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Sep 30, 2008

Ben rated it:

I recently came across several references to this book while reading the superb God Delusion. I was intrigued, and since it had been quite a while since I read Cosmos, I decided to give Carl Sagan another go.
Besides his beautiful evocative descriptions of moons and worlds in our own Solar system, Sagan gave us a surplus of inspirational and cautionary passages in this work which--even as an adult--make you want to grow up to be an astronaut.

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Nov 07, 2007

Chris rated it:

I was impressed by how much I enjoyed this one. I've not read any Sagan before, so I didn't know what to expect, but he's one of those brilliant scientists who understands how to clearly explain things to laypeople. His story (I use the term though it reads more like a collection of journal entries or brief reports) covers wide-ranging topics about the implications and necessity of space travel, posing questions frequently, answering them occasionally, and leading inexorably to a single conclu More...

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Apr 12, 2011

Kurt rated it:

Pale Blue Dot refers to the Earth as photographed from the Voyager craft at a point beyond the orbit of Neptune. Of course at that distance, the Earth is barely discernible - a very small, unremarkable, pale blue dot among a myriad of billions of of other unremarkable points of light. Yet all our history, civilization, and culture that we have ever known has occurred on that dot.

Even though our ingrained geo-centric and ethno-centric biases cause us to become deflated and even depre More...

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Aug 21, 2007

Joshua rated it:

WOW....WOW....WOW. Carl Sagan, what a champ. Fiction from scientists/astrologists may be a bummer (see Contact), but Carl drops the BOMB in this work. Truly ahead of his time and a great american. A great intro into science/astrology and really helped me understand a lot about all the planets and their make-up. Once we kill earth (pretty soon), perhaps we aren't TOTALLY fucked, their are other options out there if we get with it...but hey, we killed earth so why listen to Sagan. I drive an More...

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Sep 05, 2011

Nicolas rated it:

I don't think I have come across any other science writer who can equal Carl Sagan's reverent awe for the wonders of nature, and mankind's humble place in the universe. This book does not disappoint. My first exposure to it was in fact a sort of poem version of large chunks of the first chapter, read by Sagan, that I encountered in a YouTube video. It's a beautiful poem, and several parts of the book evoke that message. I think this derives from Sagan's respect for religious belief even as he ha More...

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Nov 21, 2011

Rob rated it:

In this late work, the visionary Carl Sagan holds forth on the present (as of 1994) and future of space exploration. In the first several chapters, the soft-spoken skeptic puts us in our place, literally. The book begins with some of the most profound and lyrical prose from any science writer, ever. Here is part of his reflections on a photo beamed back from Voyager 1, out past Pluto, in which the Earth is seen as a minuscule, baby-blue point:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's

More...

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Feb 10, 2011

Joe rated it:

This is the first book I've read by Sagan, and I'm eagerly anticipating the next one I get the chance to read. Unlike a fair share of scientific writing, the points the author is making are never obscured by the technical terms. Sagan bolsters his claims with a stunning command of evidence and knowledge of the planetary bodies, but I never felt like I was being talked down to. The introduction and conclusion both do an impeccable job at examining the idea of humility and the harms a earth-centri More...

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Oct 12, 2010

David rated it:

Carl Sagan has a wonderful ability to share his passion for science and the natural world. He's an excellent writer, and does a very good job of making astronomy accessible without dumbing it down.

Reading this took me back to my childhood and the wonder I felt when I thought about the natural world (universe) and how incredible it is. It also reminded me that science can be fun, regardless of how dull most schooling makes it. A wonderful book, and I would highly recommend it to EVERYO More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Jon rated it:

This book is simply incredible. While some of the statistics and "current events" may be outdated as it is now, its core argument is perhaps even more salient and relevant than it has ever been.

This book will make you want to explore our universe more than you ever have before, and it will make you more than slightly furious at a lot of the political decisions surrounding NASA in the nearly two decades since this book was published.

If he were still alive today, More...

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Aug 10, 2010

Joshua rated it:

The first part of this book really bugged me. Sagan explains how ridiculous it is for humans to believe that we have a purpose. That is just part of egocentric human nature trying to put itself at the center of the universe. I mean, people once thought the sun rotated around the earth. That wasn't true, so it logically follows that there is no designer to the universe.

I don't care that he holds his beliefs, I just do not see what spending so much time on them had to do with our More...

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Dec 22, 2011

Kelley rated it:

This is an amazing history of humanity's space exploration, but it is also speculative about the future of our space programs.

Some highlights:
-speculating how we might colonize asteroids
-description of the moral dilemma concerning technology that could protect the Earth from wayward space objects
-Sagan's ideas about where and how the space programs should expand in order to save money (also, group project ideas)
-similar to the above, his detailed description of the More...

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Sep 23, 2011

yasser rated it:

this is my first experience to hear an audio-book .. the way "Carl Sagan" read it is just beautiful. his voice is so Unique.

although the book has high rate , but i think it doesn't worth one star for many reasons:

1-the book has many Atheistic ideas supported by theories of the origin of life "Cosmology".
couple chapters discuss the religious ideas of the beginning of life and compare it with the scientific discoveries. it's so offensive to the one's b More...

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Dec 18, 2008

Jefke rated it:

Als gelovige mensen horen dat ik atheïst geworden ben, dan zeggen ze tegen mij dat het enorm arrogant is om als mens te denken dat wij alles kunnen begrijpen en dus zeker kunnen zijn dat er geen God bestaat. Deze uitspraak is zowel een stroman argument (een aanval op een bewering die niet gemaakt werd... ik, en de meeste atheïsten met mij, heb nooit beweerd dat we alles kunnen begrijpen.) als een non sequitur (het ene volgt niet uit het andere, het is niet omdat we niet alles kunnen begrijpen da More...

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May 31, 2011

Adam rated it:

Audio book where Sagan actually reads this is awesome and recommend but as I read in other reviews, the illustrations are sure to be instructive. Sagan balances science, art, storytelling, politics, and exposition. He makes a clear and convincing argument for humans' continued exploration of space and other planets. At the same time he shows the immeasurable wonders of the cosmos as only Sagan can. The book is quickly becoming dated with some of the more recent expeditions to Mars and such but n More...

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Aug 19, 2011

Curtis rated it:

I had never read a Carl Sagan book before this. The covers have always turned me off. But it appears I have been missing out on some great non-fiction because "Pale Blue Dot" is a fascinating book. Sagan is obviously brilliant, but his writing is laid down in such a way that anyone can understand what he is getting at. In this book he confronts the history and motives of human space travel and goes back and forth with his own intellect as he weighs the opportunities and road blocks More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Asma rated it:

قرأت النسخة المترجمة للعربية*
كارل ساجان يصنف كفيلسوف اكثر من كونه عالم فضائي عمل لدى ناسا اعجز كثيراً عن وصف طريقته واسلوبه في هذا الكتاب لكن بامكاني ان اقول عنه انه ليس كتاب علمي بحت بالعكس هو كتاب عن الحياة وفهمنا لها احببت سفينة الفضاء فويجير الأولى والثانية حيث اتضح لي هي المسؤولة عن فهم كواكب منظومتنا الشمسية
ابولو ورحلة الإنسان الى القمر والغرض منها والحرب الباردة في الفضاء بين الولايات المتحدة والأتحاد السوفيتي سابقاً

*كارل ساجان ملحد وهذا سوف يتضح للقاريء من خلال ق More...

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Dec 15, 2010

Vania rated it:

"...and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

Carl Sagan's thoughts on space exploration's history and future, and a reflection on the reasons to move out into the stars. I was surprised--mostly in a good way--by Sagan's hard-nosed realism about things like the 60s space race and it's political rather than scientific goals. His public mythology is as a dreamer/mystic for astronomy, so it was refreshing to see him dismantle the romanticism of the 60s space race, as well as some common arguments for why we should explore space, like the " More...

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Aug 24, 2011

Paperclippe rated it:

Everyone should read this book. Their children should read it. Their children's children should read it.

Pale Blue Dot is a little bit of everything: a look to the future and the science that will take us there, and to other planets, solar systems, and galaxies. It's a commentary on society and its myriad problems, a chastising finger to politics and destruction and ignorance and hate. But most of all, it's hope. Hope that the human race will allow itself to thrive long enough on More...

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Feb 20, 2010

Jan rated it:

I am truly thankful for the "Pale Blue Dot". It changed my life. Sagan was one of the few scientists who managed to bridge the gap separating philosophy and science in order to create a synthesis, and while some parts appear clearly utopian to the reader, they struck me, even impressed me. The fotograph he succeeded in making, accompanied by the text he provided, are haunting both, they make us aware of our own responsibility, our place, our very being. His book also demonstrates very More...

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Jan 01, 2012

David rated it:

I picked this book up back in 1996 when it was first released in paperback, I got it back then because it was full of pictures of stars and the planets (sadly it seems that all of the recent reprints only have the text and which leaves out half of the story). I spent many hours looking at the photos, but it wasn't until now that I actually got around to reading it, I'm glad I waited, I'm not sure how much I would have appreciated it 15 years ago. The books spends time talking about (1)astronom More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Pants rated it:

I’m not sure where to begin, so I’ll just share a few of my favorite passages:

Why should we want to think the Universe was made for us? Why is the idea so appealing? Why do we nurture it? Is our self-esteem so precarious that nothing short of a universe custom-made for us will do? (Page 43)

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! Th

More...

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Dec 14, 2009

Rodrigo Cesáreo rated it:

Is the first non-fiction thats persuades me to read it.... that, and the fact i read from the very beggining, to the last dot, already tell a lot.
I really can't add much to what the description says.... i could talk you about how wonderfull it seems to me Carl Sagan thoughs, but im afraid i would talk a lot..... If you ever seen the documentary series Cosmos, you already know what i'm talking about.
Starting with where do we come from, to where could we go, Sagan really makes us fell More...

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Jan 18, 2010

Max rated it:

For the general part of this brief review, I should say that I think that this book was way ahead of its time. Some people will object to this, call it just another pop-sci book, and move on, decrying the science in it for already being out of date, a mere 15 years after publication. "Obsolescence," however, "is a fate devoutly to be wished," reminds Stephen Jay Gould. So what if some of this science is old hat? The vast, and I mean that, vast, majority of Sagan's predictions More...

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Feb 09, 2008

Chris rated it:

I miss Carl Sagan. I really do.

There are no shortage of brilliant scientists out there, imaginative and innovative people who are dedicated to the advancement of science and the betterment of the human race.

The difference between Sagan and the rest of them is that he was able to make it beautiful. When he talked, you could feel his excitement, his joy at knowing that there was a wonderful universe out there, waiting for us to discover it. In his most famous work, Cosmos, More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Ted rated it:

PALE BLUE DOT: A VISION OF THE HUMAN FUTURE IN SPACE, by Carl Sagan, is a book worth reading.

I highly recommend the first five chapters, 5/5 stars, for their philosophical message, for their arguments on human perspective in the Universe, insights into our past, present, and future. The perspective that an astronomer can bring to human arrogance is refreshing.

The latter chapters of the book begin to fade in philosophical relevance, and begin to recite alternately scien More...

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Aug 31, 2010

Eduardo rated it:

I wish I had him teaching in my elementary and high school, that'd be just amazing. The first chapters are just incredible. He made me think the universe is much, much bigger than I tought. Ten thousand years just for the Voyager to leave our Solar System? are you kidding? that's really hard to grasp. Really hard to think God would - after this damn hard job creating the Universe - be worried about our little problems here in this speck of dust. It's like watching soap opera after a hard day of More...

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Feb 11, 2009

Charlie rated it:

Carl Sagan at the top of his game. In addition to being a poetic, soulful discussion of the history and future of space exploration, this may be the finest collection of astronomy-related photography I've encountered. Sagan being perhaps the most capable and well-known science advocate of his time, it is not surprising that the book doubles as a forcefully persuasive argument for the expansion of said exploration. The most obvious reason is to alleviate the threat posed by asteroid collision, More...

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Mar 17, 2011

António rated it:

Carl Sagan's writing is well known for being clear, crisp and very educational in what concerns the teachings of the cosmos. But hearing him in the audiobook version is simply stunning. His poetic tone and Shatner-like cadence transform his words into an hypnotic view of the Universe that you can't help but immerse yourself and imagine being floating in some solar system planet's orbit. While this book may present itself as being pessimistic about humans' exploration of space, it is still essent More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Seabirdicat rated it:

I love Carl Sagan! I half read this and half listened to the audiobook. The parts of the audiobook that are ready by him are so captivating. He is amazing. He can make a complex subject so easy to understand or at least to grasp. I hope to read many more of his books. He introduced a lot of concepts that I hadn't thought of before and always gave a lot of attention to the ethical repercussions of new technological advances. Simply love this person.

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