Billions and Billions#"Billions and billions"
{{Short description|1997 book by Carl Sagan}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Billions and Billions
| image = Billions and Billions.jpg
| caption = Cover of the first edition
| author = Carl Sagan
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| series =
| subject = Science
| publisher = Random House
| release_date = 1997
| media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
| pages = 322 pp.
| isbn = 0-679-41160-7
| oclc = 39234941
| preceded_by = The Demon-Haunted World
| followed_by = The Varieties of Scientific Experience
}}
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium is a 1997 book by the American astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan. The last book written by Sagan before his death in 1996,{{cite book |author=Sagan, Carl |title=Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium |publisher=Random House |year=1997 |isbn=0-679-41160-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/billionsbillions00saga }} it was published by Random House.
Overview
The book is a collection of essays Sagan wrote covering diverse topics such as global warming, the population explosion, extraterrestrial life, morality, and the abortion debate. The last chapter is an account of his struggle with myelodysplasia, the disease which finally took his life in December 1996. Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, wrote the epilogue of the book after his death.
"Billions and billions"
To help viewers of Cosmos distinguish between "millions" and "billions", Sagan stressed the "b". The public's association of Sagan with the phrase "billions and billions" came from a Tonight Show skit. Parodying Sagan's affect, Johnny Carson quipped "billions and billions".[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagan_takes_questions Carl Sagan takes questions more from his 'Wonder and Skepticism' CSICOP 1994 keynote, Skeptical Inquirer] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221054208/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagan_takes_questions |date=December 21, 2016 }} The phrase has, however, now become a humorous fictitious unit—the sagan. Aside from using the catchphrase as the title of the book, Sagan's introduction also discusses it.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060621152711/http://humanistsofutah.org/2001/artmar2001.html A review] of the book
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIbbTHQmPkE Video of skit] from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson mentioning "billions and billions"
{{Carl Sagan}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1997 non-fiction books
Category:American non-fiction books
Category:Books published posthumously
Category:English-language non-fiction books