Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Narrated by Le Var Burton, Seth Mc Farlane, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ann Fruyan
Audio book
Rating 4.5/5
Running length 14 hours
Disclaimer- This review has been written by voice typing since it’s an audio book! So any errors which might have crept in is regretted!
Genre Non fiction
The book is based on the TV show Cosmos which was apparently produced by BBC
So there are so many similarities between the TV show and the book there are some things which are found in the book and there are some facts which are shown in the TV show
Basically this means that though the premise is the same; they are both are mutually exclusive.
After going through a horde of books by Richard Dawkins; Carl’s cosmos was a nice change in pace!
Though the narration and narrators change in many chapters it somehow feel that author is talking to you through them and the audiobook gives you feel of the innermost thoughts of the author.
Starting from the big bang the author explores the development the evolution the progress it has seen in science and civilisation and in our understanding of the universe.
The language is made simple so that even a layman can understand and there very few technical words used and if they are used they are explained very nicely by the author and his team
Since this is an audiobook and his latest there is also the forward by Neil Degrasse Tyson which was there in the later edition of the book.
Neil Degrasse Tyson is now was a familiar figure because of his association with the series called ‘the big bang theory’
Just like a voyage the novel also goes through different chapters (13 to be exact) and starting from the solar system it is like a spacecraft which goes away and away from the sun which travels crossing each and every planet going on to the empty vacuum of space and beyond!
An approximate time line is put during which a spacecraft would traverse each planet and things and structures the craft would experience including the gravitational force or pull and the asteroids and the rings or satellites and so on!
In between the author also talks about many scientists and inventors with a big chapter dedicated at first to Aristotle including others
He talks about Plato he talks about Pythagorean’s he talks about the Netherlands in the 17th century he talks about library of Alexandria and of Leonardo da Vinci!
He talks about the Tunguska effect and lunar impact and how!
Just like Richard he talks about the Heiki crab and Charles Darwin though he does not go to veneration level of Richard!
He talks about the changes that undergo in the constellation and universe over time
The Doppler effect and Einstein’s theory of relativity and its importance
Any talks about how the human brain is also like a history. How is the oldest part of the brain like the brainstem is inside while the newest the latest development like the cerebral cortex Are all outside just like a city in development!
He also gives an example how modern develop civilisation met a less developed civilisation and the result was most of the time catastrophic
In the same way he also opined how an advance civilisation if it comes in contact with human beings or earth may act in the same way though for them we are all the same!
He talks about how we have in nuclear weapons the power to destroy the earth in our hands and if we are not careful then there will be no earth to save! He says how the budget for development of weapons several billion dollars while the budget for disarmament of nuclear weapons is just a few thousand!
The book ends in a note for the future where we are just a small speck in the whole big universe and that there may not be in life in any other part of the universe and it is better to save the life what we already have!
This is an already very famous book and a very famous TV series so does not need my opinion but it does feel nice to give one anyway!
If you have not read it before grab those headphones and go! The narration is smooth and the diction is really good!
Enjoy the cosmic journey!
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