Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium

Carl Sagan

Random House Publishing Group, May 12, 1998 - Science - 320 pages

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us.

These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan’s thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease.

Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day.

Praise for Billions & Billions

“[Sagan’s] writing brims with optimism, clarity and compassion.”—Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“Sagan used the spotlight of his fame to illuminate the abyss into which stupidity, greed, and the lust for power may yet dump us. All of those interests and causes are handsomely represented in Billions & Billions.”—The Washington Post Book World

“Astronomer Carl Sagan didn’t live to see the millennium, but he probably has done more than any other popular scientist to prepare us for its arrival.”—Atlanta Journal & Constitution

“Billions & Billions can be interpreted as the Silent Spring for the current generation. . . . Human history includes a number of leaders with great minds who gave us theories about our universe and origins that ran contrary to religious dogma. Galileo determined that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around. Darwin challenged Creationism with his Evolution of Species. And now, Sagan has given the world its latest challenge: Billions & Billions.”—San Antonio Express-News

“[Sagan’s] inspiration and boundless curiosity live on in the gift of his work.”—Seattle Times & Post-Intelligencer

“Couldn’t stay awake in your high school science classes? This book can help fill in the holes. Acclaimed scientist Carl Sagan combines his logic and knowledge with wit and humor to make a potentially dry subject enjoyable to read.”—The Dallas Morning News

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - themulhern - LibraryThing

A collection of essays, not completely read, individual reviews: Chapter 19: In the Valley of the Shadow Quite biographical, and written shortly before his death from a disease which was treated with ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - pgiunta - LibraryThing

"Our technology has becoms so powerful that—not only consciously, but inadvertently—we are becoming a danger to ourselves. Science and technology have saved billions of lives, improved the well ...

Contents

• Billions and Billions: 3
• The Persian Chessboard: 13
• MondayNight Hunters: 27
• The Gaze of God and the Dripping Faucet: 38
• Four Cosmic Questions: 55
• So Many Suns So Many Worlds: 64
• PART II: 73
• Croesus and Cassandra: 92
• A Piece of the Sky Is Missing: 99
• The Warming of the World: 117
• Escape from Ambush: 140
• An Alliance: 163
• PART III: 177
• Is it Possible to Be Both ProLife: 196
• The Rules of the Game: 216
• Gettysburg and Now cowritten with Ann Druyan: 231
• The Twentieth Century: 245
• In the Valley of the Shadow: 257
• Epilogue by Ann Druyan: 268
• Acknowledgments: 277
• Index: 285

About the author

Carl Sagan served as the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University. He played a leading role in the Mariner, Viking, Voyager, and Galileo spacecraft expeditions, for which he received the NASA Medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and (twice) for Distinguished Public Service.
 
His Emmy- and Peabody–winning television series, Cosmos, became the most widely watched series in the history of American public television. The accompanying book, also called Cosmos, is one of the bestselling science books ever published in the English language. Dr. Sagan received the Pulitzer Prize, the Oersted Medal, and many other awards—including twenty honorary degrees from American colleges and universities—for his contributions to science, literature, education, and the preservation of the environment. In their posthumous award to Dr. Sagan of their highest honor, the National Science Foundation declared that his “research transformed planetary science . . . his gifts to mankind were infinite." Dr. Sagan died on December 20, 1996.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
• Author: Carl Sagan
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1998
• ISBN: 0345379187, 9780345379184
• Length: 320 pages
• Subjects: Science / Reference; Science / Space Science / Astronomy; Science / Space Science / Cosmology