and to whom I will never tire of reading Carl Sagan's thoughts on anything and everything.We’ve been here for only about a million years, we, the first species that has devised means for its self-destruction. We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think as well as we can. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. I believe we have an obligation to fight for life on Earth—not just for ourselves, but for all those, humans and others, who came before us, and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after. There is no cause more urgent, no dedication more fitting than to protect the future of our species. Nearly all our problems are made by humans and can be solved by humans. No social convention, no political system, no economic hypothesis, no religious dogma is more important.
This is I think Carl Sagan's last published book, published in 1996. His chapter/essay, entitled 'The Twentieth Century,' is one of the most insightful summaries of what the universe is that I ever read. Well, maybe not the most insightful, but surely in the top three:'Perhaps the most wrenching by-product of the scientific revolution has been to render untenable many of our most cherished and most comforting beliefs. The tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors has been replaced by a co This is I think Carl Sagan's last published book, published in 1996. His chapter/essay, entitled 'The Twentieth Century,' is one of the most insightful summaries of what the universe is that I ever read. Well, maybe not the most insightful, but surely in the top three:'Perhaps the most wrenching by-product of the scientific revolution has been to render untenable many of our most cherished and most comforting beliefs.
The tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors has been replaced by a cold, immense, indifferent Universe in which humans are relegated to obscurity. But I see the mergence in our consciousness of a Universe of a magnificence, and an intricate, elegant order far beyond anything our ancestors imagined. And if much about the Universe can be understood in terms of a few simple laws of Nature, those wishing to believe in God can certainly ascribe those beautiful laws to a Reason underpinning all of Nature. My own view is that it is far better to understand the Universe as it really is than to pretend to a Universe as we might wish it be.' Just think if this were the type of book students actually studied in school and their parents studied in churches? Nuf said.#end.
Six times now have I looked Death in the face. And six times Death has averted his gaze and let me pass. Eventually, of course, Death will claim me - as he does each of us. It's only a question of when. And how.I've learned much from our confrontations - especially about the beauty and sweet poignancy of life, about the preciousness of friends and family, and about the transforming power of love. In fact, almost dying is such a positive, character-building experience that I'd recommend it to eve Six times now have I looked Death in the face. And six times Death has averted his gaze and let me pass.
Eventually, of course, Death will claim me - as he does each of us. It's only a question of when. And how.I've learned much from our confrontations - especially about the beauty and sweet poignancy of life, about the preciousness of friends and family, and about the transforming power of love. In fact, almost dying is such a positive, character-building experience that I'd recommend it to everybody - except, of course, for the irreducible and essential element of risk.The world is so exquisite, with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides. Being afraid of quantification is tantamount to disenfranchising yourself, giving up on one of the most potent prospects for understanding and changing the world.What this book offers: thoughtful comments on climate change, abortion, and nuclear arms proliferationMy only previous exposure to Sagan was via his fiction, the novel and movie Contact.
Now I have some sense of why he was such a beloved science communicator. Billions & Billions begins with a discussion of big numbers, using multipl Being afraid of quantification is tantamount to disenfranchising yourself, giving up on one of the most potent prospects for understanding and changing the world.What this book offers: thoughtful comments on climate change, abortion, and nuclear arms proliferationMy only previous exposure to Sagan was via his fiction, the novel and movie Contact.
Now I have some sense of why he was such a beloved science communicator. Billions & Billions begins with a discussion of big numbers, using multiple approaches to help the reader get a sense both of what those numbers really mean and how, via exponential processes, seemingly small-scale activity can result in effects at drastically larger scales. This is an important foundation for the discussions of climate change that follow.Sagan tells the story of the rise and fall of chlorofluorocarbons to illustrate both that human activity can have disastrous consequences for the environment, and that successful coordinated international action to curtail such harmful activity does have real historical precedent. I wasn’t too familiar with that history, so this was fascinating.Unexpectedly, I also learned a lot about the history of abortion.
The book includes a thoughtful essay Sagan co-wrote with his wife Ann Druyan, which makes an effort to present both sides’ arguments honestly and give them serious consideration. They argue that “both pro-choicers and pro-lifers (at least some of them) are pushed toward absolutist positions by parallel fears of the slippery slope,” but that the scientific realities, and the need to take seriously both women’s rights to control their bodies and the rights of young humans, call for a more nuanced view. One surprising claim to me was that the Catholic Church found abortion acceptable until the late 1800s, though some quick googling suggests the history was more complex than that.Sagan also writes movingly about arms races. For those of us who did not live through the Cold War, it’s easy to forget about nuclear weapons; we learn about nuclear war in history books, as a threat that never came to pass.
But and they could still decimate our civilization in the space of minutes.The book includes an inspiring essay that Sagan published in both the US and the Soviet Union called “The Common Enemy.” A trope in fiction is for two warring sides to come together when they realize they are being threatened by an even more menacing force. As Sagan points out, our own tendencies to destroy ourselves - by pursuing short-term gains that are ultimately disastrous for our environment, or by preparing ever-more-destructive weapons that ensure all our conflicts are increasingly catastrophic - should represent just such an enemy.
The question is whether we’ll be able to unify against it before it wipes us out.Sagan died before the publication of Billions & Billions; it concludes with reflections by himself and by Ann on his two-year struggle with illness. These are poignant, and leave one with the sense that they had a truly special relationship. Written at the end of his life and published with an post script illuminating his unsuccessful battle with, as well as a touching epilogue by his widow Ann Druyan.
The book starts out with a kind of fleshing-out of humanity by its numbers, things like human population and resource usage and the age of the species are all implicitly synthesized into a description of people by very large numbers. It then touches on social and environmental issues, how people react to them, and what Written at the end of his life and published with an post script illuminating his unsuccessful battle with, as well as a touching epilogue by his widow Ann Druyan. The book starts out with a kind of fleshing-out of humanity by its numbers, things like human population and resource usage and the age of the species are all implicitly synthesized into a description of people by very large numbers. It then touches on social and environmental issues, how people react to them, and what kind of things we do right and wrong when faced with science versus our comfortable beliefs about the planet. There's an essay in which Sagan and Druyan lay out a compromise position on abortion which is based in science and objective facts that neither polar side of the debate should reject. Talk is made about the possibility of a catastrophe from space, and what it'd mean for life on Earth.
He writes about the richness of human experience through art, religion, and especially science. The costs and causes of war are explored. There's the almost obligatory devotion to one of Sagan's favorite subjects, the possibility of extraterrestrial life.The impression one gets throughout the whole book, no matter the subject of the text or the personal opinion of the reader, is the totally infectious nature of Sagan's awe and curiosity about the world in which we live, and even more about the Universe in which the world turns. His talent for phrasing can take something you thought was mundane and spin it into a profound insight, stirring the mind to make old ideas brand new, or crystallize into everyday life something mentioned in passing during highschool physics. With Carl Sagan's pen guiding the reader, fascination is nearly guaranteed. I must say, I have never completed a book faster:just three sittings and last half in a two hour flight to Mumbai.I am inclined to be a little proud of this achievement.My heroics were partly possible because the book is predictable in its first half, where Carl Sagan begins by enumerating the environmental problems,the world is facing,beamed especially with Ozone depletion and Global warming.
The research and subsequent efforts by different companies, countries and communities have been capture I must say, I have never completed a book faster:just three sittings and last half in a two hour flight to Mumbai.I am inclined to be a little proud of this achievement.My heroics were partly possible because the book is predictable in its first half, where Carl Sagan begins by enumerating the environmental problems,the world is facing,beamed especially with Ozone depletion and Global warming. The research and subsequent efforts by different companies, countries and communities have been captured well.The end is heart wrenching when it reads that Carl was writing the last chapter from his hospital bed in Hutch, Seattle. The book is definitely not even close to Cosmos or The Dragons of Eden in a strict literary sense.It contains broken linkages to chapters and sometime overstated facts but on the brighter side,we get to see Carls's inner family life and his brave battle with Myelodysplasia. His literary powers may seem to be on a decline, but his passion and conviction to spread awareness for a cause in undiminished and far from satiation.I would still recommend this book for it contains final thoughts, efforts and emotions of Carl Sagan, a great thinker, explorer and astronomer. He definitely lives on! Billions and Billions, which was the last book of the one and only, Carl Sagan includes 19 different essays on subjects like history of the cosmos, science and mankind, danger of nuclear weapons, ozone layer disappearing, relationship between science and religions, abortion, and especially his personal fight with the disease that took his life away from yhis world.
I love the way he reasoned his arguments with simple explanation and eye-opening examples. His enthusiasm makes readers interest and Billions and Billions, which was the last book of the one and only, Carl Sagan includes 19 different essays on subjects like history of the cosmos, science and mankind, danger of nuclear weapons, ozone layer disappearing, relationship between science and religions, abortion, and especially his personal fight with the disease that took his life away from yhis world. I love the way he reasoned his arguments with simple explanation and eye-opening examples. His enthusiasm makes readers interest and follow what he tried to show with logics and facts. Carl Sagan is lost forever, but his legacies survive within many scientists and other professionals who were inspired by him. Thank you, Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan talks about dozens of varied subjects like space exploration, climate change, inequality, arms race, abortion rights etc, in such an empathetic and harmonizing voice that masks the bitterness these divisive debates have generated over the years and still does.
None of the thoughts and musings he share may sound new to someone reading it two decades later. He wrote this in a distant age when the internet and mobile phone technology were in their infancy, which later grew into proportio Carl Sagan talks about dozens of varied subjects like space exploration, climate change, inequality, arms race, abortion rights etc, in such an empathetic and harmonizing voice that masks the bitterness these divisive debates have generated over the years and still does. None of the thoughts and musings he share may sound new to someone reading it two decades later. He wrote this in a distant age when the internet and mobile phone technology were in their infancy, which later grew into proportions that even Sagan who thought in the scales of 'billions and billions' could hardly fathom then. Yet what he had to say is still as relevant. I first became enthralled by Sagan at age fourteen when I discovered my dad's copy of Cosmos. Eighteen years later, I finally decided to read this one.
I can't remember the last time, if ever, I've teared up at the end of a non-fiction book. The more I read of Sagan and his work, the more I'm humbled and impressed by not only his scope of technical knowledge of the Universe (I appreciate his use of capitalization) but his complete reverence for it.In this book, this reverence flows down to the I first became enthralled by Sagan at age fourteen when I discovered my dad's copy of Cosmos. Eighteen years later, I finally decided to read this one. I can't remember the last time, if ever, I've teared up at the end of a non-fiction book. Carl Sagan's final book, finished up shortly before his untimely death in 1997. Because of that some of the science presented in the book has been surpassed in the last 20 years.
But most of his conclusions, and fears, have continued along much the same paths as he discussed in the book, global warming, pollution and uncontrolled population growth.As with most books of this type I was totally engrossed by the hard science topics and less so by most of the 'soft science' discussion. Still, overa Carl Sagan's final book, finished up shortly before his untimely death in 1997. Because of that some of the science presented in the book has been surpassed in the last 20 years. But most of his conclusions, and fears, have continued along much the same paths as he discussed in the book, global warming, pollution and uncontrolled population growth.As with most books of this type I was totally engrossed by the hard science topics and less so by most of the 'soft science' discussion. Still, overall I enjoyed reading this and will defiantly read any other books by Dr Sagan that I come across.
(I have read several, but there are still a few that I have skipped.). Powerful book. Carl Sagan shows deep understanding and humility of and for the human race.
He speaks of philosophy, the climate change, abortion, life, death, nuclear war, and the as always the universe.Sagan was concerned for the human race and the ideas he presents are relevant today. I am sad that he did not live to see the success of the human race but simultaneously glad he did not see our failures. We should have headed his warnings.The one thing Carl Sagan did not see coming was the pow Powerful book. Carl Sagan shows deep understanding and humility of and for the human race. He speaks of philosophy, the climate change, abortion, life, death, nuclear war, and the as always the universe.Sagan was concerned for the human race and the ideas he presents are relevant today. I am sad that he did not live to see the success of the human race but simultaneously glad he did not see our failures. We should have headed his warnings.The one thing Carl Sagan did not see coming was the power and expansion of the internet.Carl Sagan was an amazing example of a simple human that had heroic qualities.
Sagan's final book reflects on the things that many of us consider when we know our lives are near their end. The text is both a heartwarming reminder of the eloquent prose that Sagan is capable of, as well as his capacity for addressing some of the most profound questions that humanity must ask itself as we continue to move into the future.
Billions and Billions ended up taking a longer period of time for me to read, due to a number of life events getting in the way, but I was able to pick it u Sagan's final book reflects on the things that many of us consider when we know our lives are near their end. The text is both a heartwarming reminder of the eloquent prose that Sagan is capable of, as well as his capacity for addressing some of the most profound questions that humanity must ask itself as we continue to move into the future.
Billions and Billions ended up taking a longer period of time for me to read, due to a number of life events getting in the way, but I was able to pick it up after a break and easily climb back into the narrative. I was very happy with the book overall and would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Sagan or wishes to explore his viewpoints on the topics covered in the book.The book covers a number of topics, and approaches fundamental questions about mortality, morality, and the human experience.
Sagan reflects on the awesome scale and possibilities of the universe around us in the first part of the book, probes the reasoning and justification behind a number of social questions in the second part of the book, and digs into some very sensitive subjects and provides profound advice for living a good life in the final part of the book. The text covers an amazing amount of ground, from investigating the justification and practice of abortion, to the question of whether intelligent life exists outside our own planet. Sagan is perhaps the only author that can handle such a variety and differing scale of questions without missing a beat.
Sagan's classic conversational style is present, and is refined at this point in his career. The book is an excellent demonstration of work that is approachable without sacrificing academic depth. His dictation is as calm and reasoned as it always has been; I like to imagine him reading the text in an armchair in front of a flickering fireplace, calmly explaining the universe to those of us who are prepared to listen.Sagan's personal story is entwined into the narrative, which both grounds the text in real experience and provides an emotional thread that left me with a lump in my throat and a sense of respect for his enduring perspective and the strength of his family as his life came to an end, near the end of the text.
The final chapter is written by his wife, as she reflects on his impact and life of work spent answering questions that have proved to be difficult to approach, even today. It speaks to the gravity of the topics discussed, that we still struggle with many of these in our modern society. Perhaps if we still had Sagan with us, he would be able to help us to further deconstruct these complex questions, but I suspect that him being forced to consider his mortality somehow allowed him to see some of these topics more clearly.The discussion is notably apolitical, something which is both refreshing and discouraging considering how our current politically charged social climate has only gotten more extreme with time. Sagan was interested in finding the truth of the matter, even with questions that many would gladly accept some more comforting narrative as opposed to a more sober, realistic understanding.Considering that Sagan's legacy can be measured by the effect on our modern culture, it is clear that he lives on through his thoughtful words and positions. His cutting observations will shape our dialog for years to come, as a man of his intellect and social statue deserves.We miss you Carl, thank you for all you have done for us. “The hard-liners on each side encourage one another.
They owe their credibility and their power to one another. They need one another. They are locked in a deadly embrace.”Dr. Carl Sagan wrote this in a piece dual-published by prominent magazines in the United States and the then Soviet Union. But it could just as easily describe the current toxicity of American politics, any given regional feud, or even big-box stores competing for sales on a day purportedly dedicated to thanksgiving. The abo “The hard-liners on each side encourage one another.
They owe their credibility and their power to one another. They need one another. They are locked in a deadly embrace.”Dr. Carl Sagan wrote this in a piece dual-published by prominent magazines in the United States and the then Soviet Union.
But it could just as easily describe the current toxicity of American politics, any given regional feud, or even big-box stores competing for sales on a day purportedly dedicated to thanksgiving. The above quote is just one of dozens I underlined, starred, or wrote notes next to in my now beloved copy of Billions and Billions.As with similar books I’ve read by Dr. Sagan, or other scientists like, this is more a collection than a single work. It is at once marvelous and troubling to see how relevant this book remains, published in 1997 in the wake of Carl’s death, and including material written during the final stages of the Cold War.
Trends come and go. Wisdom proves itself with a longer shelf life.For devotees of Sagan, this book is a must read. It includes highly personal reflections about the illness that was beginning to take his life. Especially in Part III, “Where Hearts and Minds Collide”, it contains some of his most impassioned and courageous statements. I admire the way he takes everyone to task, including scientists.Within the scientific discourse, transcending the facts and figures, can be found Sagan’s deep love for our species, and his abiding hope that we can grow up, can survive, and can improve. A great deal of the material is highly inspirational, but mingled with some healthy scolding of our favored institutions and ourselves. I maintain that the best place to begin an exploration of Carl Sagan’s work is through his TV series Cosmos.
Linda Salzman Sagan
However, Billions and Billions is not to be missed. It contains many treasures for the thoughtful reader.
A collection of essays written by Sagan just before he (spoiler alert) died. Some quotes:On the shrimp in a little glass ecosphere:'All I have to do is make sure that they're not in too much light or too long in the dark and that they're always at temperatures between 40 degrees and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. (Above that, I guess, they make a bisque and not an ecosystem.)'On the need for abortion to spare amother's life:'Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, opposed even this exception: 'If t A collection of essays written by Sagan just before he (spoiler alert) died.
Some quotes:On the shrimp in a little glass ecosphere:'All I have to do is make sure that they're not in too much light or too long in the dark and that they're always at temperatures between 40 degrees and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. (Above that, I guess, they make a bisque and not an ecosystem.)'On the need for abortion to spare amother's life:'Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, opposed even this exception: 'If they become tired or even die through bearing children, that does not matter. Let them die through fruitfulness-that is why they are there.' 'Neither St.
Augustine or St. Thomas Aquinas considered early-term abortion to be homicide (the latter on the grounds that the embryo doesn't look human). This view was embraced by the Church in the Council of Vienne in 1312, and has never been repudiated. The Catholic Church's first and long-standing collection of canon law (according to the leading historian of the Church's teaching on abortion, John Connery, S.J.) help that abortion was homicide only after the fetus was already 'formed'-roughly, the end of the first trimester.' But when sperm cells were examined in the seventeenth century by the first microscopes, they were thought to show a fully formed human being.
An old idea of the homunculus was resuscitated = sperm contains a full-formed human. In part through this misinterpretation of scientific data, in 1869 abortion at any time for any reason became grounds for excommunication. It is surprising to most Catholics and others to discover tat the date was not much earlier.'
I bought this book on a whim because I found a cheap, decent & used copy for a price I couldn't pass up. I've gotten more than my money's worth for this one. It's a great book & demonstrates how thoughtful Sagan was.
I remember Bill Nye growing up but definitely wished I had been exposed to Carl Sagan as well. It's his memoirs written a little before his death. His thoughts on important issues such as Global Warming (Climate Change), our history as a species, our growth as a species & I bought this book on a whim because I found a cheap, decent & used copy for a price I couldn't pass up. I've gotten more than my money's worth for this one. It's a great book & demonstrates how thoughtful Sagan was. I remember Bill Nye growing up but definitely wished I had been exposed to Carl Sagan as well.
It's his memoirs written a little before his death. His thoughts on important issues such as Global Warming (Climate Change), our history as a species, our growth as a species & where we should be headed are thought provoking. It also is a little sad to see how little progress we've made on certain issues, specifically Global Warming (Climate Change), especially with how simply he demonstrates what the problem behind it is. We as a species can not afford to be stubborn.
I'm glad I got this book & will likely dig into some of his other work as well. Because I've watched the 'Cosmos' series, it wasn't hard to imagine the written words in his voice.
Awesome book! Wish we had more careful, thoughtful people such as he.' Nature does not always conform to our predispositions & preferences, to what we deem comfortable & easy to understand.' - Carl Sagan, Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life & Death at the Brink of the Milliennium'The world is so exquisite, with so much love & moral depth, that there is no reason to decieve ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far batter, it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look Death in the eye & to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.'
Billions And Billions Carl Sagan Pdf Ebook
- Carl Sagan, Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life & Death at the Brink of the Milliennium. In 1934, scientist Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. After earning bachelor and master's degrees at Cornell, Sagan earned a double doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1960. He became professor of astronomy and space science and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, and co-founder of the Planetary Society.
A great popularizer of science, Sagan produced th In 1934, scientist Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. After earning bachelor and master's degrees at Cornell, Sagan earned a double doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1960.
He became professor of astronomy and space science and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, and co-founder of the Planetary Society. A great popularizer of science, Sagan produced the PBS series, ' Cosmos,' which was Emmy and Peabody award-winning, and was watched by 500 million people in 60 countries. A book of the same title came out in 1980, and was on The New York Times bestseller list for 7 weeks.
Sagan was author, co-author or editor of 20 books, including The Dragons of Eden (1977), which won a Pulitzer, Pale Blue Dot (1995) and The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark (1996), his hardest-hitting on religion. With his wife, he was co-producer of the popular motion picture, ' Contact,' which featured a feminist, atheist protagonist played by (1997). The film came out after Sagan's death, following a 2-year struggle with a bone marrow disease. Sagan played a leading role in NASA's Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo expeditions to other planets., in the epilogue to Sagan's last book, Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium (published posthumously in 1997), gives a moving account of Carl's last days: ' Contrary to the fantasies of the fundamentalists, there was no deathbed conversion, no last minute refuge taken in a comforting vision of a heaven or an afterlife.
For Carl, what mattered most was what was true, not merely what would make us feel better. Even at this moment when anyone would be forgiven for turning away from the reality of our situation, Carl was unflinching. As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, it was with a shared conviction that our wondrous life together was ending forever.' For his work, Dr.
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Sagan received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and (twice) for Distinguished Public Service, as well as the NASA Apollo Achievement Award. Asteroid 2709 Sagan is named after him.
He was also awarded the Astronautics Award of the American Astronautical Society, the Explorers Club 75th Anniversary Award, the Medal of the Soviet Cosmonauts Federation, and the Masursky Award of the American Astronomical Society, (' for his extraordinary contributions to the development of planetary scienceAs a scientist trained in both astronomy and biology, Dr. Sagan has made seminal contributions to the study of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, the history of the Earth, and exobiology. Many of the most productive planetary scientists working today are his present and former students and associates').He was also a recipient of the Public Welfare Medal, the highest award of the National Academy of Sciences.Dr. Sagan was elected Chairman of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union, and Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. For twelve years he was the editor-in-chief of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research. He was cofounder and President of the Planetary Society, a 100,000-member organization that is the largest space-interest group in the world; and Distinguished Visiting Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.In their posthumous award to Dr.
Sagan of their highest honor, the National Science Foundation declared that his ' research transformed planetary science his gifts to mankind were infinite.'