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Pale Blue Dot

A Vision of the Human Future in Space

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About this listen

"FASCINATING . . . MEMORABLE . . . REVEALING . . . PERHAPS THE BEST OF CARL SAGAN''S BOOKS." --The Washington Post Book World (front page review)

In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time.

Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier--space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race.

"TAKES READERS FAR BEYOND Cosmos . . . Sagan sees humanity''s future in the stars." --Chicago Tribune

Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.

©1994 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Astronomy Astronomy & Space Astronomy & Space Science Cosmology Physics Science Science & Technology Inspiring
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Is there anything you would change about this book?

Ann Druyan should not have narrated this. Although enthusiastic, it was a chore listening to her despite the wonderful content.

What did you like best about this story?

Carl Sagan's masterful piecing together of fact and wonder.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Not really. The first few chapters read by Carl Sagan were perfect but the takeover was painful.

Any additional comments?

Read Cosmos and stop there. This book needs to be re-recorded by another reader.

First Time Read and Disappointed

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It must first be said, there is a distinct and woeful absence of Carl Sagan in the narration of this book. Whilst the details indicate that it is jointly narrated by both Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, Carl only narrates four short chapters at the very beginning of the book and after that the remaining 85% is narrated by Ann. Not that I can be critical of Ann Druyan who conducts the narration with a great deal of grace, though she is no substitute for the great Carl Sagan. Though if you have ever heard Carl Sagan speaking you realise that he speaks with a great deal of awe and even reverence about science and this is something that comes across with Ann. That being said, she would not be my first and most obvious choice as a narrator for this book. Her voice occasionally sounds tired, though she is always clear in what she says so I cannot raise much fault. I was disappointed that there was so little of Carl to this book.

The book itself mostly focuses upon the science of astrophysics and the attempts to discover more and understand more about the universe that surrounds us. If you have read Cosmos by Sagan you will find that many sections are repeated here, though the book is a quite glorious introduction and study of space about us and the issues we face in trying to understand it. The book makes numerous points about the lack of funding for space exploration, which when costed properly is only a small fraction of what is paid in defence budgets.

If you have an interest in science and astrophysics you will enjoy this book greatly, especially in later chapters as it hypothesises about how humanity will take to exploring the solar system and access the resources it has to offer.

Wonderful, but just not enough Carl

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Carl Sagan is a terrific communicator and this book had everything I wanted from it in terms of his vision albeit it is a little out of date the broad sweeps of what he discusses and the things that already indisputable are covered wonderfully. The main issue with the book which although I listened to it in it's entirety is the fact that out of the 23 chapters 20 of them I are read by a woman whose voice is like Marge Simpson constantly gasping for air and a glass of water. Yes I understand that she was the long-term life partner of Carl Sagan and is to be respected entirely in her own regard, bur the point is that I buy book on Audible to listen for its enjoyment in the way that it is read as much as it's content and anyone who finds her voice enjoyable must be marked down as some sort of sadomasochist.

Outstanding book terrible reading...

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Brilliant topic but somewhat outdated. Would love to read same book written in the last few years.

Outdated

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There is no getting away from the fact that the book is dated, but an optimistic view of humanity’s future is still needed and welcome in this day and age. You probably won’t learn anything new here and the author rehashes stuff he covered in earlier books. Still it’s a moving book and it saddens me that Carl Sagan never got to see results of later space missions.

A few audio glitches in the surviving audio done by the author himself, but Ann Druyan does a good job narrating the rest of the book.

Dated

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