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The cover of Cosmos

Cosmos

Carl Sagan

Eratosthenes measures the Earth, Kepler finds the ellipse, Viking looks for life on Mars, and stars forge our atoms: a tour of the Cosmos we are part of.

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14 parts, about 29 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Learn how noon stick shadows measured the Earth and how a small misfit between circle and Mars observations led to elliptical orbits
  • Learn how a greenhouse effect probably made Venus a furnace, why Viking's Mars results proved unconvincing, and how stars forged your blood's iron
  • See why the number of civilizations out there depends on how long they survive technology, and how deadlier weapons put our own survival in question

Who it is for

  • Readers who wonder how we learned our place in space
  • Curious people who want science told as a human story
  • Anyone thinking about life beyond Earth and our own future

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction1 min
  2. The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean2 min
  3. One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue2 min
  4. The Harmony of Worlds3 min
  5. Heaven and Hell2 min
  6. Blues for a Red Planet3 min
  7. Travelers' Tales2 min
  8. The Backbone of Night2 min
  9. Travels in Space and Time1 min
  10. The Lives of the Stars2 min
  11. The Edge of Forever2 min
  12. The Persistence of Memory2 min
  13. Encyclopaedia Galactica2 min
  14. Who Speaks for Earth?3 min

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