Recommended reading - 3 books by Carl Sagan

Cosmos

Published 1980.
 
ISBN-10: 9780345539434
ISBN-13: 978-0345539434
 
Description:
 
With a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
 

This visually stunning book with over 250 full-color illustrations, many of them never before published, is based on Carl Sagan’s thirteen-part television series. Told with Sagan’s remarkable ability to make scientific ideas both comprehensible and exciting, Cosmos is about science in its broadest human context, how science and civilization grew up together.

 

The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds.

 

Sagan retraces the fifteen billion years of cos-mic evolution that have transformed matter into life and consciousness, enabling the Cosmos to wonder about itself. He considers the latest findings on life elsewhere and how we might communicate with the beings of other worlds.

 

Cosmos is the story of our long journey of discovery and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science, including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huy-gens, Champollion, Lowell and Humason. Sagan looks at our planet from an extra-terrestrial vantage point and sees a blue jewel-like world, inhabited by a lifeform that is just beginning to discover its own unity and to venture into the vast ocean of space.

 

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Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Published 1994.
 
ISBN-10: 0345376595
ISBN-13: 978-0345376596
 
Description:
 
In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time.
 
Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race.
 
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Contact

Published 1985.
 
A science-fiction novel.
 
ISBN-10: 0671004107
ISBN-13: 978-0671004101
 
Description:
 
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.

Anna Quindlen, on books:

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road.

They are the destination, and the journey.

They are home.

- Anna Quindlen.

Born on this day – Marie Dressler:

Marie Dressler

Actress

Comedian

Writer

Director

Producer

November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934

Credits:

Christopher Bean (1933); Dinner at Eight (1933); Tugboat Annie (1933); Prosperity (1932); Emma (1932); The Christmas Party (1931); Politics (1931); Reducing (1931); Min and Bill (1930); Let Us Be Gay (1930); Caught Short (1930); One Romantic Night (1930); The Girl Said No (1930); Anna Christie (1930); Chasing Rainbows (1930); The Vagabond Lover (1929); Dangerous Females (1929); The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929); The Divine Lady (1928); Bringing Up Father (1928); The Patsy (1928); Breakfast at Sunrise (1927); The Joy Girl (1927); The Callahans and the Murphys (1927); The Red Cross Nurse (1918); The Agonies of Agnes (1918); The Scrub Lady (1917); Fired (1917); Tillie Wakes Up (1917); Tillie's Tomato Surprise (1915); Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914).

Born on this day – Burton E. Stevenson:

Burton E. Stevenson

Writer

Anthologist

Librarian

November 9, 1872 – May 13, 1962

Credits:

Books:

A king in Babylon (1917); A soldier of Virginia (1901); Affairs of state (1906); American history in verse for boys and girls (1960); American men of mind (1913); At odds with the regent (1905); Cadets of Gascony (1904); Great Americans as seen by the poets (1933); Poems of American history (1922); The charm of Ireland (1914); The clue of the red carnation (1942); The Destroyer (1913); The girl from Alsace (1915); The girl with the blue sailor (1906); The gloved hand (1920); The heritage (1902); The Holladay case (1904); The home book of Bible quotations (1949); The home book of modern verse (1960); The home book of proverbs, maxims, and familiar phrases (1959); The home book of quotations (1934); The home book of verse (1912); The house next door (1932); The kingmakers (1922); The Marathon mystery (1904); The mystery of the Boule cabinet (1911); The mystery of Villa Aurelia (1932); The path of honor (1910); The quest for the rose of Sharon (1909); The red carnation (1939); The spell of Holland (1911); The young section-hand (1905); The young train dispatcher (1907); The young train master (1909); Tommy Remington's battle (1902).

Movies and television:

In the Next Room (1930); On Dangerous Ground (1917); Paying the Price (1916); The Case of the Black Parrot (1941); The Pursuing Vengeance (1916).

Born on this day – Marfa d'Hervilly:

Marfa d'Hervilly

Actress

November 9, 1876 – November 18, 1963

Credits:

Après Mein Kampf mes crimes (1940); Aux yeux du souvenir (1948); Bric à Brac et compagnie (1932); Café de Paris (1938); Colette et son mari (1932); Donogoo (1936); Échec au roy (1945); Espoirs... (1941); Fantômas contre Fantômas (1949); Farewell Mister Grock (1950); Firmin, le muet de Saint-Pataclet (1938); Fort Dolorès (1939); Grains de beauté (1932); Il faut rester garçon (1932); J'aime toutes les femmes (1935); Je te confie ma femme (1933); La danseuse rouge (1937); La femme perdue (1942); La fille du régiment (1933); La fleur d'oranger (1932); La marche nuptiale (1935); La passagère (1949); Last Chance Castle (1947); L'avion de minuit (1938); Le duel (1941); Le soir des rois (1933); Léonie est en avance (1935); Les deux favoris (1936); Les jeux sont faits (1932); Les jeux sont faits (1947); Let's Go Up the Champs-Élysées (1938); L'héritier des Mondésir (1940); L'honorable Catherine (1943); Meute et kangourous... (1935); Mon Paris (1928); Monsieur Chasse (1947); Monsieur Hector (1940); Mots croisés (1926); Moune et son notaire (1932); Neuf de trèfle (1938); Olive se marie (1931); Paris (1937); Pluie d'or (1936); Princesse Czardas (1934); Prix de beauté (1922); Rien que la vérité (1931); Romance à l'inconnue (1931); Sapho (1934); Silence (1931); The Case of Poisons (1955); The Moment of Truth (1952); The Pearls of the Crown (1937); Trois de St Cyr (1939); Turandot, princesse de Chine (1935); Un jour viendra (1934); Une jeune fille et un million (1932); Une petite femme en or (1933); Vie privée (1942); With Assurance (1932); Y'a erreur (1933).

Born on this day – Edna May Oliver:

Edna May Oliver

Actress

November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942

Credits:

A Tale of Two Cities (1935); Alice in Wonderland (1933); Ann Vickers (1933); Caught Plastered (1931); Cimarron (1931); Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl (1999); Cracked Nuts (1931); David Copperfield (1935); Drums Along the Mohawk (1939); Fanny Foley Herself (1931); Half Shot at Sunrise (1930); Hold ‘Em Jail (1932); Icebound (1924); It’s Great to Be Alive (1933); Ladies of the Jury (1932); Laugh and Get Rich (1931); Let’s Get Married (1926); Little Miss Broadway (1938); Little Women (1933); Lovers in Quarantine (1925); Lydia (1941); Manhattan (1924); Meet the Baron (1933); Murder on a Honeymoon (1935); Murder on the Blackboard (1934); My Dear Miss Aldrich (1937); Newly Rich (1931); No More Ladies (1935); Nurse Edith Cavell (1939); Only Yesterday (1933); Paradise for Three (1938); Parnell (1937); Penguin Pool Murder (1932); Pride and Prejudice (1940); Restless Wives (1924); Romeo and Juliet (1936); Rosalie (1937); Second Fiddle (1939); The American Venus (1926); The Conquerors (1932); The Great Jasper (1933); The Lady Who Lied (1925); The Last Gentleman (1934); The Lucky Devil (1925); The Poor Rich (1934); The Saturday Night Kid (1929); The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939); Three O’Clock in the Morning (1923); We’re Rich Again (1934).

Born on this day – Mabel Normand:

Mabel Normand

Actress

Writer

Director

Producer

Comedian

November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930

Credits:

A Dash Through the Clouds (1912); A Dead Man's Honor (1911); A Double Wedding (1913); A Fair Exchange (1914); A Family Mixup (1912); A Film Johnnie (1914); A Little Hero (1913); A Noise from the Deep (1913); A Perfect 36 (1918); A Tale of Two Cities (1911); A Tangled Affair (1913); A Temperamental Husband (1912); A Victim of Circumstances (1911); A Widow Visits Springtown (1911); An Interrupted Elopement (1912); Anything Once! (1927); At Coney Island (1912); At It Again (1912); At Twelve O'Clock (1913); Back to the Woods (1918); Bangville Police (1913); Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913); Betty Becomes a Maid (1911); Bright Lights (1916); Brown's Seance (1912); Caught in a Cabaret (1914); Fate's Turning (1911); Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916); Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915); Fatty and Mabel's Simple Life (1915); Fatty's Wine Party (1914); For the Love of Mabel (1913); Gentlemen of Nerve (1914); He Did and He Didn't (1916); Head Over Heels (1922); Her Awakening (1911); Her Friend the Bandit (1914); His Mother (1911); His Trysting Place (1914); How Betty Won the School (1911); Hubby's Job (1913); Indiscretions of Betty (1910); Jinx (1919); Just Brown's Luck (1913); Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915); Mabel at the Wheel (1914); Mabel Lost and Won (1915); Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915); Mabel's Adventures (1912); Mabel's Awful Mistake (1913); Mabel's Busy Day (1914); Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913); Mabel's Heroes (1913); Mabel's Lovers (1912); Mabel's Married Life (1914); Mabel's Stormy Love Affair (1914); Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914); Mabel's Stratagem (1912); Mabel's Wilful Way (1915); Mickey (1918); Molly O' (1921); Mr. Grouch at the Seashore (1912); Neighbors (1912); Oh, Those Eyes (1912); On His Wedding Day (1913); One Hour Married (1927); Over the Garden Wall (1910); Pat's Day Off (1912); Peck's Bad Girl (1918); Pedro's Dilemma (1912); Picciola; or, the Prison Flower (1911); Professor Bean's Removal (1913); Saved from Himself (1911); Stolen Magic (1915); That Little Band of Gold (1915); The Baron (1911); The Battle of Who Run (1913); The Beating He Needed (1912); The Changing of Silas Warner (1911); The Deacon's Troubles (1912); The Diamond Star (1911); The Diving Girl (1911); The Drummer's Vacation (1912); The Eternal Mother (1912); The Extra Girl (1923); The Fatal Mallet (1914); The Fatal Taxicab (1913); The Floor Below (1918); The Foreman of the Jury (1913); The Gusher (1913); The Gypsy Queen (1913); The Hansom Driver (1913); The Little Teacher (1915); The Making of a Man (1911); The Masquerader (1914); The Mender of Nets (1912); The Mistaken MasherThe Mistaken Masher (1913); The Nickel-Hopper (1926); The Pest (1919); The Revenue Man and the Girl (1911); The Riot (1913); The Sea Nymphs (1914); The Sleuths at the Floral Parade (1913); The Slim Princess (1920); The Squaw's Love (1911); The Unveiling (1911); The Venus Model (1918); The Waiters' Picnic (1913); The Water Nymph (1912); Their Social Splash (1915); Those Country Kids (1914); Those Good Old Days (1913); Through His Wife's Picture (1911); Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914); Troublesome Secretaries (1911); Two Overcoats (1911); When a Man's Married His Trouble Begins (1911); When Kings Were the Law (1912); Wished on Mabel (1915); Zuzu, the Band Leader (1913).