Cosmos (Sagan book)

Cosmos
	Cover of the first edition
Author	Carl Sagan
Cover artist	Adolf Schaller
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Cosmology
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	1980
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	365 (first edition); 396 (2013 edition)
ISBN	0-394-50294-9 (first edition); 978-0-3491-0703-5 (1995 edition); 978-0-375-50832-5 (2002 edition); 978-0-345-53943-4 (2013 edition)
OCLC	6280573
Dewey Decimal	520
LC Class	QB44.2 .S235
Preceded by	Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
Followed by	Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Cosmos is a popular science book written by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan. It was published in 1980 as a companion piece to the PBS mini-series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage with which it was co-developed and intended to complement. Each of the book's 13 illustrated chapters corresponds to one of the 13 episodes of the television series. Just a few of the ideas explored in Cosmos include the history and mutual development of science and civilization, the nature of the Universe, human and robotic space exploration, the inner workings of the cell and the DNA that controls it, and the dangers and future implications of nuclear war. One of Sagan's main purposes for both the book and the television series was to explain complex scientific ideas in a way that anyone interested in learning can understand. Sagan also believed the television was one of the greatest teaching tools ever invented, so he wished to capitalize on his chance to educate the world.^[1] Spurred in part by the popularity of the TV series, Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-sellers list and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list to become the best-selling science book ever published at the time. In 1981, it received the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. The unprecedented success of Cosmos ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science-themed literature. The success of the book also served to jumpstart Sagan's literary career. The sequel to Cosmos is Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994).^[2]

In 2013, a new edition of Cosmos was published, with a foreword by Ann Druyan and an essay by Neil deGrasse Tyson.^[3]

^ Golden, Frederic, Peter Stoler, and Calif. 1980. "The Cosmic Explainer He-e-e-re's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the universe." Time 116, no. 16: 62. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 10, 2013).
^ "Pale Blue Dot". Powell's Books. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
^ Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann; Tyson, Neil deGrasse (2013). Cosmos. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-53943-4.

[1] Golden, Frederic, Peter Stoler, and Calif. 1980. "The Cosmic Explainer He-e-e-re's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the universe." Time 116, no. 16: 62. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed April 10, 2013).

[2] "Pale Blue Dot". Powell's Books. Retrieved 3 January 2010.

[3] Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann; Tyson, Neil deGrasse (2013). Cosmos. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-53943-4.

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