The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective 2nd Edition

by Carl Sagan (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0521783033

ISBN-10: 0521783038

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In 1973, Carl Sagan published The Cosmic Connection, a daring view of the universe, which rapidly became a classic work of popular science and inspired a generation of scientists and enthusiasts. This seminal work is reproduced here for a whole new generation to enjoy. In Sagan's typically lucid and lyrical style, he discusses many topics from astrophysics and solar system science, to colonization, terraforming and the search for extraterrestrials. Sagan conveys his own excitement and wonder, and relates the revelations of astronomy to the most profound human problems and concerns: issues that are just as valid today as they were thirty years ago. New to this edition are Freeman Dyson's comments on Sagan's vision and the importance of the work, Ann Druyan's assessment of Sagan's cultural significance as a champion of science, and David Morrison's discussion of the advances made since 1973 and what became of Sagan's predictions. Who knows what wonders this third millennium will reveal, but one thing is certain: Carl Sagan played a unique role in preparing us for them.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Carl Sagan is a scientist of quality, who is also a writer of quality. [With] great intelligence, wit, and insight, The Cosmic Connection is a success on every level." Washington Post

"Sagan's gift for clear and stylish explanation is a delight." New Scientist

"A perfect opener for readers new to Sagan's work....this informative text illuminates how our perspective on earth's place in the universe has evolved in the last half-century. Sagan's witty text is still a standard for stargazers as well as a reflection of how far society has to go." Publishers Weekly

Book Description

A classic book by the world's most famous scientist and science visionary, back in print with a new perspective.

Publisher : Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (October 23, 2000)
Language : English
Hardcover : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 0521783038
ISBN-13 : 978-0521783033
Item Weight : 1.41 pounds
Dimensions : 6.2 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,561,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #559 in Marine Biology (Books)
- #788 in Astronomy & Astrophysics
- #1,635 in Cosmology (Books)

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John M.

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Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2020

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INFORMATIONAL SATISFIED

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Laurie L.

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STILL A STIMULATING CONSIDERATION OF MANY QUESTIONS

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2020

[NOTE: page numbers below refer to a 274-page paperback edition.)

Carl Sagan (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, author, cosmologist, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. His 1980 TV series ‘Cosmos: A Personal Journey’ made him a household name, although he had previously written such popular books as ‘The Dragons of Eden.”

He wrote in the Preface to this 1973 book, “This book is divided into three major sections. In the first part I try … to convey a sense of cosmic perspective---living out our lives on a tiny hunk of rick and metal circling one of 250 billion stars that make up our galaxy in a universe of billions of galaxies…. The second part … is concerned with various aspects of our Solar System---mostly with Earth, Mars, and Venus. Some of the results and implications of Mariner 9 can be found here. Part Three is devoted to the possibility of communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence on planets of other stars… this section is necessarily speculative … within what I perceive to be the bounds of scientific plausibility… The astronomical discoveries we are in the midst of making are of the broadest human significance. If this book plays a small role in broadening public consideration of these exploratory ventures, it will have served its purpose.” (Pg. viii-ix)

In the first chapter, he explains, “intelligence requires information of an adaptive quality developed during the lifetime of a single individual. A variety of organisms on the Earth today have this quality we call intelligence: the dolphins have it, and so do the great apes. But it is most evident in the organism called Man. In Man, not only is adaptive information acquired in the lifetime of a single individual, but it is passed on extra-genetically through learning, through books, through education. It is this, more than anything else, that has raised Man to his present pre-eminent status on the planet Earth.” (Pg. 5)

He suggests, “If we survive these perilous times, it is clear that even an identification with all of mankind is not the ultimate desirable identification. If we have a profound respect for other human beings as co-equal recipients of this precious patrimony of 4.5 billion years of evolution, why should the identification not apply also to all the other organisms on Earth, which are equally the product of 4.5 billion years of evolution? We care for only a small fraction of the organisms on Earth---dogs, cats, and cows, for example---because they are useful or because they flatter us. But spiders and salamanders, salmon and sunflowers are equally our brothers and sisters.” (Pg. 7) He continues, “There may be a time… when contact will be made with another intelligence on a planet of some far-distant star, beings with billions of years of quite independent evolution… It is important that we extend our identification horizons, not just down to the simplest and most humble forms of life on our own planet, but also up to the exotic and advanced forms of life that may inhabit, with us, our vast galaxy of stars.” (Pg. 8)

He recounts his experiences with the Pioneer 10 space probe: “Placing a message aboard Pioneer 10 is very much like a shipwrecked sailor casting a bottled message into the ocean… When my attention was drawn to the possibility of placing a message in a space-age bottle, I contacted the Pioneed 10 project office and NASA headquarters to see if there were any likelihood of implementing this suggestion. To my surprise and delight, the idea met with approval at all steps up the NASA hierarchy… I discussed privately various possible messages with my colleague Frank Drake… In a few hours we decided tentatively on the contents of the message. The human figures were added by my artist wife, Linda Salzman Sagan… the message ... is etched on a … gold-anodized aluminum plate… this message should remain intact for hundreds of millions of years… The message itself intends to communicate the locale, epoch, and something of the nature of the builders of the spacecraft. It is written in the only language we share with the recipients: Science… Extraterrestrial beings, which are the product of 4.5 billion years or more of independent biological evolution, may not at all resemble humans… The human beings are the most mysterious part of the message.” (Pg. 17-20)

He continues, “The man’s right hand is raised in what I once read in an anthropology book is a ‘universal’ sign of good will… at least the greeting displays our opposable thumbs… Several women correspondents complain that the woman appears too passive… The principle feminine criticism is that the woman is drawn incomplete---that is, without any hint of external genitalia.” (Pg. 23-24) He adds, “The woman was given epicanthian folds and … a partial Asian appearance. The man is given a broad nose, thick lips and a short ‘Afro’ haircut. Caucasian features were also present in both. We had hoped to represent at least three of the major races of mankind.” (Pg. 26-27)

He observes, “The assumption that life elsewhere has to be, in some major sense, like life here is a conceit I will call chauvinism… The virtue of thinking about life elsewhere is that it forces us to stretch our imaginations. Can we think of alternative solutions to biological problems already solved in one particular way on Earth?... The evolution of life on Earth is a product of random events, chance mutations, and individually unlikely steps… Were we to start the Earth over again and let only random factors operate, I believe that we would wind up with nothing at all resembling human beings. This being the case, how much less likely it is that organisms … in a quite different environment of another planet… would closely resemble human beings.” (Pg. 43) He continues, “Oxygen chauvinism is common. If a planet has no oxygen, it is alleged to be uninhabitable. This view ignores the fact that life arose on Earth in the absence of oxygen.” (Pg. 44)

He acknowledges, “it is not surprising that hard questions are being asked about expenditures in space, when there are visible and urgent needs for funds to correct injustices and improve society and the quality of life on Earth. These questions are entirely appropriate. If scientists cannot give to the man in the street a satisfactory explanation of expenditures in the exploration of space, it is not obvious that public funds should be allocated for such ventures.” (Pg. 53) Later, he adds, “much of the space program and almost all of its space science and applications programs are in the long run not … parochial in perspective. Indeed, they share a community of philosophical, exploratory, and human interest with many segments of American society…The cost of space exploration seems very modest compared with its potential returns.” (Pg. 65) He concludes, “A human infant begins to achieve maturity by the experimental discovery that he is not the whole of the universe. The same is true of societies engaged in the exploration of their surroundings. The perspective carried by space exploration may hasten the maturation of mankind---a maturation that cannot come too soon.” (Pg. 69)

He cautions, “Our motivations for planetary re-engineering must be clear. This is not a solution to the overpopulation problem. Several hundred thousand people are born every day on Earth. There is certainly no prospect in the immediate future of trans-shipping hundreds of thousands of people to other planets each day… The freightage would be prohibitive.” (Pg. 150-151)

He admits, “I was one of the scientists opposed to an early Apollo mission. But once the Apollo technology was in hand, I was very much for its continuing usage. I believe the wrong decision was made twice---once in opting for early manned missions to the Moon, and later in abandoning such missions. After Apollo 17, the United States is left with no program, manned or unmanned, for exploration of the Moon.” (Pg. 158) He adds, “A manned expedition to Mars would be very desirable, except for two objections. First, the cost would be crushing. One hundred billion to two hundred billion dollars is probably a conservative estimate. I cannot bring myself to believe that such an expenditure is necessary in the next few decades---when there is so much misery on Earth that could be relieved by such expenditures. Yet in the longer term, say, in the first decades of the twenty-first century, I do not think that such cost objections will be cogent---particularly because new propulsion and life-support systems will be developed.” (Pg. 160)

He asks, “It is not a question of whether we are emotionally prepared in the long run to confront a message from the stars. It is whether we can develop a sense that beings with quite different evolutionary histories … who may look far different from us… may, nevertheless, be worthy of … brotherhood and trust… The most likely contact with extraterrestrial intelligence is with a society far more advanced than we. But we will not … be in the position of… colonial barbarity practiced on us by a technologically more advanced civilization---because of the great spaces between the stars and what I believe is the neutrality or benignness of any civilization that has survived long enough for us to make contact with it.” (Pg. 179-180)

He says of UFOs, “My own view is that there are no cases that are simultaneously very reliable… and very exotic (not explicable in terms of reasonably postulated phenomena---as a strange moving light could be a searchlight from a weather airplane or a military aerial refueling operation). There are no reliably reported cases of strange machines landing and taking off, for example.” (Pg. 199-200)

He observes, “A number of popular books have recently been written that allege to demonstrate such [an alien] visitation… I broached this subject in the book ‘Intelligent Life in the Universe, written with the Soviet astrophysicist I.S. Shklovskii… I examined a typical legend suggestive of contact between our ancestors and an apparent representative of a superior society… But as provocative as this and similar legends were, I concluded that it was impossible to DEMONSTRATE extraterrestrial contact from such legends: There are plausible alternative explanations… There is only one category of legend that would be convincing: When information is contained in the legend that could not possibly have been generated by the civilization that created the legend---if, for example, a number transmitted from thousands of years ago as holy turns out to be the nuclear fine structure constant… To the best of my knowledge, there are no such legends and no such artifacts. All the ancient artifacts put forward, for example, by Erik von Danniken in his book ‘Chariots of the Gods?’ have a variety of plausible, alternative explanations.” (Pg. 204-205)

He laments, “There is at least a fair probability that there are many civilizations beaming signals our way. We have the technology to detect these signals out to immense distances---to the other side of the galaxy. Except for a few back-burner efforts in the United States and the Soviet Union, we… are not carrying out the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Such an enterprise is … sufficiently respectable that there would be little difficulty in staffing a radio observatory designed for this purpose with devoted… scientists. The only obstacle appears to be money.” (Pg. 212-213)

He concludes, “Something like the processes that on Earth led to man must have happened billions of other times in the history of our Galaxy. There must be other starfolk. The evolutionary details would not be the same, of course… there must be, I think, many places in the galaxy where there are beings far more advanced than we in science and technology, in politics, ethics, poetry, and music.” (Pg. 257-258)

This book (though nearly fifty years old) will be “must reading” for anyone studying space exploration, extraterrestrial life, and related issues.

Helpful

Paul Camp

In Favor of the Great Leap

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2009

In the May, 1955 issue of _Fantasy & Science Fiction_, Anthony Boucher gave brief attention to the latest cluster of flying saucer books and concluded: "Personally, I'll confess, I collect the damned things and wouldn't miss a word of any of them" (74). Boucher professed to be an agnostic about saucers, neither a True Believer nor a Doubter.

As for myself, I must allign myself with the skeptics. I can find no convincing evidence that we are being visited by aliens in saucers today. Nor can I find any compelling evidence that we were visited in the past by ancient astronauts. Carl Sagan also takes a skeptical position in chapter 28 of _The Cosmic Connection_ (1973), though his reasons are not precisely the same as my own.

Sagan does argue, however, that there _might_ be extraterrestrial life and that we should actively seek it. There is a discussion of _Pioneer 10_ and its message, which Sagan admits was something like a bottle thrown into the ocean by a shipwrecked sailor. There is a chapter on radio telescope programs like S.E.T.I. There is a chapter on dolphins and John Lilly. Sagan is somewhat critical of some of Lilly's work, but he believes that an understanding of dolphins may prepare us for contact with extraterrestrials. What about the possible dangers of contact? Sagan addresses those in chapter 30.

There are several chapters on our changing picture of Venus and Mars as new information comes in. To be sure, some of the observations are now out of date. In regard to Soviet space probes, Sagan says: "The time will come, in not too many years, I think, when we will have our first photographs of the surface of Venus" (90). Venus has now been fairly thoroughly photographed and mapped. But the Venus and Mars chapters still provide good basic information about the modern-day knowledge of those planets.

There are amusing chapters on human chauvinism, teaching a class of first graders, and Sagan's scrapes with Military Intelligence. There are speculative chapters on the night freight to the stars and astroengineering. There are several chapters that give convincing arguments for continuing space exploration. All in all, an excellent book. My one quibble is that there is no bibliography.

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Young Animal

The ethnography of the stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2013

This is a masterpiece of scientific lore. A visionary and authentic tale of what the universe is made of and how it may have been formed. Paints an amazing picture of the birth and death of stars, and of the high probability that intelligent life exists and most definitely thrives on numerous planets of distant stars and galaxies. The probability itself is incredible. To me, there was never a doubt of the existence of life elsewhere, but after reading this and seeing the numbers and thinking of the possibilities, I would not be surprised if tomorrow we were visited by another space faring race.In universal terms, I am very optimistic about the future. In earthly terms, what the hell are we doing?

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Craig Wood

Infectious enthusiasm

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2004

Carl Sagan's "The Cosmic Connection" is an enjoyable and easy-to-read survey of science and astronomy, circa 1973. Sagan's passion for his subjects comes through loud and clear in the essays that comprise this book. Reading this book is a little like watching "Cosmos" -- you're struck by the breadth of Sagan's knowledge and charmed by his imagination and wide-eyed enthusiasm for his topics. Sagan has a flair for making science accessible to the masses. He explores topics such as planetary exploration, the origins of life, and, of course, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Readers who liked "A Brief History of Time" will probably enjoy "The Cosmic Connection." The epilogue, which provides a year 2000 update for many of the chapters, is a valuable addition to this classic book.

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Mrs S

Great 😊

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2018

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Fast delivery and good quality

Ian Duffy

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2013

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Although it was written in the 70's, this book is still informative and a pleasure to read. Written with the clear and interesting style that characterizes all of Carl Sagan's books, this one is definitely worth adding to the collection.

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H P

Superb..

Reviewed in India on September 16, 2018

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A masterpiece by Dr Carl Sagan, no body can explain Cosmology better than him. A great read , fascinating and interesting all throughout. 40years later most of its contents still holds true. Simply awesome , a must read before you begin to read any other work authored by Dr. Sagan this lays the basic foundation on the astronomical and cosmological perspective for all his later works.

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