Cosmos
Carl Sagan · 1980
Companion to his landmark PBS series, Cosmos roams from the Big Bang to the Greeks to nuclear war to the search for extraterrestrial life with lyrical urgency. Sagan's central message (that we are made of stardust and that understanding the universe is our best hope for survival) influenced an entire generation of scientists.
The case against
Forty-plus years of discoveries have lapped it: no exoplanets, no dark energy, no Hubble images, a solar system grainier than the one we now know. His history of science is potted besides; the Library of Alexandria material is more sermon than scholarship, and the stardust lyricism turns syrupy when you read rather than hear it. A period piece with a great soul.
Non-Fiction · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
