In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who -- or what -- is out there?
In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future -- and our own.
Каким-то образом одновременно написано и лучше и хуже, чем я ожидал.
И во второй половине и разваливается на части и наконец во что-то собирается.
И безнадежный идеализм и нна тебе под дых пока зазевался.
Может быть, многое было б куда более стройно без налёта фикшна (многостраничные exposition dumps "от лица персонажа", объясняющие физику или радиоастрономию, мммм), но многое было бы и невозможно.
I am a huge fan of Carl Sagan and somehow I haven't read this book before. I have seen the movie probably in the beginning of 2000 but I really didn't remember the details of the story so I decided to finally read the book and forget the movie.
I love the idea of this book! And, of course, Dr. Ellie Arroway, the scientist genius that built her way up to being the director of “Project Argus”, a radio telescope institute for research into SETI (“search for extraterrestrial intelligence”). The mix of real scientific research and science fiction is done brilliantly, making us wonder why we haven't received any signal from space yet? It is very plausible. Of course, SETI is a real program that still exists but we haven't any search results after more than 50 years.
Although the book was written in the 80's, with a Cold War …
I am a huge fan of Carl Sagan and somehow I haven't read this book before. I have seen the movie probably in the beginning of 2000 but I really didn't remember the details of the story so I decided to finally read the book and forget the movie.
I love the idea of this book! And, of course, Dr. Ellie Arroway, the scientist genius that built her way up to being the director of “Project Argus”, a radio telescope institute for research into SETI (“search for extraterrestrial intelligence”). The mix of real scientific research and science fiction is done brilliantly, making us wonder why we haven't received any signal from space yet? It is very plausible. Of course, SETI is a real program that still exists but we haven't any search results after more than 50 years.
Although the book was written in the 80's, with a Cold War political background, the religious, political and scientific ethics discussions are amazing. It raises questions about the purpose of humanity, the dangers (and fears) of contacting an alien species, the importance and the flaws of religion, the utopic search for peace and so on.
Another point that amazed me is that Ellie is a feminist brilliant scientist written by a man in the 80's. I identified myself with her because she is a girl that pursued her interests into a field usually dominated by men. If we look at sci-fi written around this period it's very uncommon to have a female protagonist like her.
A well-crafted novel exploring the (unecessary) rift between science and religion, the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence, the silliness of politics, our place in the Universe, and the Ultimate Reality. I will never think of transcendental numbers the same.
1) ''She next came upon one of the premier computer channels, dedicated to fantasy role-playing games and now fallen on hard times. Accessed to your home computer, it offered a single entry into a new adventure, today's apparently called Galactic Gilgamesh, in hopes that you would find it sufficiently attractive to order the corresponding floppy disk on one of the vending channels. Proper electronic precautions were taken so you could not record the program during your single play. Most of these video games, she thought, were desperately flawed attempts to prepare adolescents for an unknown future.''
2) ''At a few hundred kilometers altitude, the Earth fills half your sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Mindanao to Bombay, which your eye encompasses in a single glance, can break your heart with its beauty. Home, you think. Home. This is my world. This is where I come from. …
1) ''She next came upon one of the premier computer channels, dedicated to fantasy role-playing games and now fallen on hard times. Accessed to your home computer, it offered a single entry into a new adventure, today's apparently called Galactic Gilgamesh, in hopes that you would find it sufficiently attractive to order the corresponding floppy disk on one of the vending channels. Proper electronic precautions were taken so you could not record the program during your single play. Most of these video games, she thought, were desperately flawed attempts to prepare adolescents for an unknown future.''
2) ''At a few hundred kilometers altitude, the Earth fills half your sky, and the band of blue that stretches from Mindanao to Bombay, which your eye encompasses in a single glance, can break your heart with its beauty. Home, you think. Home. This is my world. This is where I come from. Everyone I know, everyone I ever heard of, grew up down there, under that relentless and exquisite blue.''
3) ''For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.''
I remember mildly liking the movie when it came out years ago, so when I saw the book I grabbed it. The book is almost always better than the movie right?
While it's certainly been a while, as I recall the movie really does track the book pretty well. The characters are fuller, and there are more of them, but the story line's pretty much the same.
Since it centers around a time line based on the turn of the millennium, every once in a while it seems dated - the real future turned out a lot less rosy. The commentary around faith and science still rings true though.
