Customer Reviews

Contact (Movie Tie-in) Cassette

5 star:		(217)
4 star:		(61)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Like most of his work, Sagan puts across the sciences and professions of astronomy and astrophysics across for the lay reader with great ability and an obvious feeling for his subject and his readers. I enjoyed the humanness of his characters, the realities of their work world, and the science in which they were involved. I read the book before watching the video and felt, as I usually do, that the book was better. One can always create more side plots and develop to a greater extent the individual characters in a volume of so many pages, which the reader can set aside at will and return to as needed. The director must stick to a central theme and be constantly mindful of budgetary constraints. I also thought the relationship of the heroine with her father was more intense and surprising in the book than in the movie.

The only science fiction novel by a prominent astronomer who was the late twentieth century's foremost popularizer of science was bound to be something special, and Carl Sagan's "Contact" certainly is. No other science fiction novel is quite like it in its thrilling realism; one can easily believe that a sequence of events similar to that in the book could begin taking place tomorrow. The book is filled with a plethora of wonderful plot twists, fascinating details of scientific fact and speculation, and unexpected bits of characterization that only Sagan could have thought to include. Sagan, who apparently considered himself a "spiritual agnostic," explored religious as well as scientific issues in this work, and the result is arguably heretical if seen from a traditional religious standpoint -- but not heretical in the specific way a reader might initially expect. Indeed, the story's climactic twist makes "Contact" into a twentieth-century equivalent of "Paradise Lost" -- a work which, while subtly heretical, is one of the most awe-inspiringly religious books ever written.

Jodie Foster's reading of "Contact" on this recording is absolutely superb. She differentiates between the voices of all the characters and her own voice as narrator -- even her voice for Ellie Arroway, the character she played in the movie of "Contact," is a subtly more energetic and characterful version of her normal voice. Foster also employs about seven different accents (counting her usual American accent) in the course of the recording, moving effortlessly from one to another when characters from several different countries have conversations. At one point, when Sagan's text describes a character as having an almost (but not quite) non-existent Russian accent, Foster even manages to produce exactly that! She also evokes all the varying moods of the story, conveying Sagan's sense of awe and wonder at the beauty and majesty of the universe. Foster's performance on this recording is probably the best reading of a book which I have ever heard.

I listened to this recording over several nights, and was in suspense from one night to the next, wondering what would happen next. This superb example of the intelligence and artistry of Carl Sagan and Jodie Foster is highly recommended. Six out of five stars.

Contact is grand, it is epic, and it is vast in it's hypotheses and plotline. However, it is also one of the most touching and personable books you will ever read.

I agree with others who have said that the twists and turns in the plot are fantastic. No doubt. But my favorite thing about this book is Ellie's character - her tenacity, her passion, and her undaunted *faith* while yet an athiest and a scientist. Sagan develops an array of interesting characters, with different backgrounds and belief systems, who respond to the first-contact experience in unique ways. As much as Contact is a story about first-contact with aliens, it is as much or even moreso a pondering about humanity, our strengths and weaknesses, and the delicate differences through which we strive to find common ground.

You should know that there are a few significant differences between the book and the movie (I did like the movie very much by the way, and felt Jodie Foster did a superb job as Ellie). The following are "minor spoilers". In other words, they are subtle hints at what you may have missed if you only saw the movie, but, I have not outright told you what is in the book either:

1) Palmer Joss's character looks quite different in the book, and has a different background, than the hot-bodied heart-throb portrayed in the movie by McConaughey (McConaughey did well with the part written for him, in my opinion).

2) Ellie and her dad's relationship is much more personal than the short snibets depicted in the movie.

3) Ellie is not the only person who meets the Caretakers (aliens) in the book version.

4) During the first contact with the alien ("her dad"), the conversation is much longer and more detailed. The alien shares paragraphs of information about the outside universe, what they have discovered, an intriguing discussion on pi and the secrets this number holds, and what they feel the future holds for other worlds in the galaxy. This was a significant difference from the movie, though I can see why Zemeckis needed to shorten some of it due to its extensiveness.

5) The book has a fantastic twist at the end which the movie did not include. It revolves around something Ellie learned about pi during her conversation with the alien. I was surprised the movie did not include it, as it was such a creative and masterful conclusion.

There are other differences but these were the most significant ones for me.

If you are on the lookout for books with a similar theme/feel, try Jack McDevitt's "The Engines of God" and "The Hercules Text", especially the latter.

And on a side note - Hey Nick, How about a SEQUEL?

I read this book shortly after I saw the movie, just after completing my sophomore year in high school. The book went much more in depth than the movie; something that usually makes books better than the movies that are based on them; which is true in this case.

If you can understand the complex math and science that is interwoven into the chapters (I didn't, but I read it anyway :) you'll probably enjoy it that much more. Otherwise I would have rated it five stars. A must for for the obsessive sci-fi reader (such as myself :).

I have seen the movie, read the book, and listened to the audio cassettes (in that order), and I am happy to admit that I am responsibly obssessed with this literary work by a brilliant man, Carl Sagan. Using the book's main characters as a mouthpiece for many of his personal views, Carl Sagan is successful in revealing that science and religion are NOT necessarily mutually exclusive. And Jodie Foster's performance as Ellie Arroway in the movie as well as the reader in the audio version is unsurpassed. The ending in the book made me weep big ole soppy tears, not because it is sad, but rather because it is so incredibly uplifting. If only there were such definitive proof of .... (well, I won't spoil it for you). Perhaps someday we will be ready to handle such evidence. In the meantime, wouldn't it be nice to actually make Contact? Perhaps then we could set aside our petty global differences and unite with a single purpose to join the cosmic family - if indeed "they" would let us in. Carl Sagan presents us with a glimpse of such a reality, although it is still perhaps just beyond our ability to convince ourselves that it could actually come true. Thank you Carl ... wherever you are.

For those who loved the movie, you should have read the book first- and then you'd have hated the movie. The movie's ending was anti-climactic, whereas the last page of the novel presents one of the most mind-boggling concepts I have ever encountered- a picture built into a number. And not just any picture! I found this to be a genuinely moving book- a distinct rarity in the science fiction world. And for the lost soul who rated the book a "1" because Carl is an "atheist"- you totally missed the point of the book! Like Einstein, Carl was an agnostic- but he was profoundly and deeply "religious," in his way, as the ending of the book makes so clear. Carl's reverence and concern for this planet and for its future generations should qualify him for sainthood, in any religion. As Carl said of Euclid's Geometry, this book is "a great read."

I saw the movie first. Having been a Sagan admirer since before adolescence, I knew there would be ideas of enormous complexity and scope presented in a language that was accessible to almost any reasonably intelligent person. It took less than a half hour of the movie for me to know without hesitation that it had been drastically dumbed down from a book I hadn't even read. I bought the book the next day and will never bother with another film adaptation of Sagan ever again (and will be hard pressed to justify seeing anything made by those who defiled Sagan in this movie).
There are three profound strengths to this book, and the movie only got close to approximating one of them:
1) The translation of elaborate concepts and hypotheses of physics and astronomy into lay terms. This is the only area where the film even made a notable attempt. But they still didn't even pretend at nailing it the way the book did.
2) The discourse between science and religion. Sagan explored this enduring quandry with a fairness, maturity and intellectual honesty that few authors (and probably no filmmakers) have ever achieved. He also explored the debates with a sense of drama and nuance, while the filmmakers focused more on the fact that the debates were occuring between pretty people with sexual chemistry/tension. Shame.
3) The Arroway character was one of the most complete and believable characters I have ever read and, to be frank, the first female lead character I have ever connected with in any way. She was strong and brilliant and confident and hungry while remaining distinctly female and even vulnerable at times. This could only have been achieved by an author with an innate shared passion and sympathy for his character's purpose - in this case science and the search for the answers to some of the ultimate questions about life. The movie made her a sanctimonious whiner. Most of the rest of the characters were tragically dumbed down too.
I recommend you read this book. Two or three times. And don't bother with the movie.

Contact is a *very* believable story of humans detecting and decoding the first signal recieved from aliens. I don't want to reveal much more than that for if you are to read this book, there are so many exciting moments of mystery and discovery that unfold throughout the story. This book is captivating from the first page to the very last sentence. I highly recommend it to all.

For those that have seen Contact the movie already, in my opinion, the book is much better, and that is saying a lot since I thought the movie was excellent. If you enjoyed the movie, the book will dive deeper and reveal so much more that the movie did not.

One note... Sagan spends a good deal of time setting up and knocking down anything to do with religion. This is nothing new for Sagan (see almost any of his other books). For some, this might feel like old hat and a bit slow compared to the rest of the book. But it just made me crave more and more to get to the parts about the message and the amazing events that unfold after it is decoded.

Contact
Carl Sagan

Congratulations,

You are about to embark on a journey through time and space, and get the opportunity to observe and evaluate the very thoughts of the author and ppreciate the author's scientific intuition. You will assimilate the moral, ethical, and philosophical issues that arise from the discovery of the "Message" and the building of the "Machine." Most importantly, you will discover that a relationship exists between scientific and philosophical disciplines, and enjoy some good old fashion story telling mixed in just for fun.

PRELIMINARY

To understand the book is to understand the man. Our distinguished author has many credits to his name. He was the Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University. He was part of the team responsible for the Viking, Mariner, and Voyager Expeditions. He received NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and for Distinguished Public Service. He was past chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences and the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Four hundred of his scientific and popular articles have been published. Additionally, he was the author and co-author of several other books including : "Intelligent Life in the Universe," "The Cosmic Connection," "The Dragons of Eden," "Murmurs of Earth," "Broca's Brain," "Comet," his most famous - "Cosmos," "A Path Where No Man Thought," an expose' of the nuclear winter scenario, and his last - "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in literature in 1978; he was also a champion of both human and Earth rights. But for all his brilliance, intuitiveness, and achievement, Carl Sagan recognized his own mortality and insignificance in the Universe.

Contact. Only Carl Sagan could devise this simple, one word name for his first fiction novel; the title so eloquently and completely describes the central plot of his story - contact with an advanced galactic civilization and, perhaps, more - the identity of which is: to be announced!

Given his credentials, it is not surprising to me that Carl Sagan chose the subject of extraterrestrial contact for his first fiction novel; it so perfectly reflects his own interests: Cosmology, SETI, and CETI activities; SETI and CETI, incidently, refer to 'Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence' and 'Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence' respectively. His novel names real places, among them: the Arecibo facility in Puerto Rico and the Argus Array in Socorro, New Mexico. He conducted SETI activities at both these facilities. Indeed, his first fiction novel is a reflection of his own fantasies and ambitions of locating alien intelligence. With his collaborator and colleague, Ann Druyan, he achieved excellent results with "Contact."

STORY SYNOPSIS

In the late 1980's, an intelligent radio source (a message)is received from the vicinity of the Vega star system in the constellation of Lyra. The signal contained many levels of information encoded by various modulation methods and astronomers found: a re-broadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, a set of prime numbers, and finally, elaborate instructions to build a machine. It's the "Machine." Extraterrestrials are telling us they know we're here. Several years were needed to decode the instructions and build the Machine. During this time, great political, philosophical, religious, and scientific debates took place to determine the purpose, implications, and ramifications of the now controversial Machine. The Machine is eventually determined to be a vehicle by which five Earth travelers would be able to journey to Vega and be greeted by the Message senders. The Machine, do decahedron in shape, is completed and, on New Year's Eve - 1999, it is activated with 5 selected travelers on board. Within a matter of minutes, the travelers visit several spectacularly beautiful star systems before finally reaching their destination and meeting the Message senders, the "Caretakers."

The travelers find that the Caretakers are a conglomeration of cultures that have been around for half a billion years. After determining that the expanding Universe will eventually spread itself too thin to allow for the formation of new stars and galaxies, the Caretakers decided they would harness and corral extraneous matter using the gravity effects of black holes and other devices, and cause a sufficient concentration of the matter to insure the continued rebirth of new stars and galaxies. At times, they "closed off" sections of the Universe until needed.

Does Dr. Sagan have an imagination, or doesn't he?! The Caretakers are certainly the ultimate ecologists. Like a galactic version of Johnny Appleseed, they have taken the task of re-planting the Universe! The Caretakers' true appearance is never revealed because they appear to each of the Earth travelers as the travelers' loved ones. Dr. Ellie Arroway, our heroine and main character, talks with her dead "father" and learns that the Caretakers have an "emerging civilization division" that makes contact with cultures such as Earth, and invites them for a visit and tour. The Caretakers have watched many civilizations come and go but believe the Earth has hope for survival.

Dr. Arroway's assigned host, her "father," talks with her about the possibility of a hidden message buried deep with the value of "Pi," perhaps 10 to the 20th power digits beyond the decimal point. Dr. Arroway ponders the idea. But visit time is almost up! The Caretakers escort the travelers back to their craft and, without proof of their visit, send them home. Ellie later investigates the properties of Pi and makes a gargantuan discovery!

A WORD ABOUT STORY ACCURACY

Above all, Carl Sagan is a scientist. Based on what I know about him from his previous works, he apparently assumes nothing and questions everything. He is a stickler for detail. He retains that child-like wonder and imagination of the world around him - and of the Universe in which we reside. Accordingly, he left little to chance while weaving his story.
A transmission emanates from the Vega star system. Vega is about the right age, the right size, and the right spectral range to spawn a planetary system conducive to supporting an advanced civilization. It is also 26 light years away. The transmission, received about 1988, contained an encoded re-broadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The period between 1936 and 1988 is 52 years; a round-trip radio transmission from Earth to Vega and back would take 52 years. Dr. Sagan later weaves the speed of light limit into his story when the Earth travelers are accused of perpetrating a hoax by government officials. The travelers are informed that the Message stopped at the moment the Machine was activated. With their limited minds, the government officials "know" that it should take 26 years for news of Machine activation to reach Vega. They refuse to believe that the Vegans could have broken the speed of light barrier. Dr. Sagan shrewdly used his "writer's license" with respect to the speed of light issue. As Isaac Asimov put it in his book The Roving Mind: "What do science fiction writers do?......better writers know of the speed of light limit and get around it by assuming that in the future, new technologies will be available. They talk about moving through 'hyperspace,' or through 'subspace'; they make use of a 'subetheric drive' or a 'space warp'.

But let's get back on track. Our distinguished author's work is more accurately described as a science and philosophy text book with a story woven in to connect these things. I estimate that 65 percent of the book would remain if the story were removed. Among the multitude of scientific notions "Contact" explores are the descriptions of various radio transmission modulation methods and the properties of exponential growth. Through his Ellie Arroway character, Dr. Sagan points out that one cubic centimeter of water (about one thimble full) contains 3 x 10 to the 19th power molecules whereas the entire Universe contains 1 x 10 to the 80th power elementary particles. A numerical difference of only 61 (in terms of powers of ten) is the difference between a few drops of water and all the matter in the entire Universe! In addition, the reader learns about worm holes, black holes, the birth and death of stars, bright infrared and x-ray emission sources, precession of the Earth's axis, Keppler's three laws, and much more. Speaking of Johannes Keppler, Dr. Sagan - the little devil - cleverly and surreptitiously slipped Keppler's proposed model of the solar system into his story. Dr. Sagan's Machine took the form of a do decahedron enclosed by three concentric rotating, mutually perpendicular hemispheres he calls benzels. In his paper entitled Mysterium Cosmographicum, published in 1596, Keppler borrows the Greek Mathematicians' discovery of the five - and only five - regular solids. A regular solid is one in which all sides are the same. In Keppler's model, the five solids are nestled one-in-the-other, separated by concentric spheres. One of these regular solids is a do decahedron, formed of twelve pentagons. Is the similarity between Keppler's model and Dr. Sagan's Machine a coincidence? I don't think so. Dr. Sagan is not only brilliant, he's sneaky. "Contact" may someday be used as a textbook.

Speaking of textbooks, consider the following riddle. What does one get when one combines the fundamental parts of the book "Cosmos" with a fictional story? Answer: "Contact." As I previously mentioned, "Contact" IS Dr. Sagan's way of telling us his dreams. Consider the following examples:
Contact: p.77 - Ellie imagines the Message as the "Encyclopedia Galactica" when it is first received.
Cosmos: pp.291-315 - An entire chapter is entitled "Encyclopedia Galactica." This chapter is a speculative accounting of how another civilization might communicate with us.
Contact: p.100 - Ellie explains to the President that the transmission from Vega has messages over messages in different levels of modulation - what she calls a "palimpsest." Cosmos: p.314 - "But the most likely case is that interstellar communication will be a kind of palimpsest, like the palimpsests of the ancient writers short of papyrus or stone who superimposed their messages on top of preexisting messages."
These are but a few of the many parallels that exist between "Contact" and "Cosmos." Is there any doubt that Dr. Sagan is telling us his greatest ambition - his greatest dream?

SCIENTIFIC INSIGHTS EXPLORED

Scientific insight is an understatement in "Contact." Dr. Sagan wasted no time with the development of his Ellie Arroway main character and our heroine. As a champion of civil and human rights, he naturally gave us a female astronomer and a female President. He meticulously describes Ellie's hard struggle to overcome harsh prejudices and resistance to her achieving her goal of becoming a radio astronomer and scientist in this male dominated profession. He also took great care to give her a perpetually inquisitive mind that questioned everything. She is a master of "Why?" From child through adulthood, she wondered about everything from the way vacuum tubes worked to - the Bible's compatibility with science to - the physical makeup of the Universe. Her curiosity parallels Albert Einstein's comment that a passion for comprehension is a necessary component of the scientific mind.

Dr. Sagan's Ellie character also follows in the best traditions
of women devoted to space exploration: Henrietta Leavitt, the Harvard astronomer who devised a stellar distance measuring method in 1912; Jocelyn Bell, the Cambridge astronomer who discovered what we now call "pulsars" in 1967; Linda Morabito, the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) engineer who discovered active volcanos on Jupiter's moon, Io in 1988; and, most poignantly, astronauts Judy Resnik and Christa McAullife who gave their lives in the pursuit of space exploration.

Through his various characters and situations, Dr. Sagan also poses the questions of technical civilizations being self limiting through self destruction; the probable numbers of other cultures in the Universe based on favorable conditions; are we too dumb for other civilizations to bother with; are we really fundamentally happier with the benefits of science - each of these concerns shared by Isaac Asimov, among others. A religious leader in the book offers these criticisms of scientists: scientists keep findings to themselves; only share information in bits and pieces; over-estimate what they know, under-estimate what people know; taught us how to annihilate ourselves. This same religious leader attempts to identify God as the source of the Message. He incredibly points out that Vega was the "North Star" about ten thousand B.C. when the Earth's axis was at the other side of its precession cycle (precession is a wobble in the Earth's rotation axis). This era marks the emergence of civilization and the concept of gods. It is Divine Providence that the guiding star then is the origin of this message now, he claims. Does Dr. Sagan dig into the depths of detail, or doesn't he?

Dr. Sagan, again through his Ellie character, does not allow the Bible to escape scrutiny. Ellie, in conference with not one but two prominent religious leaders, chairs a great marathon debate that scrutinizes biblical accuracy. Pro Bible arguments from the religious leaders focus mainly on claims of fulfilled Bible prophesies: "The coming of the savior is foretold in Isaiah fifty-three, in Zechariah fourteen, in First Chronicles seventeen. That He would be born in Bethlehem was prophesied in Micah five. That He would come from the line of David was foretold in Matthew one.....the Ministry and Suffering of Jesus are foretold in Isaiah fifty-two and fifty-three, and the Twenty-second Psalm. That He would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver is explicit in Zechariah eleven....and the Bible speaks of our own time. Israel and the Arabs, Gog and Magog, America and Russia, nuclear war - it's all there in the Bible." Undaunted, Ellie waits for the right moment to return fire. Among her first salvo of rebuttals: The prophecies are often abstract and vague, ambiguous and imprecise - open to a wide range of interpretations.....even straightforward prophecies don't seem to jibe - like Jesus' promise that the Kingdom of God would come within the lifetime of some people in his audience.....passages that seem fulfilled are highlighted and the rest are ignored.

She continues by asking why God's communication with us in contemporary times isn't made perfectly clear. Why doesn't the Bible contain information that no mortal person would have known at the time - such as the Sun is a star....or Mars is a rusty place with deserts and volcanos....or a body in motion tends to remain in motion....or nothing travels faster than the speed of light? Why is there no mention of such things like "Two strands entwined is the secret of life"....or why hasn't He put a giant crucifix in orbit around Earth....or place the Ten Commandments across the face of the moon? Why no more burning bushes or pillars of fire or a thundering voice from the sky saying "I am that I am?" Why does He remain so cryptic - why doesn't He rattle our cages each generation or so? The marathon philosophical debate ends with all participants adjourning, satisfied with their respective offerings but not swayed by the others' positions.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Strikingly, "Contact" contains a table of contents not unlike that of an omnibus text book. "Contact" takes us on a tour that introduces us to the unique properties of Pi .. scientific investigation and hypothesis .. contributions of Greek science and mathematics .. our solar system .. the known properties of the Universe .. black holes .. do decahedrons .. exponential powers .. the Milky Way .. stars' life-cycles .. the Renaissance astronomers .. probability of extraterrestrial intelligence .. probability of our survival .. our insignificance .. our propensity toward greed and corruption .. our pollution problems .. our place in the Universe .. and much more. Science, religion, politics, psychology, philosophy, and their relationships to each other - it's all there - in "Contact."

Dr. Sagan's message to his readers is multi-faceted. He tells us who we are, where we've been, what were doing, and where we're going. He tells us we need to make the right decisions now if we are to have a desirable future; he tells to be scientists, to have an open mind; he counsels us to control our arrogance; he demonstrates the distinct possibility of life elsewhere in the Cosmos; but most significantly, he tells us WHO HE IS. Although Dr. Sagan is no longer with us, I feel his message is still very much alive.

But for all his brilliance, scientific knowledge and intuitiveness, skepticism, and resourcefulness, Dr. Sagan still held the door open to the idea that there may be a . . . Hey - read the book!

"Contact" isn't for everybody . . . but . . . it should be.

SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I first enjoyed reading this book when it was first published. I recently read it again to enhance my appreciation of it because I was able to convert my increased knowledge of the sciences from my schooling into a greater understanding of Dr. Sagan's "Message."

Dr. Sagan issued a disclaimer at the end of his book, telling the reader that no character in the book is a close portrait of a real person. I don't think this is entirely true. I can't help believe that there isn't at least a smidgeon of similarity between the persona of the Ellie Arroway character and that of Dr. Sagan or, perhaps, his colleague and collaborator, Ann Druyan.

Enjoy!

No, I don't know the movie. But the movie cannot be much better than the book. This is Science Fiction at its best: demonstrating the impact of technology and research on our societies. Astronomer Ellie is participating in the search for extraterrestial intelligence and discovers a message sent to earth from the stars. The decoding of the message reveals the plans for building a machine of unknown purpose. And after the construction is finished, Ellie finds herself as part of a crew going boldly to unknown worlds where nobody has gone before (sorry about the comparison).

Of course, the entire project encounters several difficulties: Ellie's education as an astronomer (hey, she's a girl), some problems getting the research grants, diplomatic difficulties (the book was written in the early 1980s - before Glasnost and Perestroika), religious fundamentalism, political issues, the power of big industrial companies etc. One might argue that Sagan drags the story's flow a bit when he describes the problems decoding the message and building the machine, but he probably knows far too well that scientific progress is slow, tedious, and not always a straight path.

I am amazed that none of my fellow reviewers complained about the scientific content. Here Sagan is the good old educator again, fighting for popularizing science: Several technical details are described and explained; and the funny thing is, of course, that most of the stuff is at least scientifically possible. (If you are more interested how it works, try Jim Al-Khalili's "Black Holes, Wormholes, and Time Machines". I have also a review on that...)

Sagan's book has a strong emphasis on the relation between religion and science which still seems to be of particular importance in the United States. The novel suggests (especially the ending) that science and religion are not opposites but complement each other and that there are signs of the divine (the numinous, as Ellie calls it) in science as well as scientific moments in religion.

Read the book.