Contact

a novel

by Carl Sagan

Hardcover, 432 pages

English language

Published Aug. 14, 1985 by Simon and Schuster.

ISBN:: 978-0-671-43400-7

(141 reviews)

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.

22 editions

mikerickson reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

-

4 stars

A slow, quiet, and contemplative "what if" scenario that felt like it was written just for me. This is the kind of book I get a lot of enjoyment out of, but would never talk to anyone about or recommend because I don't think anyone else would get it the way that I did. Which is ironic since this was a book club read that I was forced to talk to others about (and apparently I was the only one that really liked it).

Don't expect a ton of dialogue or really dramatic action at all here. It's there, but it's almost secondary to the background context dumps and the philosophizing, which oddly enough I didn't mind. Also if you've seen the movie, there are a lot of pretty substantial differences between that and this book, which I found surprising.

tivasyk reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

«громадянин кейн» фантастичної літератури

3 stars

#цитата | «for small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love».

гхм. фільм «контакт», попри глибину, все ж таки дуже не дотягує до глибини оригіналу. катарсис роману… правдивіший, він не про віру (це мене подратувало в фільмі) і не має форми проповіді.

«контакт» — це наче «громадянин кейн» фантастичної літератури.

п.с. якщо сподобався «контакт» сагана, я б прочитав ще «аврору» кіма стенлі робінсона.

T reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Saw the movie when I was little, which I loved. But! Turns out the movie left out the part where Sagan rips into rich assholes going to space to run away from the damage they did to Earth. The accurate critique of crapitalism was left out of a Hollywood movie, shocker.

Yuri Krupenin reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

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.

Странная книга.

Colin Devroe reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I always enjoyed the movie. As usual, I wish I read the book first. But this is a great, fun, fast read written by someone that understands complexities of space which is great. Definitely worth a read. My favorite book in a while.

Marsha Woerner reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It started out boring, then it got interesting, then it got boring again. The philosophical ramblings at the end were kind of a little too much for me, and the very end was cliché. I don't know, the overall idea was cool, but I'm not convinced that the execution was great.

itgrrl reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Sagan makes science the poetry of reality

Carl Sagan demonstrates mastery of the realms of both science and poetry in this wonderful novel. The minor inaccuracies in his imaginings of future-tech are irrelevant to the story and now just lend it a quasi-nostalgic charm. If you've always meant to get around to reading Contact but haven't yet, don't hesitate a second longer.

tomek reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Nie była tym, czym spodziewałem się, że będzie.

Noisy Deadlines reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

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.

protomattr reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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.

Wolfie reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Scientifically accurate yet emotionally compelling. So much more elaborate than the film, but better for it.

state_electrician reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This is one of the cases where the movie is much better than the book. The movie is among the best SF movies of all time (so far), while the book is mediocre at best. Sagan was a great scientist, even visionary, but a great writer he was not. If you want to read Sagan, I'd recommend Pale Blue Dot.

nicknicknicknick reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on Goodreads

4 stars

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. …

traces42 reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Such an amazing book. Much better than the movie, and the movie was great to begin with. I don't want to spoil anything for you, especially if you have seen the movie because there are slight differences that make the book much more entertaining. This is by far, the best book that I have EVER read!

okenwillow reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Lu il y a des années, ce roman m'avait fait une forte impression.
Les thèmes inusables de l'existence de Dieu, de l'existence d'une autre forme de vie et d'intelligence, le sens de la vie, tout est formidablement bien traité, le personnage d'Ellie est touchant, humain, on suit ses interrogations de scientifique avec intérêt.
Un roman qui fait réfléchir sur des sujets fondamentaux, écrit par un scientifique défenseur du scepticisme, tout pour me séduire !
À noter le film de Robert Zemeckis inspiré du roman, avec Jodie Foster, qui passe forcément sur certains détails mais qui m'avait aussi beaucoup marquée.