Cosmos (Sagan book)

{{Infobox book

| name = Cosmos

| image = Cosmos book.gif

| caption = Cover of the first edition

| author = Carl Sagan

| illustrator =

| cover_artist = Adolf Schaller

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| series =

| subject = Cosmology

| publisher = Random House

Hachette UK (1995 Ed.)

| release_date = 1980

| english_release_date =

| media_type = Print (Hardcover, Paperback)

| pages = 365 (first edition)
413 (1995 edition)
396 (2013 edition)

| isbn = 0-394-50294-9

| isbn_note = (first edition)
978-0-3491-0703-5 (1995 edition)
978-0-375-50832-5 (2002 edition)
978-0-345-53943-4 (2013 edition)

| dewey = 520

| congress = QB44.2 .S235

| oclc = 6280573

| preceded_by = Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

| followed_by = Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

| pub_date = 1980

}}

Cosmos is a popular science book written by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan. It was published in 1980 as a companion piece to the PBS mini-series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage with which it was co-developed and intended to complement. Each of the book's 13 illustrated chapters corresponds to one of the 13 episodes of the television series. Just a few of the ideas explored in Cosmos include the history and mutual development of science and civilization, the nature of the Universe, human and robotic space exploration, the inner workings of the cell and the DNA that controls it, and the dangers and future implications of nuclear war. One of Sagan's main purposes for both the book and the television series was to explain complex scientific ideas in a way that anyone interested in learning can understand. Sagan also believed the television was one of the greatest teaching tools ever invented, so he wished to capitalize on his chance to educate the world.Golden, Frederic, Peter Stoler, and Calif. 1980. "The Cosmic Explainer He-e-e-re's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the universe." Time 116, no. 16: 62. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 10, 2013). Spurred in part by the popularity of the TV series, Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-sellers list and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list to become the best-selling science book ever published at the time. In 1981, it received the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. The unprecedented success of Cosmos ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science-themed literature. The success of the book also served to jumpstart Sagan's literary career. The sequel to Cosmos is Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994).{{cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=27627&cgi=product&isbn=9780345376596|title=Pale Blue Dot|work=Powell's Books|access-date=3 January 2010}}

In 2013, a new edition of Cosmos was published, with a foreword by Ann Druyan and an essay by Neil deGrasse Tyson.{{cite book |author1=Sagan, Carl |author2=Druyan, Ann |author3=Tyson, Neil deGrasse |title=Cosmos |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-345-53943-4 }}

Summary

Cosmos has 13 chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos television series. In the original edition, each chapter is heavily illustrated.{{cite web|url=http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780349107035/Cosmos?b=-3&t=-26#Bibliographicdata-26|title=Cosmos: Bibliographical Data|work=Book Depository|publisher=The Book Depository International Ltd|access-date=3 January 2010}} The book covers a broad range of topics, comprising Sagan's reflections on anthropological, cosmological, biological, historical, and astronomical matters from antiquity to contemporary times. Sagan reiterates his position on extraterrestrial life—that the magnitude of the universe permits the existence of thousands of alien civilizations, but no credible evidence exists to demonstrate that such life has ever visited earth.{{cite news|last=Michener|first=James|title=Ten Million Civilizations Nearby|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/25/books/ten-million-civilizations-nearby.html?pagewanted=1|access-date=21 May 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=25 January 1981}} Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization.{{cite web|url=http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780349107035/Cosmos?b=-3&t=-20#Fulldescription-20|title=Cosmos: Full Description|work=Book Depository|publisher=The Book Depository International Ltd|access-date=3 January 2010}} He traces the origins of knowledge and the scientific method, mixing science and philosophy, and speculates about the future of science.{{cite web|url=http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0345331354|title=Cosmos: About this Edition|work=Borders|publisher=Borders, Inc|access-date=3 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324224327/http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0345331354|archive-date=24 March 2010|url-status=dead}} He also discusses the underlying premises of science by providing biographical anecdotes about many prominent scientists, placing their contributions in the broader context of the development of modern science.{{cite journal|last=Lessel|first=Thomas|title=Science and the Sacred Cosmos: The Ideological Rhetoric of Carl Sagan.|journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech|date=May 1985|volume=71|issue=2|pages=175–187|doi=10.1080/00335638509383727}}

The book, like the television series, contains a number of Cold War undertones including subtle references to self-destruction and the futility of the arms race.{{cite journal|last=Tyson|first=Neil deGrasse|title=Another round of Cosmos|journal=Columbia Journalism Review|date=January–February 2013|volume=51|issue=5|pages=30–33}}

Popularity

Shortly after release, Cosmos became the best-selling science book ever published in the English language,{{cite news|url=http://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/930412Arc3331.html|title=Carl Sagan to lecture at Stanford April 23|date=2012-04-04|work=Stanford News Service|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=7 January 2010|archive-date=2015-04-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408205229/http://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/930412Arc3331.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html|title=Carl Sagan: Founder and First President of The Planetary Society|work=The Planetary Society|access-date=7 January 2010|archive-date=1 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501145648/http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/nsc110/Crystal/WashPost.html|title=Science's Mything Links As the Boundaries of Reality Expand, Our Thinking Seems to Be Going Over the Edge|last=Garreau|first=Joel|date=2003-07-21|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=3 January 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://science.discovery.com/convergence/cosmos/bio/bio.html?clik=fsmain_feat3 |title=Meet Dr. Carl Sagan |publisher=The Science Channel |access-date=2010-01-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070518042909/http://science.discovery.com/convergence/cosmos/bio/bio.html?clik=fsmain_feat3 |archive-date=2007-05-18 }} and was the first science book to sell more than half a million copies. Though spurred in part by the popularity of the television series, Cosmos became a best-seller by its own regard, reaching hundreds of thousands of readers. It was only surpassed in the late 1980s by Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (1988).Shermer p. 490 Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-seller's list,{{cite news|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Feb01/Lewenstein.AAAS.je.deb.html|title=From somber Silent Spring to creative Cosmos, author's style can make difference in selling science, says Cornell researche|last1=Brand|first1=David |first2=Blaine P.k Jr.|last2=Friedlander|date=2001-02-19|work=Cornell News|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=3 January 2010}} and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.{{cite news|url=http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec96/saganobit.ltb.html|title=Carl Sagan, Cornell astronomer, dies today (Dec. 20) in Seattle|last=Brand|first=David|date=1996-12-20|work=Cornell News|publisher=Cornell University|access-date=3 January 2010}} Cosmos sold over 900,000 copies while on these lists,{{cite book|last=Nord |first=David|author2=Joan Shelley Rubin|others=Michael Schudson|title=A History of the Book in America: Volume 5: The Enduring Book: Print Culture|publisher=UNC Press|date=2009|page=357|chapter=Science Books Since 1945|isbn=978-0-8078-3285-1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lLetiCmAIkC&pg=PT376}} and continued popularity has allowed Cosmos to sell about five million copies internationally.{{cite journal|last=Ruprecht|first=Louis|date=1996|title=Book Reviews|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|publisher=Oxford Journals|volume=LXIV|issue=2|pages=459–464|issn=1477-4585|url=http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/LXIV/2/459|access-date=2010-02-06|doi=10.1093/jaarel/lxiv.2.459|url-access=subscription}} Shortly after Cosmos was published, Sagan received a $2 million advance for the novel Contact. This was the largest release given for an unwritten fiction book at the time.{{cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/c7/c7s1.htm|title=Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding|date=2004|work=National Science Foundation|access-date=3 January 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114020153/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/c7/c7s1.htm|archive-date=14 January 2011}} The success of Cosmos made Sagan "wealthy as well as famous."{{cite web|last1=Morrison|first1=David|title=Man for the Cosmos: Carl Sagan's Life and Legacy as Scientist, Teacher, and Skeptic|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagans_life_and_legacy_as_scientist_teacher_and_skeptic|publisher=Skeptical Inquirer|access-date=July 11, 2015|date=January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201115954/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/carl_sagans_life_and_legacy_as_scientist_teacher_and_skeptic|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=dead}} It also ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science books, opening up new options and readership for the previously fledgling genre. Science historian Bruce Lewenstein of Cornell University noted that among science books "Cosmos marked the moment that something different was clearly going on."

After the success of Cosmos, Sagan turned into an early scientific celebrity. He appeared on many television programs, wrote a regular column for Parade, and worked to continually advance the popularity of the science genre.{{cite journal|last=Lawler|first=Peter|title=Aliens, the Cosmos, and the Foundations of Political Life.|journal=Perspectives on Political Science|date=Summer 1999|volume=28|issue=3|page=131|doi=10.1080/10457099909602354}}

Lewenstein also noted the power of the book as a recruitment tool. Along with Microbe Hunters and The Double Helix, he described Cosmos as one of the "books that people cite as 'Hey, the reason I'm a scientist is because I read that book'."{{cite web|url=https://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/bestpractices/Lewenstein2.htm|title=How Science Books Drive Public Discussion|last=Lewenstein|first=Bruce|date=2002-03-08|publisher=National Institute for Standards and Technology|access-date=3 January 2010|archive-date=2011-06-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629071715/http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/bestpractices/Lewenstein2.htm|url-status=dead}} Particularly in astronomy and physics, he said, the book inspired many people to become scientists.{{cite journal|last=Lewenstein|first=Bruce|date=March 2007|title=Why should we care about science books?|journal=Journal of Science Communication|publisher=International School for Advanced Studies|volume=6|issue=1|pages=C03|issn=1824-2049|doi=10.22323/2.06010303|doi-access=free}} Sagan has also been called the "most successful popularizing scientist of our time," for his ability to draw such a large and varied audience.{{cite journal|last=Lawler|first=Peter Augustine|title=Aliens in the cosmos or, the curious affair of Carl Sagan and E.T.|journal=American Enterprise|date=September–October 1998|volume=9|issue=5|pages=47–49}}

The popularity of Sagan's Cosmos has been referenced in arguments supporting increased space exploration spending.Extensions of Remarks – Friday, November 18, 1983, 129 Cong. Rec. E5773 (1983). Sagan's book was also referenced in Congress by Arthur C. Clarke in a speech promoting an end to Cold War anti-ICBM spending, instead arguing that the anti-ICBM budget would be better spent on Mars exploration.Senate – Wednesday, October 10, 1984, 130 Cong. Rec. 31165 (1984)

Critical reception

Reception for Sagan's work was generally positive. In The New York Times Book Review, novelist James Michener praised Cosmos as "a cleverly written, imaginatively illustrated summary of [Sagan's]... ruminations about our universe... His style is iridescent, with lights flashing upon unexpected juxtapositions of thought."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1109.html|title=Carl Sagan, an Astronomer Who Excelled at Popularizing Science, Is Dead at 62|last=Dicke|first=William|date=1996-12-21|work=New York Times|access-date=3 January 2010}} The American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson described "Cosmos" as something "more than Carl Sagan".Why Carl Sagan is Truly Irreplaceable https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-carl-sagan-truly-irreplaceable-180949818/ David Whitehouse of the British Broadcasting Corporation went so far as to say that "there is not a book on astronomy – in fact not one on science – that comes close to the eloquence and intellectual sweep of Cosmos... If we send just one book to grace the libraries of distant worlds..., let it be Cosmos."{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/475954.stm|title=Sci/Tech Carl Sagan: A life in the cosmos |last=Whitehouse|first=David|date=1999-10-15|work=British Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=3 January 2010}} Kirkus Reviews described the book as "Sagan at his best."{{cite web|url=http://catalog.dclibrary.org/vufind/Record/u330611/Reviews|title=Reviews|date=2010|work=Kirkus Book Review|publisher=DC Public Library|access-date=6 February 2010}}{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Cornell News Service characterized it as "an overview of how science and civilization grew up together." In 1981, Cosmos received the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book.{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55030.Cosmos|title=Cosmos|date=2002-05-07|work=Goodreads|access-date=3 January 2010}}

The U.S. Library of Congress designated Cosmos one of eighty-eight books "that shaped America."{{cite book |author1=Druyan, Ann |author2=Sagan, Carl |author3=Tyson, Neil deGrasse |title=Cosmos |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |year=2013 |page=xix |isbn=978-0-345-53943-4 }}

Cosmos (Sagan book)

Summary

Popularity

Critical reception

See also

References

Further reading