Cosmos (book)
| Cosmos | |
|---|---|
 (front cover) |
|
| Author | Carl Sagan |
| Cover artist | Adolf Schaller |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Popular science |
| Publisher | Random House, New York |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 365 |
| ISBN | 0-394-50294-9 |
| OCLC Number | 6280573 |
| Dewey Decimal | 520 |
| LC Classification | QB44.2 .S235 |
| Preceded by | Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science |
| Followed by | Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space |
Cosmos (1980) is a popular-science book by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan. Its 13 illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos TV series on which the book was based, explore the mutual development of science and civilization. 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 book's unprecedented success ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science-themed literature. The sequel to Cosmos is Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994).[1]
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Cosmos has 13 heavily illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos television series.[2] In the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization.[3] Cosmos traces the origins of knowledge and the scientific method, mixing science and philosophy, and speculates to the future of science.[4] Cornell News Service characterized the book as "an overview of how science and civilization grew up together."[5]
[edit] Critical reception
In The New York Times Book Review, novelist James Michener praised Cosmos as "a cleverly written, imaginatively illustrated summary of [Sagan's] geological, anthropological, biological, historical and astronomical ruminations about our universe... His style is iridescent, with lights flashing upon unexpected juxtapositions of thought."[6] David Whitehouse of the British Broadcasting Corporation proclaimed "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."[7] Kirkus Reviews described the book as "Sagan at his best."[8] In 1981, Cosmos received the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book.[9]
[edit] Legacy
Cosmos became the best-selling science book ever published in the English language.[10][11][12][13] It was only surpassed in the late 1980s by Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time.[14] Though spurred in part by the popularity of the television series, Cosmos became a best-seller by itself.[15] Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-seller's list,[5] where it became the first science book to sell more than half a million copies.[16] The book also spent 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.[17] Cosmos sold more than 900,000 copies while on the best sellers list and continued to sell well for years later,[18] selling around five million copies internationally.[19] Shortly after Cosmos was published, Sagan received a $2 million advance for the novel Contact.[20] This was the largest release given for an unwritten fiction book at the time.[16] The success of Cosmos made Sagan "wealthy as well as famous."[21] It also ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science books.[18] Science historian Bruce Lewnstein of Cornell University noted that among science books "Cosmos marked the moment that something different was clearly going on."[15]
Lewnstein also noted the power of the book as a recruitment tool. Along with Microbe Hunters and Double Helix, he described Cosmos as "books that people cite as 'Hey, the reason I'm a scientist is because I read that book'."[15] Particularly in astronomy and physics, he said, the book inspired many people to become scientists.[20]
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliographical information
- Sagan, Carl (2002). Cosmos. Random House. ISBN 978-0375508325.
[edit] References
- ^ "Pale Blue Dot". Powell's Books. http://www.powells.com/biblio?PID=27627&cgi=product&isbn=9780345376596. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Cosmos: Bibliographical Data". Book Depository. The Book Depository International Ltd. http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780349107035/Cosmos?b=-3&t=-26#Bibliographicdata-26. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Cosmos: Full Description". Book Depository. The Book Depository International Ltd. http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780349107035/Cosmos?b=-3&t=-20#Fulldescription-20. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Cosmos: About this Edition". Borders. Borders, Inc. http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0345331354. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b Brand, David; Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr (2001-02-19). "From somber Silent Spring to creative Cosmos, author's style can make difference in selling science, says Cornell researche". Cornell News (Cornell University). http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Feb01/Lewenstein.AAAS.je.deb.html. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Dicke, William (1996-12-21). "Carl Sagan, an Astronomer Who Excelled at Popularizing Science, Is Dead at 62". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1109.html. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Whitehouse, David (1999-10-15). "Sci/Tech Carl Sagan: A life in the cosmos". British Broadcasting Corporation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/475954.stm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Reviews". Kirkus Book Review. DC Public Library. 2010. http://catalog.dclibrary.org/vufind/Record/u330611/Reviews. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
- ^ "Cosmos". Goodreads. 2002-05-07. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55030.Cosmos. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Carl Sagan to lecture at Stanford April 23". Stanford News Service (Standford University). 2012-04-04. http://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/930412Arc3331.html. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ "Carl Sagan: Founder and First President of The Planetary Society". The Planetary Society. http://www.planetary.org/about/founders/carl_sagan.html. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- ^ Garreau, Joel (2003-07-21). "Science's Mything Links As the Boundaries of Reality Expand, Our Thinking Seems to Be Going Over the Edge". Washington Post (The Washington Post Company). http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/nsc110/Crystal/WashPost.html. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Meet Dr. Carl Sagan". The Science Channel. http://science.discovery.com/convergence/cosmos/bio/bio.html?clik=fsmain_feat3. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ Shermer p. 490
- ^ a b c Lewnstein, Bruce (2002-03-08). "How Science Books Drive Public Discussion". National Institute for Standards and Technology. http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/bestpractices/Lewenstein2.htm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b "Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding". National Science Foundation. 2004. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/c7/c7s1.htm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ Brand, David (1996-12-20). "Carl Sagan, Cornell astronomer, dies today (Dec. 20) in Seattle". Cornell News (Cornell University). http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec96/saganobit.ltb.html. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ a b Nord, David; Joan Shelley Rubin (2009). "Science Books Since 1945". A History of the Book in America: Volume 5: The Enduring Book: Print Culture. Michael Schudson. UNC Press. pp. 357. ISBN 9780807832851. http://books.google.com/books?id=1lLetiCmAIkC&pg=PT376&lpg=PT376&dq=#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ Ruprecht, Louis (1996). "Book Reviews". Journal of the American Academy of Religion (Oxford Journals) LXIV (2): 459–464. ISSN 1477-4585. http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/LXIV/2/459. Retrieved 2010-02-06.
- ^ a b Lewnstein, Bruce (2007-03). "Why should we care about science books?". Journal of Science Communication (International School for Advanced Studies) 6 (1). ISSN 1824–2049. http://www.weizmann.ac.il/library/find/ScienceBooks.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ Morrison, David (2007). Man for the Cosmos: Carl Sagan's Life and Legacy as Scientist, Teacher, and Skeptic. Skeptical Inquirer January/February, 31(1), pp. 29-38.
[edit] Further reading
- Shermer, Michael (August 2002). "This View of Science: Stephen Jay Gould as Historian of Science and Scientific Historian, Popular Scientist and Scientific Popularizer". Social Studies of Science (London: SAGE Publications) 32 (4): 489–525. ISSN 0306-3127. OCLC 2242476. http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/shermer_sjgould.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
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