Sagan was a visionary ahead of his time. He understood the beauty of the universe through the laws of physics and how everything converged because of them. And how human beings are part of this vast scenario, perhaps the only ones for whom the cosmos exists? He continues with this idea in Contact, although it's a work of fiction, specifically science fiction. This is science fiction of a different kind, without laser beams, flying saucers, or little green men. A more thoughtful kind of sci-fi, i...

Review tomorrow 😬Well, tomorrow came and went a couple of days ago, and with family visiting, I never got a chance to jot down my thoughts.I own the DVD of this story, and I know I've seen it at least once, because while reading "Contact" by Carl Sagan, I kept picturing Jodie Foster as Dr. Arroway.Visual snippets aside, this is a fantastic "First Contact" novel, and I must say, it always leaves me feeling optimistic about the future of humankind. It might not turn out as positively as it could...

This book is all about Vegans...

Just not the kind you're thinking about!

(3.5) *Contact* by Carl Sagan offers an interesting first contact with aliens, but the writing style is rather dry. If you're looking for hard sci-fi or a thought-provoking alien encounter story, this might be for you. Just be prepared for a bit of a slog through the technical details. For more science fiction book reviews, check out my other posts!

Contact! Contact? Not quite...Long story short: "Contact" by Carl Sagan is probably a brilliant book, but I just couldn't connect with it, couldn't latch onto the characters. Disappointed, I've decided to give Sagan another shot with his nonfiction work instead.My issue with "Contact" was similar to my experience with 2001: A Space Odyssey, but even more pronounced. I'm sure Sagan's ideas about extraterrestrial life are way more informed than what you find in other sci-fi, where the tech and cos...

As far as I know, *Contact* is Carl Sagan's only novel. This almost makes him the Harper Lee of sci-fi (though he did write boatloads of sci-fact books). Not being much of a nonfiction reader, this is my first encounter with Carl Sagan's writing, and I already feel like it's a shame that he only wrote the one novel; though I am sure the world is more than compensated by his other output. *Contact* piqued my interest immediately with a vivid portrayal of Ellie Arroway, a two-year-old genius, fig...

A smart story crafted by a real space science guru WE CAN'T BE ALONE The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.When I read Carl Sagan's "Contact" back in 1997, it was just a couple of months before the film adaptation came out. (And I’m really glad I snagged the movie on Blu-ray a few months ago in 2014!)This is a truly great novel written by one of the most respected scientists in the field of space science, Carl Sagan.Readers who enjoy techno...

I really hate it when I lose reviews. Okay, take two. I was just thinking about how my younger self totally trashed this book (or at least, validly pointed out the plot holes and some of the simpler story bits). Back then, I was trying to compare this SF classic to other SF classics I was reading, and it came up short because I wanted more psychedelic singularity stuff and aliens, not just a long, optimistic mashup of science, religion, politics, and philosophy. But now, after wading through a...

I was genuinely shocked when I saw the movie adaptation of Carl Sagan's *Contact*, discovering they'd twisted the core message a full 180 degrees. In *Contact*, the heroine, Ellie, encounters aliens and learns they possess irrefutable proof of a Higher Power's role in creating the Universe. Upon returning to Earth, she initially lacks the means to immediately validate her account. However, she's been given a crucial clue, guiding her toward the objective evidence she successfully uncovers. She a...

Carl Sagan was a brilliant champion of reason and clear thinking. Unfortunately, his venture into fiction with 'Contact' did little to enhance the understanding of his philosophies, and instead muddied the waters of what was once clear thought. Inspired by Asimov and Heinlein, he seemed to think fiction was as good a place as any to explore his ideas on science, belief, and wonder. While we expect detailed explanations from non-fiction, fiction readers want more than just a lecture. They expect...

"Your god is too small."The protagonist makes this comment about two-thirds of the way through **Contact** by Carl Sagan. She's trying to convey that if your god can't encompass the knowledge humans have painstakingly gathered over millennia (which is just a couple of teaspoons compared to the universe's enormity!), then there's something fundamentally wrong with the god you've created.It seems to me that a major part of what Sagan explores in **Contact** is the attempt to express the wonder tha...