I just finished Cosmos by Carl Sagan

It was the best book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them. Both humbling and enlightening- I just wish I would have discovered him sooner. I recommend him to every person on the planet.

I found out about the book over and my mom and step-dad's place. My step-dad tends to vote for Republicans. He is also an amateur astronomer. He had a couple of Sagan's books laying around the house and one of them was Cosmos. I read a little bit of it and asked him if I could borrow it. He said I could. I have never seen my step-dad read a book before and I've known him for nearly 30 years. At most I've seen him read astronomy magazines. But he has now read Sagan's Cosmos and Billions And Billions.

I soon discovered that Sagan was definitely not a right winger like my step-dad. It seemed that he would be at odds with a lot of what Sagan says in the book when he talks about the politics of science, knowledge, and war. I wanted to know what my step-dad thought about that. Had he changed his views?

I went over to their place this morning to visit for a while. I told my step-dad that Cosmos was the best book I'd ever read and I wondered what he thought about it. He sat down in his recliner, took in a deep breath......and started talking about motorcycles. :D

Sagan is fun no matter which book you pick up

It's excellent too. :thumbsup:

I also have a conservative father. He' in his 70's and he's softened a bit in his old age, but he ain't gonna' change.
It's very sad. :(

Although being an amateur astronomer is not the same as being a professional scientist.

Only Six Percent Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html

Given the GOP's anti-science dogma, I'm not surprised that he would rather talk about motorcycles. The few Republican scientists that I've met, have been closely tied to things like missile defense funding and probably find it painful to explain their allegiance to politicians that pander to people who think the universe is 6000-years old.

He may just be too embarrassed to admit that his world view had changed. I hope that is the case anyway.

Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the World He Made Up

http://www.kccole.net/

I finished it just this morning and loved it! It's not astronomy but it is science and the man was every bit as admirable as Sagan.

What happens to a person schooled in art, science and “ethical culture” who finds himself a pacifist building an atomic bomb, a physicist exiled from science because of his outspoken efforts to stop the madness, a New York Jew raising cattle and teaching high school in the Colorado mountains? If you’re Frank Oppenheimer, you use what you’ve learned from art and science and teaching and ranching to make up your own world...a “museum of human awareness” The Exploratorium in San Francisco--which is soon imitated all over the world.

Lots of video and great stuff at the site for the Exploratorium, too.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/

:hi:

I'll add him to my bookstore shopping list.

That would be my suggestion for your next read.



My next favorite by him is "The Demon Haunted World"

Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective (ISBN 0-521-78303-8)
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence (ISBN 0-345-34629-7)
Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science (ISBN 0-345-33689-5)
Cosmos (ISBN 0-375-50832-5)
Contact (ISBN 1-56865-424-3)
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (ISBN 0-679-43841-6)
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (ISBN 0-345-40946-9)
Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium (ISBN 0-345-37918-7)

If you like Sagan, might I recommend some Feynman?

i've got a big monitor and a comfy office chair, i often watch TV on my computer.

I highly recommend it.

I miss Carl. :cry:

The movie version is here:

http://www.hulu.com/cosmos

I haven't really taken advantage of what's on hulu but that's going to change.
Thanks for the link! :hi:


Carl lives.

:hi:

It was the most-watched program in PBS history.

Go join Netflix at the $4.99/mo level. They have the option of viewing movies online -- all you want (but not every title). They DO have the entire "Cosmos" TV series available.

If you have a Blueray player and a wireless connection (or some other such connection available) you can actually watch it on your television.

I'm re-watching it now.

That was Sunday Night Viewing my freshman year in college. Cosmos, followed by Dr. Who, followed by Monty Python, followed by Dave Allen at Large. Now THAT was some "Must-See TV."

It changed my view of reality.