Carl Sagan was Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Comell University. He played a leading role in the Mariner, Viking and Voyager expeditions to the planets, for which he received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and for Distinguished Public Service, and the international astronautics prize, the Prix Galabert. He served as Chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union. For twelve years, he was Editor-in-Chief of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research. In addition to 400 published scientific and popular articles, Dr. Sagan was the author, co-author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Intelligent Life in the Universe, The Cosmic Connection, The Dragons of Eden, Murmurs of Earth and Broca's Brain. In 1975, he received the Joseph Priestley Award "for distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind," and in 1978 the Pulitzer Prize for literature. He died in 2000.

One of the best books (if not the best one) on the Universe I ever read. It tells about the history of the Cosmos understanding, about planets, stars, space between them and Space travels - past and future. (A.K.)

Contents
Introduction
The shores of the cosmic ocean
One voice in the cosmic fugue
The harmony of worlds
Heaven and hell
Blues for a Red Planet
Traveler's tale
The backbone of night
Travels in space and time
The lives of stars
The edge of forever
The persistence of memory
Encyclopaedia galactica
Who speaks for Earth?
Appendix 1: Reductio ad absurdum  and the square root of two
Appendix 2: The five Pythagorean solids
For further reading
Index

Other Books by Carl Sagan

Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record (with F. D. Drake, Ann Druyan, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg and Linda Salzman Sagan)

The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective

Other Worlds

Mars and the Mind of Man (with Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Bruce Murray and Walter Sullivan)

Intelligent Life in the Universe (with I. S. Shklovskii)

Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Editor)

UFOs: A Scientific Debate (Editor, with Thornton Page)