Contact

Contact is a story about how could be the first contact of humans with other intelligent beings in the universe. Although this is a very old theme, it is an entirely different book. As an astronomer, the author tried to be very realistic what yielded a story where everything is tied and where you will not find any contradictions. You will not only enjoy a very good and beautiful tale, but also will have a "contact" with real scientific worries and concepts related to the search of intelligent life in other planets. The book also touch in the conflicts between religion and science mixed inside all the story in a very balanced way: you would expect that Carl would only support the rational side in the book, but when you read, you will be awed and surprised (and will respect Carl still more).
For those who saw the movie (that is an excellent movie, my favourite), the book has less untied knots, everything is clarified and has an end that the film has not. The end chapter of the book make you end your reading with a smile in your face.
One final note, when Carl was researching to write the book, he contacted Kip Thorne to ask him about the possibility of interestellar travels through black holes. Inspired by Carl's question, Thorne developed the real physics concepts of travel through wornholes and, later, timetravel through them.
If you like science fiction and science, read this book. Certainly this will be one of your favourites, if not the favourite itself.

Contact is not just an ordinary literary book, I've read Carl Sagan's books and Contact is the most touching of them all. I have seen the motion picture version of the novel, even though the two do not blend very well , the motion picture conveys the same message as the book does, science and religion's main objective is the search for truth, whether that truth was in a heavenly god, or the big bang and evolution, the two are not necessarily exclusive. I have cried after reading the book, Carl invites you to live in the life of the young scientist Ellen Arroway for which Jody Foster has perfected her role in Contact the movie. From a stubborn child to a pioneer scientist, every single plot is beautifully drafted. After reading the movie I felt that everything in the world is beautiful, but not everyone sees it. Read the novel, it is nostalgia to something this world misses.

I saw the movie first, which made the book a lot easier to visualize. Although, I would say the movie was better altogether than the book. The book seems a little too drawn out, especially in the end. At times, Sagan seems to drift off and get lost in some minute detail, and he'll spend an entire chapter on it. This may just seem like this to me since I saw the movie first, and it's relatively fast paced.
Another thing I think the book lacked that the movie had, was the relationship developed between Ellie and Palmer. In the movie, they develope this love-hate relationship with each other, and in the end I thought they both learned a lot about each other through that. In the book this is almost completely nonexistant.
Other than those little things, this book is awesome. It held my attention every time I picked it up. One good thing about reading the book after watching the movie is that you have a picture in your mind of Ellie going through wormholes and the magnificence of the machine itself. Then when you come across these scenes in the book, it's easier for me at least to understand and picture what's going on. Great book. The best depiction of First Contact ever!

We don't know for sure if there is life out there.But we know for sure that we are intelligent beings and Carl Sagan used not only his amazing intelligence but also his vivid imagination to create a story about the greatest moment in human history: the encounter between humans and extraterrestrials.Unlike any other science fiction book this has a story that is not only very believable, but also very touching, making us feel a part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.With this book, the reader really makes a voyage to the stars. Carl Sagan will never die.

While I have read hundreds of books, I can count one hand the books I have re-read. After recently watching the movie Contact again (one of my favorites!), I went to my library and grabbed the book (first edition) which I hadn't read since I originally bought it. I won't go into detail on the book because many other reviews have performed that function, but I did want to point out a couple of prescient things that Mr. Sagan wrote in the book which was published in 1985.

At the start of chapter 8, Ellie is channel surfing and two shows are mentioned, Lifestyles of the Mass Murderers and You Bet Your Ass. Now, while Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous had been on TV a year or so prior to the publication of the book, I thought Mr. Sagan did a great job of predicting the popularity of reality shows and the fact that Ass is no longer a forbidden word on TV. In fact, Wikipedia tells me that there was a show on The Comedy Network in 2005 called You Bet Your Ass.

In chapter 12 there is mention of "robot roving vehicles on Mars". While there had been two failed attempts to land rovers on Mars in 1971, it wasn't until 1997 that there was a successful landing. Given the success of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, this comment struck me as much more apropos for 2009 than 1985. Good job Mr. Sagan!

Truly Carl Sagan's masterwork of fiction, <u>Contact</u> somehow introduces several infinitely complex themes-- the conflict between science and religion, the awe-inspiring magnitude and complexity of the universe, and a plethora of political, social, and religious commentary-- and a great depth of information and analysis of each, yet remains entirely readable. A reader fortunate enough to read this book untainted by the terrible film version will find it both deeply provocative and thoughtfully entertaining; one less lucky must forget all that occurs on the screen before he can properly enjoy the book. Overall, <u>Contact</u> is an amazing piece of work and one which I will happily read many times over.

This book has good ideas and characters as well as a nuanced story, but for some reason I just didn't think it was all that good. I liked Ellie, the chief protagonist, who was psychologically complex and a striver for discovery - she had a funny relationship with her father and step father, which influenced her ability to get close to men, perhaps focusing her on the search for intelligent life. Of course, she makes a great discovery and then fights the bureaucracy to get a chance to travel to the new beings with the technology that they transmit. Then of course there is the journey and the disappointing reactions of mankind, etc. THis is a solid and believable plot.

That is fine so far as it goes. Somehow, it just felt static to me, rather than pulsing with the life that a novel by Octavia Butler or even Frank Herbert does. Perhaps it is because I regard the best hard scifi as genuinely great novels that I found this so mediocre. The characters are more vehicles for ideas than living beings, perhaps, or they just weren't all that interesting outside of their amazing adventure.

Tepidly recommended. Go elsewhere for great hard scifi.

"Contact" is, in my opinion, one of the best science fiction books written to date. Carl Sagan addresses one of the fundamental questions facing the world today...does life exist elsewhere in the Universe?

Beyond the scope and inherent engaging elements of this question, "Contact" is so good for a number of other reasons as well: it is credible, the characters are interesting and engaging and the tone of the novel is one of suspense coupled with science education coupled with an undercurrent of what this all means for humankind.

"Contact" is a great book for all readers, but especially good for readers with an interest in science and technology.

First let me say that unlike most who apparently have posted here I'm not going to talk about or rate the movie version of this novel. I'm also not going to base my rating on a comparison of the two.
I found this book in the late 80's on a local bookstore shelf and decided it sounded interesting. I had actually read an excerpt, I reallized, several years before. The book laid out the "BASIC" themes of contention between fact and faith. Within this discourse the autor found a way to introduce the reader to some amazingly interesting characters. How easy it would have been to go heavy on the science and forget that you're writting about people. Sagan takes us into the "soul" of Dr. Arroway. Yes, her soul was the very thing that eventually drove her to each new accomplishment. The author lets us see that her mind was only the vehicle. This story is her story of discovery and because of that the ending is especially important. The story shows the frailty of the human species when mind and soul are at odds or simply not allowing the other to exist.
Sagan goes to a great expense of the English language though to tell his story. Although I didn't count there seemed to be "millions and millions" of extra words thrown in needlessly. Alot of the science though was explained well enough for even me to grasp. I appreciate that. The storyline is well crafted and engaging. The characters are interesting and the book is still the second best novel I've ever read. I'm about to order it again.
A MUST READ

The novel Contact by Carl Sagan was an excellent read. Carl Sagan tells the story of Eleanor Arroway's search for extraterrestrial life. The trials and tribulations that she goes through in order to reach her goal are amazing. After many long years of research, she is rewarded with a transmission that appears to be coming from near the star Vega. Ellie immediately begins decoding the message. Ellie's life is forever changed by her discovery of the transmission.

Ellie has a rough time in becoming an astronomer and her life doesn't get any easier. Through college, she is the only girl in her glasses and is often made fun of by the other students. Following her graduation, she begins as an observer and works her way up to being the Head Supervisor of the Project Argus observatory in New Mexico. Fellow astronomers believe that the SETI project that Argus is focused is on is an extreme waste of time and money. Ellie must defend her position constantly. After Argus radio telescopes pick-up the transmission, Ellie is forced to deal with the constant nagging of government officials and religious leaders. Ellie never gives up on her search and continues it no matter what problems come up. The discovery of the Message spreads throughout the world and the decisions are no longer Ellie's to make. A great adventure begins that will leave the reader with a great desire to know what will happen next.

This science-fiction novel is an excellent choice if one is interested in adventure and the struggles of a woman to have equal respect in the world. Although the novel is slightly jumpy at times, the adventure that the people must face is not too hard to understand. The novel also digs deep into the feelings and thoughts of Dr. Arroway. It allows the reader to understand Ellie's decisions while enjoying the novel. I strongly suggest that everyone read this novel and enjoy the adventure.

I'm 15 years old and I read many books by Larry Niven And Paul Anderson. But most exiting of all I think was "Contact". Yeah, I saw the movie, but the book differs a little bit from it. I think that Carl Sagan really knew what he was writing. He discussed some real-life problems, like religion and politics, and he REALLY showed the good and the bad sides of the Human first encounter with an alien race. I really loved the book and I would recommend it for High-School students like me and everyone from that age above!

First published during the mid-1980s era of nuclear jitters, Sagan's novel borrows its premise from the 1952 film "Red Planet Mars," in which astronomers get in touch with our planetary neighbor by broadcasting the number "pi" (and receive, in response, a broadcast of the Sermon on the Mount). While much of Sagan's book now seems quite dated technologically, and bound up in the context of the late Cold War, it's still an entertaining read, and one that might lend encouragement to aspiring future scientists

The movie "Contact", based upon this book, is a good one...but the book (and I'm sure you've heard this before) is ... stellar! (little astrophysicist humor).

It's engrossing and entertaining and definitely a PAGE TURNER!

There are a TON of things left out of the movie (necessary for a 2 hour movie), and these details, for me, make the book great.

Also the ending is MUCH more fulfilling than the movie. In the movie it's more of a nature of 'faith' dilemma....definitely not Sagan's message. In the book it's more of a 'fabric of space' ending...and I won't say more...no spoilers.

Buy it, read it, if you like Sagan, you'll love it.

After reading this book, you will likely agree with Dr. Sagan that humanity has reached a turning point in its maturation. We, unlike other creatures, have the intelligence to choose our course. We have the technology to destroy ourselves -- or the technology to make "contact."
This book is very exciting and serves as a reasonably good introduction to the efforts of the SETI program. The book brings up questions about the nature of intellence, our place in the universe, and the nature of our possible brothers of intelligence in the universe. Since these questions are not yet answered conclusively, the book cannot hope to tell us the exact setting of the contact. So keep in mind that the "findings" of this book are not inevitable, and that they are not based upon any single and fully successful scientific study. But it does illustrate conclusively the depth and scope of those questions, and the fact that if and when contact occurs it will be wonderful in ways that most of us cannot currently imagine.
On a slightly different note, with all of the problems facing mankind in the near future this book's message stands out as a beacon of hope. I highly recommend it to the open-minded reader.

This book is about the human race's first contact with extra terrestrials, in the form of a radio waves from space. If you have seen the movie, let it be known: it simply does not do the book justice. The book is above and beyond the movie in almost every way, although the movie itself wasn't too shabby. The story provokes a lot of thinking in the reader by making them wonder what would happen if something like this occurred, and by also having conflict between the characters and between their religious views. If you are at all interested in science fiction or SETI, then I suggest you read this book!

It fascinates me to learn that this book was written by *the* Carl Sagan. I had seen the movie when it first came out, at a very early age, and one of the things my parents and other adults told me was how unrealistic it was. Despite their comments, I adored the movie.

Imagine my surprise when years later, I learned that the book was written by him. Carl Sagan, for those of you who don't know, was extremely involved with the scientific community's search for extraterrestrial intelligence, including being one of 11 attendees at what is probably the first conference ever held on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Another reviewer mentioned Drake's Equation, the equation that projects the possible number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy. What they didn't mention was that Sagan was actually present at that first conference when Drake's Equation was first unveiled and discussed, which is a fascinating story in itself.

Please don't misunderstand me. Contact, at its core, is still a science-fiction novel. But its roots are a lot deeper in science than many believe.

There are few books that leave you with the disire to discuss life, the universe and everything and this is one of them. Thought provoking and engaging at the same time. The book has some flaws that the the film was able to repair (one of the few times I think a movie improved on an already great book) - the book has a tendency to be a little too technical and plods occasionally and the ending is slightly weak. But it's a facinating, well thought out tale by one of the greats of science and science fiction.

My regrets that I watched the movie and then bought the book. I read the the first few chapters and was a little thrown off by the difference in Dr. Arroway's character. A few months later (book half read) I received the audio version as a late birthday present, and I was absolutley captivated by Jodie Foster's voice as she took me through the book. Without a doubt the book offers the reader something the movie just could not deliver. I would suggest reading the book first and then renting the DVD. It's fun to pull together the theatrical elements and the very philosphical points that Carl Sagan throws in there for the atheist and agnostic reader. Thought provoking and a very good read.

You think you have read the best of science fiction? Have you read 'Contact'? Then, you might want to think again. Sure, you'd have faithfully watched every episode of the X-files; perhaps even maintain a fan site for Mulder and Scully; watched every alien encounter movie from Strange Encounters and ET to Independence Day and War of the Worlds; you might even have SETI@home running on your system, and a record of Alien Invasion Week on your VHS. But, it takes a true scientific spirit to look at both the objective and the humanistic sides of a scientific endeavour, and Sagan shines there bright in the sky. Two thumbs up!

His erudition is displayed unabashedly in the quotations at the beginning of every chapter; he ceaselessly opines on worldly problems throughout the book. Unlike the balderdash that people like Dan Brown et al. write, Sagan knows what he is writing about; his scientific pursuit does not defy logic; there is every reason to believe in the possiblity that the exact sequence of events might happen; and concludes with a brilliance, that might disappoint the arch skeptics and delight the agnostics. Unlike its contemporaries, Contact maintains the same pace of movement throughout the novel, and pays attention to little details to breathe an air of scented nuance.

There are a few downsides to the novel - sometimes, the narrative, and the dialogue, becomes clichéd. Banal details about all the scientists could have been avoided, given that we know the protagonist well. And Sagan could have handled imagery much better. But, these are trivial compared to the scale and the ambition of the novel, and its unique attempt in provoking boundary-crossing and unifying thoughts. For that, Sagan deserves full credit.

A word about the movie. In my opinion, it is better to watch the movie first )given the brilliant direction by Robert Zemeckis) and then turn to the novel, as the versions are drastically different. One who watches the movie after reading the novel will certainly feel disappointed. Given a choice, I would always recommend the novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the late Carl Sagan's innermost aspirations lived out in the life of Ellie the radio astronomer. His descriptions of what might happen if a non random signal were received from elsewhere in the galaxy through a radio telescope inferring intelligent life as the source of the signal are creative and fascinating. The flight to a distant paradise-like world to meet god-like beings who are all knowing, all wise and good leads one to hope that such things exist. Carl Sagan's description of the multinational, years long, and no costs barred effort to decode and understand the message that turns out to be a blueprint for a complex machine is in fact occurring today! Truth is stranger than fiction. There is currently a collaborative effort over many years, by universities around the world costing millions of dollars to understand the message encoded within DNA which is the blueprint for the human body. The effort is justified because of the spin off benefits both medical and economic that will result.
I sense that Contact reflects a aspiration to find God, to find purpose in life and fellowship in the universe. Just as the skeptics doubt the story the 5 travelers bring back of visiting the center of the galaxy and meeting other beings, so too many today find a purposeful message in the stars above or the cells within too incredible to believe. Just as the "machine" was built to transport people to its designers in space, so too our Designer desires to bring our souls to Himself through our earth bound bodies. "Yet in my flesh I shall see God".

Think about it. What would the pope have to say? How would world leaders weigh in? This incredible book suggests what might happen. I've read the book twice and enjoyed every page.
While the movie was also quite good, the storyline was changed to accommodate Matthew McConaughey. I imagined Palmer Joss to look and sound like Jerry Falwell. I have no doubt that Sagen wrote the novel with Falwell in mind -- though I doubt Falwell has tattoos.
This book is so good that I enjoyed my second read as much as the first.

In telling a story about first contact with extra-terrestrials, Sagan has managed to explore ideas about religion, politics, and science, without sacrificing character development, plot, or suspense. He engages the reader, not only in the life of the protagonist, but also in the exciting interplay of intellectual arguments. Contact is a book that asks the reader to examine his or her own assumptions and beliefs, and in doing so, the reader gains a better understanding of the book, and the world.

Reading this book in 1998, I found that many of Sagan's fictional premises have now entered into the realm of science fact. The idea that a supermassive black hole exists at the center of the galaxy has been confirmed by the Hubble Telescope. It's a shame that Sagan did not live to witness the findings, but CONTACT is a testament to his vision. I found that book was too long-winded, and could have been trimmed to half its length. The movie used only one pilot--Ellie--in the dodecahedron capsule rather than a whole team, and this seems to work better dramatically. Of course, the real treat of this novel is Sagan's treasure chest of technical knowledge, which he showers on the lay reader without condescension.

Carl Sagan's CONTACT is one of those great books that has been devalued and "spoiled" by the movie version. I read the book first, and loved it. But today's new readers tend to come from seeing the movie CONTACT first, then wanting "more." They are then disappointed.

The story is essentially the same in both book and movie adaption. The drama in the book is understated (I think because the ideas are the real heroes). The drama in the movie is over-the-top spectacular (to the detriment of the ideas, in my opinion, although I have to confess that I have watched the movie many times--fast forwarding through the dull spots--while I just did my second read of the book CONTACT--skipping over the dull spots, which I didn't during the first read).

The ending in the book stunned and thrilled me. Hadden in his spaceship sarcophagus. A message from "The Artist" inside pi.

The ending in the movie fell apart. The wormhole was a great ride, but the actual "meeting" with the aliens didn't work for me. In fact, the only thing that "worked" for me after that was the short James Woods phone conversation about the silent minutes on Ellie's recorder.

The book CONTACT presented a sort of "scientist's version of God" that even atheists might be able to appreciate, hidden in mathematics. The movie's ending went for "Box Office."

@hg47

This novel for me was exactly what I was looking for in a Sci-Fi story. As other reviewers have mentioned, Carl Sagan does such an amazing job of extending from our current (well, his current...) time that the story becomes very believable. At times I had to remind myself that it was, after all, still a story I was reading, and not the present reality.

The characters in the story were deep, and there were few characters introduced that the story did not build on extensively in some way. Relationships were well-developed, and earlier presumptions that I had about characters changed as the events of the story unfolded and roles were reversed. It was surprising to me how well this book was written, considering that the author was an physicist. It's almost sad for me that this was his only novel..

I almost didn't buy this book, because I had seen the movie years ago, but I'm certainly glad that I did. Next in line for me is Cosmos, also by Sagan, which I'm hoping will be as rewarding of read as Contact was.

I think this book is in several ways very similar to the Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, in that there is a very simple plotline inside which conflict of ideas takes place. It is truly a book about ideas. Additionally, Eco and Sagan use in my opinion the same brand of irony in that many of the characters show examples of vast ineptitude at their jobs. Unfortunately, I read the book only after seeing the movie (and I hold the movie as one of the finest ever made,) but I felt that the book did not live up to its vast potential as the basis of that movie. Both Forrest Gump and Contact focused on a central character, but were driven by auxillary characters; I don't feel that Sagan had fleshed out his characters nearly as well as they were delivered in the movie, which is unusual for a book/movie comparison. If you have seen the movie, I would reccommend the book *only if* you seek more depth on the science component of the story.

I think this is one of the best books I've read in my short avid-scifi-reader life. Carl Sagan took the same "easy science" from other works such as Cosmos and put together a great novel to everybody's reach... No hard-to-understand science greatly written, great plot, great characters. The movie? It's SO bad compared to the book. The book is just superb eventhough I loved Jodie Foster on the movie. It will keep you hooked up to the very last page... and this is not a clich'e.

I enjoyed this book. It posed many interesting conflicts between science and religion. However I feel he did have a farily one sided view of the religion aspect of the storyline. It also presents the issue of goverment funding. Eventhough he does not come outright and say it in the text, it does make it clear through the character dioaloug and action that goverment funding is an issue. The movie does not give the book justice. However the movie was quite good.

In the year 1999, one astronomer makes a discovery that would shake the very foundations of the world. Eleanor Arroway, a graduate of Harvard and California Technological University and a native of Wisconsin, would make such a discovery. Working in a radio telescope compound known as Argus, she searches the sky constantly, in hopes of receiving a message from a distant civilization. Dedicated to her work, she finally makes progress when one of her telescopes receives an overwhelmingly strong signal from a star named Vega. Looking at the screen of 1's and 0's, she discovers that it is a video clip of Adolf Hitler welcoming the world to the 1936 Olympics! After further studying this awkward transmission, she discovers that there is a message underneath the video clip. Quickly, the rest of the world joins in the effort to collect this message and hopefully decipher it. As the message continues, members of the Soviet Union make the discovery that the message may be a blueprint for the construction of a machine. This novel follows the life of Ellie Arroway during this fictional period of discovery. Playing a vital role in the construction of the Machine, she also becomes the representative of the United States to the alien race that sent them the Message. She always believed that there were other intelligent beings in the universe, and for the first time, she has her proof.

I enjoyed this book. It was full of exciting "what-ifs." Also, Carl Sagan did an excellent job with the character of Ellie, who was both extremely smart and very much human, unlike other genius characters in other stories that seem to be above everyone else. He gave all the characters deep emotions and backgrounds that kept me interested in the book. I would not recommend this book to those who cannot stand reading anything that isn't full of action. Though there are some exciting points in the book, I would not say it was full of action. Also, the language used in the book was highly scientific, and with my "junior in chemistry class" understanding of science, I could barley understand it. I did, however, have some idea of what was going on at all times. In short, I recommend this book for the open minded and the scientific, otherwise, I suggest staying away from it until you figure out what isomers, harmonic oscillators, and erbium dowels are.

Arguably, this is the greatest science-fiction book ever written. Nearly impossible to put down once you've picked it up, its blend of extremely plausible fiction and sociological prediction is, in my experience, unmatched. You will find when you read it, that you are swept away in how real it all seems.
The movie is similar to the novel, but the ending is far better explained and more believable.
Contact also provides a profound, soul-searching question to all of us, spiritually and scientifically, from the first chapter to the last awe-inspiring page.

Carl Sagan's Contact is truly the most masterful work of literary art published in the twentieth century. The novel, originally published in 1985, and the posthumously released film that followed in 1997 are among the most fascinating and moving stories of all time. Human words can hardly describe the emotions, sensations, and fascinations triggered by reading this gripping book. Even the most skeptic and cynical reader will be forever touched by this enchanting novel. It mesmerizes a reader like no other novel can.

Contact is the only novel written by the late astronomer Carl Sagan. He should have written more. He was the only man in all the years of his study of science to boost anyone's interest in this fascinating field to the extent that he did. I also strongly recommend his many other books, including Cosmos, Comet, Broca's Brain, and Pale Blue Dot, just to name a few.

Contact flawlessly debates and explains many prepossessing topics at once, all while telling a spellbinding story of the seemingly endless quest for truth. It is about the search for meaning and fidelity in our troubled lives. It gives us an answer to our questions about the constant battles between scientific proof and faith. Sagan predicts the future of the universe through this spectacular narrative. I'm happy with his answer.

Are you interested in SF but are tired of laser-guns and strange power-fields and want to read something more close to reality? Then I would recommend "Contact" by Carl Sagan. If you didn't know Sagan was (he died about a year ago) professor of planetary research at Cornell University and has written many books on astronomy and popular-science. This is as far as I know his only novel but it is a good one, very serious and well thought-out. Ellie Arroway is a radio astronomer who has devoted her life to SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) but is strongly counteracted by her colleagues. One day however, her stubbornness bear fruit. A radio signal from the star Vega in the constellation of Lyra is detected. The signal isn't just a "Hello ! we are here " but it's a sketch of a machine that turns out to be some sort of transport of people, perhaps to the the star Vega. Many questions arise such as, should the macine be built? If so ,who shou! ld go? Are the Vegans friendly? Etc. The machine is enormously expensive but at last it is decided that it should be built and the crew makes ready to go. This book is basically devoted to describe how we would react the day we understand that we are not alone, both politically and religiously. With the exception of Arthur C Clarke's 2001, not many books have taken this interesting subject so seriously as Sagan's Contact. The book has also been filmed by Robert Zemeckis (Forest Gump) but as always the book is better than the film.

I first read Contact in 1985 in paperback form. On one of the first pages it said "Soon to become a Major Motion Picture!". 12 years later, this statement came true. I cannot recommend any other book that so captivated me with originality in a world chock full of "same old stuff" novels.
The movie story-line, allthough a bit different from the movie, makes it an equal match.

I highly encourage everyone to read this book

No, that's not an afterlife recommendation. It is what the paperback I read in 1987 and the hardback that I just finished reading say on the spines when they are laying horizontally on the bookshelf. I still have a perfect picture of the gold on letters black, same size, same font, lying on a bookshelf in Foster City, CA. I just laid the newer one on a shelf that I can see from my desk chair.

I enjoyed it as much this time, I think, as I did the first time. I was reminded pleasurably of how Carl dealt with the subject of religion, which was a very big part of the book. He depicted the preachers-for-money as the buffoons they still are. The subject of religion itself is treated with respect, as are many of the religious people involved. It is about as evenhanded a treatment as can be expected from an atheist.

Even more, I remembered the clarity of his words and his vision, shining through the words of his characters and his description. Carl Sagan knew many things, factual things, that made him a very impressive figure. But his ability to put the facts together and discuss the combinations, to weave a story out of them, to educate the reader, was magnificent. There are too few people who are able to present complex facts and issues with the clarity he could.

I miss him.

Although this science-fiction novel is different than the movie, it was an interesting and fascinating read. Contact, by Carl Sagan, is the story of a woman in search of extraterrestrial life. The main character, Ellie, encounters a transmission sent from the stars above and begins to decode the message. In the process of decrypting the message, Ellie is challenged by government officials, religious leaders, and personal feelings. While Ellie is allowed to finish deciphering the message, what it contains becomes a world issue causing world governments to take control of the project, and remove her from her position of supervisor. Although she is irate about the situation she has been put in, Ellie finds what she is looking for in the end.

This intriguing novel is a great story whether one is interested in astronomy or not. It is filled with the search of extraterrestrial life, but more so with the life of a woman who is obsessed with the search of other existence in the universe. If given the opportunity to read this novel, one should not pass the chance, but take advantage of it.

Contact is an excellent book! Carl Sagan keeps you wanting to read more, as the Message suddenly streams in. The Message contains plans for an intricate machine, which will take years to build, it took about a year to finish downloading for the plans. After they build it, the have 5 people enter the machine, and they turn it on. The travel through space and time (although they don't know that at the time). They travel through what they can only describe as a Black Hole, and they suddenly pop out at Vega, the system that they were receiving the Message from. As they orbit around the star, they see radio telescopes, and another black hole. They are sucked into the hole, and pop out at another. This goes on for a while, until they arrive at the center of the galaxy. Now this is where it gets a bit confusing. They dock at the massive port, and they are in an area that is exactly like a deserted beach. During the night, the races that are there somehow retrieve all of the information in their brains. Suddenly, it's time to leave, they get back in the machine, and power back to earth. On earth, it has only been 20 minutes, and all video evidence was erased. Nobody believes them. This was an excellent book, but because of the confusing end, I have to give this book four out of five stars.

...Or to the heart of the human mind....?? This is indeed an excellent book which is worth reading a coupple of times to get all the details straight. There are so many neuances to it, and so many questions to think through. It differs from the movie, and that is probably why I didn't like it the first time I read it. I was also two years younger then, and I feel like I've gotten a much better perspective on things since then. I believe you have to be mature enough to read the entire book and not just skip the parts you find boring, to fully enjoy Contact.
Carl Sagan has been critizised because he connected religion and science in the book. I think these people were very reigious, and couldn't handle that the two things may be compared to each other. Both come down to a search for something greater than ourselves, wether it is an omnipotent and omniscient god, the natural laws,or maybe something else out there..
Even though Man considers himself the center of the Universe, we are indeed not more than an ant in the unimaginable vastness of space.....
I would like to recommend this book to everybody, but particulary to those who feel lost, cut off, alone. Because you're not. The only thing that makes the emptiness bearable is each other.....

A really great book! I especially like how Sagan emphises the important role of women in science, enginering and in politics, with out trying to fill some "PC" quota. Even though it was probably more entertaining to see clips of Pres. Clinton in the movie, I wasn't suprised to find that the movie version conspiciously edited the part out about the President being a woman. The book is more philosophical and makes more predictions of events that are likely to occur towards the milienium. Really liked both the movie and the book and would highly recommend either! Thank you Carl Sagan

Cheers for Sagan! Not only does this book emphasize the wonders of space exploration and the expansive universe, but he incorporates important and profound ideas pertaining to religion, love, faith, and skepticism, both religious and scientific. The blend he uses makes many enigmatic problems blossom. He analyzes religion for what it is: faith, and shows that not all things can be explained, as Ellie has found out. Ellie is a classic example of the scientific skeptic who yearns to understand and process everything. It is at the point that when her story is deemed incredulous that she realizes that faith in herself and the acceptence of a God who created the universe, is something only her eyes and those with her saw. This is what she has and it is this link that makes her believe with a passion similar to Palmer Joss. This book is perfect for people who are searching, not for answers, but for examples of faith and understanding and the consilience of them.

Most readers of science fiction are not interested in character development, or even plot. They are interested in Big Ideas. Contact has reasonably good character development and plot, especially coming from a scientist, not a professional sci-fi writer. But then, that's not what this book is about. If that's what you seek, read Hemingway, Steinbeck, or Proust.
This book is about a Big Idea, and what a doozy it is--it will truly blow your mind. I first read Contact in high school in the '80s and spent several hours in a daze upon completing it. I recently re-read it, and had a similar reaction. The final pages contain the single most impressive Big Idea I've ever encountered in science fiction.
After building a so-so story around "meaning" as it is perceived by the religious and the rational, Sagan proceeds to close the book with nothing short of a mathematical proof of the existence of God. The protagonist, after earlier demanding of religious leaders, "Why would God make himself an article of faith? Why not reveal himself unequivocably in nature?", is finally given her proof. God wasn't hiding, it turns out. Mankind just wasn't smart enough yet to find Him deep within mathematics. With Intelligent Design proven, faith and reason are united, and mankind sets off on the next level of development.
This is what good sci-fi is all about.
Too bad it's fiction. A fitting final work for Sagan, a scientist who wished desperately to reconcile faith and reason.
btw, the movie leaves the whole Big Idea out. Apparently the producers felt the mathematics would be over the audience's heads. Pity.

Carl Sagan, one of the most renowned Authors of non-fiction, and probably the most famous astronomer ever, captivates and interests the reader immediately in his book Contact, his first and only fiction onus. Its written from a womans point of view, showing discrimination, politics, intense scientific jargan and thousands of other specifics that make it all to real. It is honestly THE best book, I have ever read

I really enjoyed this book. It really is first-rate science fiction, especially coming from a guy for whom writing science fiction wasn't his "day job", but I thought in some ways that it was an odd book for Carl Sagan to have written.

Sagan never made any bones about his atheism, at least in a functional sense, but this is a very "religious" book. Consider the climax of the story (Spoiler Alert!) - five intrepid voyagers traverse the universe and meet the Caretakers, while to all outward appearances their capsule never left the ground and the mission failed. They can produce no tangible evidence of their journey except their own testimony regarding an experience shared only by the five of them. Moreover, their account of their journey, and of wise and powerful beings across the universe, is taken as evidence of psychological distress. Not terribly unlike a "conversion experience".

Or, consider the Caretakers themselves - ultra-wise, deeply moral, all-knowing, and powerful enough to manipulate galaxies. They are not only super-intelligent, but also personal. You don't get to see them as they really are (you couldn't handle that), but only as they deem it best to show themselves. The impression slowly dawns that these alien beings are just . . . like . . . God.

But we know that Carl Sagan had little use for ideas of God. Why, then, if God is a concept so unpalatable to Sagan's mind, does he find the idea of alien beings congenial - alien beings who are a pretty good first-order approximation of God? If he can't accept the idea of God, why CAN he contemplate aliens who have so many of the same attributes as God?

Just curious.

All that being said, this is very good science fiction - it speculates in some very interesting directions, and the "moral" at the end ('love is what makes our lives bearable') brings the book to a warm conclusion. I heartily recommend this book.

I have read this astounding scientific book by Carl Sagan Contact. It has left me a lot of good impressions about this book. This book is well written and well detailed for many people to read. This book goes over a lot of detail, compared with the movie that came out in the theaters. There are couples of passages in the book that I would like to discuss with everyone. They are as follows: "the search for extraterrestrial intelligence-everywhere abbreviated SETI, and except by those who talked somewhat more optimistically about communication with extraterrestrials intelligence (CETI)-was essentially an observing routine, the dull staple for which most of the facility had been built." Page 49, last paragraph. This paragraph talks about the many types of organizations that are designed for searching for extraterrestrials. In the book Dr. Arroway seems to be very involved in keeping up to date from the sponsors of the program and to see that everything is going as scheduled. She's always trying reach for the things that would seem impossible from other people's perspective. One example would be that she always explores every opinion that he could find before she says that something would not work. My second passage: "No Ellie, this is endless. After dozen years you will find no sign of anything. You will argue that another Argue facility has to be built at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in Australia or in Argentina to observe the southern sky. And when that fails, you'll talk about building some parabolic with a free flying feed in Earth orbit so you can get millimeter waves. You'll always be able to think of some kind of observation that hasn't been done. You'll always intent some explanation about why extraterrestrials like to broadcast where we haven't looked." Page 47, 2nd paragraph. In this passage it got really interesting for me, because it went to the heart of the story and the goal that the character is trying to achieve by using more sophisticated and more up to date technology than before. In this passage she always looking for someway of improving her observation and never give up in the process no matter how slim the chances are. When Ellie was little girl she was every much interested in electronics, the functionality of different type radio, and also mathematics. As she grew up she got more and more interested in the career in radio astronomy. As she grew up and got her degree she started looking for a way to communicate with the Alien in the universe. The one thing that I like about this book was the strength of the character in the story, and her ability to push herself to the edge, and try every option that she could think of before going on to the next phase. For my final passage from the book, it talks about one of the most frequent conversation the Dr. Arroway has with the collogues at the work place: "there's a chance that dozen of additional dishes might be added to the Very Large Array, and make it into a dedicated SETI observatory. They'd do some of the usual kind of radio Astronomy also; of course, it would be a superb interferometer." Page 50. 2nd paragraph. In this passage it talks about the project named SETI, and how it's developing among the scientific community. In this book it talks about the way SETI would help the community and be able to profit the research for scanning the skies for radio signal that some life form would be broadcasting to the other planets. In this story the word SETI comes up a lot and it represents the beginning research project in radio astronomy. I had a lot of fun reading this book and I was able to obtain a great amount of knowledge. I would recommend people reading this book, and especially to those people that have the academic level of high school and up, and are interested in astronomy. This book would be a book that you would never want to put down and want to continue reading page after page, chapter after chapter.

WOW!! I REALLY REALLY loved the movie! Ellie is no doubt the person I most admire in the whole world! Well Jodie Foster was superb in the movie, I think she at least deserves an oscar nomination for that ! And I FULLY agree with one of the people who'd written a review here...Helen Hunt is such a twit! She's what we call a "ball of rice" here....no brains, no acting....anyway, CONTACT RULEZ!

I absolutely loved Carl Sagan's novel. The movie did absolutely nothing for me. The novel speaks to you on so many levels. It is the true Sagan speaking. From his feelings on contemporary political agendas, to his thoughts on religion, Sagan gives his readers an insightful look into the issues of the modern world. I think what disappoints most readers of this book is that Contact is not only about "contact". The movie may have been, but the novel is not. I think that this is what makes it outstanding novel. The movie was made so that fourth graders would have no problem understanding the complexities of contacting an alien race. The novel was NOT created for fourth graders. It was created for intelligent adults who are able to gain insights from something other than television. I was not disappointed by Contact. It lived up to my expectations completely. I loved the ending and can admit to crying (as well as laughing) during various parts of the novel. If you want to experience the real Contact, and not the dumbed-down movie version, read Sagan's novel. You won't regret it. In fact, you may be amazed.....

I first read this book a few weeks ago and I didn't really enjoy it... After reading all the reviews, I read the book once more and I didn't really get the point. I don't think this book is really scientific: too much about alien science was unexplained. This book also had some boring parts and some ridiculous characters... The worst thing about this book is the concept of the extraterrestrial intelligence... Have you ever read 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke? The 'Machine' is just like the monolith which tranfers Dave Bowman to... And the idea of 'Grand Central Station' , and cultivating civilization is also mentioned in 2001. 2001 was written in 60s and this book was written much later... Now it is clear that who copied who... Finally, the alien being is so human like... It is ridiculous for an alien to talk about Beethoven (I might have mispelled it... They know too much about human being, and this fact makes them more unconvincing than powerful. ) The reason I gave this book 3 stars instead of 1 or 2 is because the last part of the story... It is quite touching...

An incredible tale held by a plausible context of a possible and near future of communications with another life species in the cosmos. Dr. Sagan created a lovely and dazzling storyline, part fantasy, part fact, part autobiography and completely amazing, where the whole world and the main character (Dra. Eleanor Arroway) face the most wanted and last possible big discovery of now a days: knowledge of existence and contact with other life species. The book have many citations of new discoveries of science and existing institutions and research companies, what makes the story more realistic. This book is a must for who wants to read a science fiction story that can become a science fact someday, just as the tales of Verne, Wells and many other classic writers who dreamed of today common science discoveries and revolutions, such as travel to the moon and artificial organs. READ IT!

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to give this 3 or 4 stars, but after a book review with my husband I decided on 4. Why it didn't get 5. I wanted the Aliens to be more. It felt rushed, like Sagan didn't know how to handle that part. I Also thought the beginning was a bit boring. I actually put this book down for a few months. I am really glad I went back to this book.

J. Dougherty
April 14, 2009
the store.com Book Review
Contact, by Carl Sagan, is about Ellie Arroway, a scientist with an interest in extraterrestrials. While working at Argus, the first astronomical station just for the search for extraterrestrials, Ellie discovers a code of prime numbers in a radio frequency from the planet Vega. This brings the world together to complete an objective of deciphering the code. Ellie finds the primer deeper in the message and it contains the blueprints to build a machine. Without the world unity, however, the message would have probably been lost.
The U.S. is well on its way to building the machine when a bomb destroys it. Mr. Hadden, a wealthy eccentric, finances and builds the machine in Japan. Ellie and four other people go to Vega on the machine through black holes which are used as portals to a huge landing platform. Once they arrive in Vega, the aliens read their minds to get questions answered on the human species. Then the aliens say they will leave Earth alone.
When the space travelers get back, people think the trip to Vega was a hoax because the journey only took twenty-five minutes. The U.S. government tells Ellie if she ever gets proof about the aliens, she can come out with what she saw. In the meantime, the government is going to say the machine failed.
I think Contact accurately portrayed human nature as people have always been initially uneasy with new ideas and ways of life. I thought the book was insightful in how an extraterrestrial encounter could really happen. However, I thought there should have been some action in Contact because there was virtually none. In addition, the transitions between the main points to the story, such as finding the message and building the machine, took too long and were a bit boring. All in all I thought it was a good book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a book that makes you think.

Normally, I don't read fiction, but when the author is Carl Sagan, I stand up and take notice. And Contact is well worth it to. What makes it even better is Sagan's accurate scientific detail that applies to the situation he is creating, although few people can appreciate this. Much like watching Star Trek, the scientific inaccuracies don't get in the way of a great series, but it sure would've enchanced it more!

Historically, intellectuals have philosophized their ideas about god. Hitherto, those philosophies have gained popularity in many's minds. The soul of one's spirituality, faith, and belief is similarly touched in this single work of fiction by one of those former intellectuals. Carl Sagan shows us the universality of faith and spirit in all of our lives, and whole-heartedly encourages us to frame our own ideas of faithful reasoning. Ellie Arroway, the main character, shows the puzzlement of our minds and Palmer Joss, her friend, lover at times, is it's firm-minded, though not closed minded, mediator. Her journey from agnostic to enlightened agnostic occurs with this truth seeker throughout lighting the way and proving connections, comparing the scientific mind with the religious, showing that fine line which separates them. The end of the book shows no conclusion, merely the importance of being open-minded and having an astute mind, an accepting spirit and a rational sould as their parent.

Sagan had the knack of getting his humanistic point of view out without being offensive to the general populace. He was also a great explainer of scientific ideas in a simple way, to make it easy to understand and interesting. I wish he would have lived longer so he could've written more novels. I think novel writing could have been his best skill. He died too young.
Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown Eyed Boy"

This book is one of the best novels of our time! Carl Sagan was such an extraordinary human being! I highly recommend this book to anyone! Especially if u have seen the movie, regardless whether u liked it or not. The book is, of course, very different, and, of course, much better than the movie (although the movie is pretty good too). It seems there are very few books like this one who manage to talk about all the big and important issues of our human race.

I read the book Contact by Carl Sagan. It would probably be considered a science fiction book because it has a lot to do with space and "other forms of life". I gave it four stars because it was very interesting and it made me want to keep reading further and further. The main plot of Contact is about a doctor that works at a satellite monitoring station. She is always listening for sounds form outer space and comes up empty handed every time. Finally she gets her big break; she hears a loud heart-beat type sound coming from a distant star. Soon they start to receive sound and video waves. I will not go into anymore detail because it would make the book a lot less exciting to read and give away the ending if you knew anything more about the book. Overall, thought it was a great book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who finds space and science interesting or who has a little bit of an imagination and curiosity about space.

Sagan's brilliance lies in his ability to make intelligent readers wonder. Those who nit-pick and complain about pi are missing the point. Sagan used pi to show the existence of god because pi cannot be changed; it is built into the fabric of reality and only the creator of that reality could embed a message in pi. All in all, an incredible book by an extraodinary man.

Contact is an entangling story about Ellie, an astronomer, who stumbles upon what she had been searching for her entire life, a message from other intelligent beings. The author does a fabulous job predicting the political, scientific, and personal struggles faced with a discovery of this magnitude.
Carl Sagan is one of those authors that appeal to a select target group of readers. Born a scientific mind, writing fiction with scientific undertones was purely nature. After graduating from the University of Chicago with his Ph. D Sagan went on to participate in councils and organizations that revolved mainly around astronomy.
Although this in-depth story is a type of mental quicksand for all kinds of readers, the scientific undertones are usually only grasped by those who embrace mathematics and think like a physicist. The answers skeptics, like us, constantly search for have been laid out in front of us in a fictional book providing possibilities we can only dream of. Giving everyone the ability to expand our horizons and think like a theorist, people create their own answers rather than listen to others.

This work is commendable, considering it was Sagan's first fictional effort (although pundits would argue Sagan science writings contained an abundance of fiction). The plot is believable, the characters are alive, and the science-oriented references give the story some added depth - especially for those who have some previous science knowledge. Religious issues are confronted by Sagan with great fervor, who isn't apprehensive about expressing his opinions. All in all, a solid science-fiction novel. This is one case, however, where the movie tops the book.

What a beautiful book! Until recently, I had never read any of Sagan's work but this book was spectacular. There is so much heart and emotion and feeling here that I felt like immediately reading it over again once I'd finished. I'm also ashamed to say I hadn't seen the movie until after reading the book, but I guess that was the best way to go at it. The character of Ellie is completely real and made me miss the relationship I had with my own father as a child (and also question by believe in God). Anyway, a great read! Also, for anyone who really enjoyed this book, I recently read a book called The Space Between by Ronald Damien Malfi and I felt the book had a similar feel, if you're looking for a good next read. I also recently read Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway, but I guess that's a bit different than these other two.

the bottom line is whether a book is an enjoyable read. Some think this book is 'hard' sci-fi but if you look closely it has as much fiction as any other book in the field. I enjoyed it and others that were the same and different: DUNE by Frank Herbert, 2001, HYPERION by Dan Simmons, AREA 51 by Doherty. Read them all for a spectrum of science fiction books.

Contact

Carl Sagan

Congratulations,

You are about to embark on a journey through time and space, and get the opportunity to observe and evaluate the very thoughts of the author and ppreciate the author's scientific intuition. You will assimilate the moral, ethical, and philosophical issues that arise from the discovery of the "Message" and the building of the "Machine." Most importantly, you will discover that a relationship exists between scientific and philosophical disciplines, and enjoy some good old fashion story telling mixed in just for fun.

PRELIMINARY

To understand the book is to understand the man. Our distinguished author has many credits to his name. He was the Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University. He was part of the team responsible for the Viking, Mariner, and Voyager Expeditions. He received NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and for Distinguished Public Service. He was past chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences and the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Four hundred of his scientific and popular articles have been published. Additionally, he was the author and co-author of several other books including : "Intelligent Life in the Universe," "The Cosmic Connection," "The Dragons of Eden," "Murmurs of Earth," "Broca's Brain," "Comet," his most famous - "Cosmos," "A Path Where No Man Thought," an expose' of the nuclear winter scenario, and his last - "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in literature in 1978; he was also a champion of both human and Earth rights. But for all his brilliance, intuitiveness, and achievement, Carl Sagan recognized his own mortality and insignificance in the Universe.

Contact. Only Carl Sagan could devise this simple, one word name for his first fiction novel; the title so eloquently and completely describes the central plot of his story - contact with an advanced galactic civilization and, perhaps, more - the identity of which is: to be announced!

Given his credentials, it is not surprising to me that Carl Sagan chose the subject of extraterrestrial contact for his first fiction novel; it so perfectly reflects his own interests: Cosmology, SETI, and CETI activities; SETI and CETI, incidently, refer to 'Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence' and 'Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence' respectively. His novel names real places, among them: the Arecibo facility in Puerto Rico and the Argus Array in Socorro, New Mexico. He conducted SETI activities at both these facilities. Indeed, his first fiction novel is a reflection of his own fantasies and ambitions of locating alien intelligence. With his collaborator and colleague, Ann Druyan, he achieved excellent results with "Contact."

STORY SYNOPSIS

In the late 1980's, an intelligent radio source (a message)is received from the vicinity of the Vega star system in the constellation of Lyra. The signal contained many levels of information encoded by various modulation methods and astronomers found: a re-broadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, a set of prime numbers, and finally, elaborate instructions to build a machine. It's the "Machine." Extraterrestrials are telling us they know we're here. Several years were needed to decode the instructions and build the Machine. During this time, great political, philosophical, religious, and scientific debates took place to determine the purpose, implications, and ramifications of the now controversial Machine. The Machine is eventually determined to be a vehicle by which five Earth travelers would be able to journey to Vega and be greeted by the Message senders. The Machine, do decahedron in shape, is completed and, on New Year's Eve - 1999, it is activated with 5 selected travelers on board. Within a matter of minutes, the travelers visit several spectacularly beautiful star systems before finally reaching their destination and meeting the Message senders, the "Caretakers."

The travelers find that the Caretakers are a conglomeration of cultures that have been around for half a billion years. After determining that the expanding Universe will eventually spread itself too thin to allow for the formation of new stars and galaxies, the Caretakers decided they would harness and corral extraneous matter using the gravity effects of black holes and other devices, and cause a sufficient concentration of the matter to insure the continued rebirth of new stars and galaxies. At times, they "closed off" sections of the Universe until needed.

Does Dr. Sagan have an imagination, or doesn't he?! The Caretakers are certainly the ultimate ecologists. Like a galactic version of Johnny Appleseed, they have taken the task of re-planting the Universe! The Caretakers' true appearance is never revealed because they appear to each of the Earth travelers as the travelers' loved ones. Dr. Ellie Arroway, our heroine and main character, talks with her dead "father" and learns that the Caretakers have an "emerging civilization division" that makes contact with cultures such as Earth, and invites them for a visit and tour. The Caretakers have watched many civilizations come and go but believe the Earth has hope for survival.

Dr. Arroway's assigned host, her "father," talks with her about the possibility of a hidden message buried deep with the value of "Pi," perhaps 10 to the 20th power digits beyond the decimal point. Dr. Arroway ponders the idea. But visit time is almost up! The Caretakers escort the travelers back to their craft and, without proof of their visit, send them home. Ellie later investigates the properties of Pi and makes a gargantuan discovery!

A WORD ABOUT STORY ACCURACY

Above all, Carl Sagan is a scientist. Based on what I know about him from his previous works, he apparently assumes nothing and questions everything. He is a stickler for detail. He retains that child-like wonder and imagination of the world around him - and of the Universe in which we reside. Accordingly, he left little to chance while weaving his story.

A transmission emanates from the Vega star system. Vega is about the right age, the right size, and the right spectral range to spawn a planetary system conducive to supporting an advanced civilization. It is also 26 light years away. The transmission, received about 1988, contained an encoded re-broadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. The period between 1936 and 1988 is 52 years; a round-trip radio transmission from Earth to Vega and back would take 52 years. Dr. Sagan later weaves the speed of light limit into his story when the Earth travelers are accused of perpetrating a hoax by government officials. The travelers are informed that the Message stopped at the moment the Machine was activated. With their limited minds, the government officials "know" that it should take 26 years for news of Machine activation to reach Vega. They refuse to believe that the Vegans could have broken the speed of light barrier. Dr. Sagan shrewdly used his "writer's license" with respect to the speed of light issue. As Isaac Asimov put it in his book The Roving Mind: "What do science fiction writers do?......better writers know of the speed of light limit and get around it by assuming that in the future, new technologies will be available. They talk about moving through 'hyperspace,' or through 'subspace'; they make use of a 'subetheric drive' or a 'space warp'.

But let's get back on track. Our distinguished author's work is more accurately described as a science and philosophy text book with a story woven in to connect these things. I estimate that 65 percent of the book would remain if the story were removed. Among the multitude of scientific notions "Contact" explores are the descriptions of various radio transmission modulation methods and the properties of exponential growth. Through his Ellie Arroway character, Dr. Sagan points out that one cubic centimeter of water (about one thimble full) contains 3 x 10 to the 19th power molecules whereas the entire Universe contains 1 x 10 to the 80th power elementary particles. A numerical difference of only 61 (in terms of powers of ten) is the difference between a few drops of water and all the matter in the entire Universe! In addition, the reader learns about worm holes, black holes, the birth and death of stars, bright infrared and x-ray emission sources, precession of the Earth's axis, Keppler's three laws, and much more. Speaking of Johannes Keppler, Dr. Sagan - the little devil - cleverly and surreptitiously slipped Keppler's proposed model of the solar system into his story. Dr. Sagan's Machine took the form of a do decahedron enclosed by three concentric rotating, mutually perpendicular hemispheres he calls benzels. In his paper entitled Mysterium Cosmographicum, published in 1596, Keppler borrows the Greek Mathematicians' discovery of the five - and only five - regular solids. A regular solid is one in which all sides are the same. In Keppler's model, the five solids are nestled one-in-the-other, separated by concentric spheres. One of these regular solids is a do decahedron, formed of twelve pentagons. Is the similarity between Keppler's model and Dr. Sagan's Machine a coincidence? I don't think so. Dr. Sagan is not only brilliant, he's sneaky. "Contact" may someday be used as a textbook.

Speaking of textbooks, consider the following riddle. What does one get when one combines the fundamental parts of the book "Cosmos" with a fictional story? Answer: "Contact." As I previously mentioned, "Contact" IS Dr. Sagan's way of telling us his dreams. Consider the following examples:

Contact: p.77 - Ellie imagines the Message as the "Encyclopedia Galactica" when it is first received.

Cosmos: pp.291-315 - An entire chapter is entitled "Encyclopedia Galactica." This chapter is a speculative accounting of how another civilization might communicate with us.

Contact: p.100 - Ellie explains to the President that the transmission from Vega has messages over messages in different levels of modulation - what she calls a "palimpsest." Cosmos: p.314 - "But the most likely case is that interstellar communication will be a kind of palimpsest, like the palimpsests of the ancient writers short of papyrus or stone who superimposed their messages on top of preexisting messages."

These are but a few of the many parallels that exist between "Contact" and "Cosmos." Is there any doubt that Dr. Sagan is telling us his greatest ambition - his greatest dream?

SCIENTIFIC INSIGHTS EXPLORED

Scientific insight is an understatement in "Contact." Dr. Sagan wasted no time with the development of his Ellie Arroway main character and our heroine. As a champion of civil and human rights, he naturally gave us a female astronomer and a female President. He meticulously describes Ellie's hard struggle to overcome harsh prejudices and resistance to her achieving her goal of becoming a radio astronomer and scientist in this male dominated profession. He also took great care to give her a perpetually inquisitive mind that questioned everything. She is a master of "Why?" From child through adulthood, she wondered about everything from the way vacuum tubes worked to - the Bible's compatibility with science to - the physical makeup of the Universe. Her curiosity parallels Albert Einstein's comment that a passion for comprehension is a necessary component of the scientific mind.

Dr. Sagan's Ellie character also follows in the best traditions

of women devoted to space exploration: Henrietta Leavitt, the Harvard astronomer who devised a stellar distance measuring method in 1912; Jocelyn Bell, the Cambridge astronomer who discovered what we now call "pulsars" in 1967; Linda Morabito, the JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) engineer who discovered active volcanos on Jupiter's moon, Io in 1988; and, most poignantly, astronauts Judy Resnik and Christa McAullife who gave their lives in the pursuit of space exploration.

Through his various characters and situations, Dr. Sagan also poses the questions of technical civilizations being self limiting through self destruction; the probable numbers of other cultures in the Universe based on favorable conditions; are we too dumb for other civilizations to bother with; are we really fundamentally happier with the benefits of science - each of these concerns shared by Isaac Asimov, among others. A religious leader in the book offers these criticisms of scientists: scientists keep findings to themselves; only share information in bits and pieces; over-estimate what they know, under-estimate what people know; taught us how to annihilate ourselves. This same religious leader attempts to identify God as the source of the Message. He incredibly points out that Vega was the "North Star" about ten thousand B.C. when the Earth's axis was at the other side of its precession cycle (precession is a wobble in the Earth's rotation axis). This era marks the emergence of civilization and the concept of gods. It is Divine Providence that the guiding star then is the origin of this message now, he claims. Does Dr. Sagan dig into the depths of detail, or doesn't he?

Dr. Sagan, again through his Ellie character, does not allow the Bible to escape scrutiny. Ellie, in conference with not one but two prominent religious leaders, chairs a great marathon debate that scrutinizes biblical accuracy. Pro Bible arguments from the religious leaders focus mainly on claims of fulfilled Bible prophesies: "The coming of the savior is foretold in Isaiah fifty-three, in Zechariah fourteen, in First Chronicles seventeen. That He would be born in Bethlehem was prophesied in Micah five. That He would come from the line of David was foretold in Matthew one.....the Ministry and Suffering of Jesus are foretold in Isaiah fifty-two and fifty-three, and the Twenty-second Psalm. That He would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver is explicit in Zechariah eleven....and the Bible speaks of our own time. Israel and the Arabs, Gog and Magog, America and Russia, nuclear war - it's all there in the Bible." Undaunted, Ellie waits for the right moment to return fire. Among her first salvo of rebuttals: The prophecies are often abstract and vague, ambiguous and imprecise - open to a wide range of interpretations.....even straightforward prophecies don't seem to jibe - like Jesus' promise that the Kingdom of God would come within the lifetime of some people in his audience.....passages that seem fulfilled are highlighted and the rest are ignored.

She continues by asking why God's communication with us in contemporary times isn't made perfectly clear. Why doesn't the Bible contain information that no mortal person would have known at the time - such as the Sun is a star....or Mars is a rusty place with deserts and volcanos....or a body in motion tends to remain in motion....or nothing travels faster than the speed of light? Why is there no mention of such things like "Two strands entwined is the secret of life"....or why hasn't He put a giant crucifix in orbit around Earth....or place the Ten Commandments across the face of the moon? Why no more burning bushes or pillars of fire or a thundering voice from the sky saying "I am that I am?" Why does He remain so cryptic - why doesn't He rattle our cages each generation or so? The marathon philosophical debate ends with all participants adjourning, satisfied with their respective offerings but not swayed by the others' positions.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Strikingly, "Contact" contains a table of contents not unlike that of an omnibus text book. "Contact" takes us on a tour that introduces us to the unique properties of Pi .. scientific investigation and hypothesis .. contributions of Greek science and mathematics .. our solar system .. the known properties of the Universe .. black holes .. do decahedrons .. exponential powers .. the Milky Way .. stars' life-cycles .. the Renaissance astronomers .. probability of extraterrestrial intelligence .. probability of our survival .. our insignificance .. our propensity toward greed and corruption .. our pollution problems .. our place in the Universe .. and much more. Science, religion, politics, psychology, philosophy, and their relationships to each other - it's all there - in "Contact."

Dr. Sagan's message to his readers is multi-faceted. He tells us who we are, where we've been, what were doing, and where we're going. He tells us we need to make the right decisions now if we are to have a desirable future; he tells to be scientists, to have an open mind; he counsels us to control our arrogance; he demonstrates the distinct possibility of life elsewhere in the Cosmos; but most significantly, he tells us WHO HE IS. Although Dr. Sagan is no longer with us, I feel his message is still very much alive.

But for all his brilliance, scientific knowledge and intuitiveness, skepticism, and resourcefulness, Dr. Sagan still held the door open to the idea that there may be a . . . Hey - read the book!

"Contact" isn't for everybody . . . but . . . it should be.

SOME PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I first enjoyed reading this book when it was first published. I recently read it again to enhance my appreciation of it because I was able to convert my increased knowledge of the sciences from my schooling into a greater understanding of Dr. Sagan's "Message."

Dr. Sagan issued a disclaimer at the end of his book, telling the reader that no character in the book is a close portrait of a real person. I don't think this is entirely true. I can't help believe that there isn't at least a smidgeon of similarity between the persona of the Ellie Arroway character and that of Dr. Sagan or, perhaps, his colleague and collaborator, Ann Druyan.

Enjoy!

Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming: The book is good, especially if you HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET!!! Imagine to my surprise that I saw the movie in the theatre first and then was given a copy of this book: I read it, liked it when I had my trusty Webster's Dictionary on hand and so on and so forth... But, considering as any 16 year old would, between book and movie, the latter seemed to win out-- I had only one major query out of the entire experience... The blind physicist, Dr. Kent Clark (played magnificentlly by the talented actor William Fichtner) was a much-needed key in tying the emotional matter to the scientific-- His character and Ellie (Jodie Foster) had much more on screen character and even flow that with McConaughey's Joss-- It was believable, a good pairing, and would have done a book in this subject a world of good HAD HIS CHARACTER BEEN FEATURED IN THE BOOK!! then again, that's just my opinion.

I was excited to learn that a reputable scientist, Carl Sagan, wrote a book about our first contact with extra-terrestrials. What would a respected scientist have to say on the subject? What would he think the aliens would be like? Unfortunately Carl Sagan didn't write the book I thought he wrote. We don't meet any aliens in this book. In order to make contact, it's not enough to just make contact with ourselves. Without spoiling the ending, I'll just say that the characters don't end up shaking hands with Bob Schultz from the planet Nebulus. What this book is about is the stubborn, corrupt stupidity of the scientific establishment and the cowardice of our space travelers who knuckle under pressure. It's a stupid book. It's about as satisfying as banging the top of your head against the inside of your car after you return the ice scraper to the glove compartment. This is the only case I know where the movie is far superior to the book instead of the other way around.

Although Sagan's novel wasn't bad, the movie was in fact better. Sagan tends to go off on a tangent for three chapters and goes into extraordinary amounts of detail about some things, and not nearly enough about others. The book seems to be even closer to how such an event would happen in real life than the movie, but to the point where it becomes tedious and boring at times. Character development in the movie was actually better. Read the book if you have the chance, definately go see the movie!

It was about as good as the movie but in a different way. Carl Sagan is a scientist, not a writer, but the writing of science was good. :) Very different from the movie, and you definitely learn a lot.

Ellie Arroway is the director of a project that monitors radio telescopes used to detect signs of extraterrestrial life.

When a repeating series of prime numbers is detected, Ellie discovers a message--plans for a machine that seats five people. The machine is built and five people (Ellie among them) travel through a series of wormholes. Ellie and her teammates meet beings who suggest the existence of a higher being who created everything.

Though the travelers had an experience lasting many hours, when they return to Earth only 20 minutes have passed and no video footage survived the trip. Left with no proof of their experiences, the team members are accused of making up the whole thing.

I read this book after I saw the movie. OK, so it wasn't as good as the movie, but it was still pretty good. I liked it better when Ellie Arroway was alone instead of with a group. And Palmer Joss's character was more developed in the movie. But it has a space on my shelf, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in astronomy or physics.

I thought this book was excellent. Sagan does a wonderful job of predicting the reactions of various people --given their occupations, ideologies, worldviews, etc.---were contact with extraterrestrial civilizations ever to be made. Sagan's insight into Ellie's character is understandably, considering his own work as a scientist, apt and in depth --in my opinion.
The debates between the scientists and ecclesiastics were something all too real for me, and I thought the interactions between different governments, and their marked suspicion of each other, was both appalling and accurate. One of the hallmarks of GOOD science fiction, in my opinion, is the ability to use real science within the story (of course the occasional divergence into the purely theoretical is sometimes necessary for things such as interstellar travel) and in this respect Sagan hits the mark head on. Definitely one of my favorite science fiction books, apart from the works of Adams and Asimov. I will be giving this book as a gift to a few choice friends.

Scientific writer is like a chef who wants to put all the ingredients in one dish, and making it quite weird both in outlook and taste. Endless elaborations and repeats making the heroine look like Vega, shinning, bright yet distant exactly like a male Sagan himself. A novel should not read like a textbook. If the writer cannot achieve such basic requirement, he should write no-fiction to elaborate his billions, billions ideas with lot of clauses which never end. Showing off all the books you have read and all the concepts you have acquired in your lifetime were fine, but you should not put them in a novel, instead, you should jam them in non-fiction writings. This is the reason why the movie has to be completely changed and deformed in order to make it more seeable (readable), otherwise, the cinema would only hear lot of zzzzzzz snorings. At the end of the movie, on the lower right of the screen, a short note was shown: FOR CARL. It meant so well and so appropriately, since they finally made Carl Sagan's

read the book after seeing the movie 7 times. surprised how much better the movie's plot was. Sagan's vision of the aliens as bored galactic engineers was a real let down compared to the movies vision of the aliens as enlightened and spiritual. The whole treatment of the spiritual angle, though, is confused in both the movie and the book

One of the best (and most realistic) first CONTACT(no pun) yarns ever written,,with wonderfully fleshed out characters(unlike the sterile Asimov and the ridiculously cartoonish Niven) without the sometimes overly mystical quliities of Clarke and Bradbury. A moving and touching capstone to the work of a true giant in the SETI field CONTACT is a paen to "hard" SF that speculates on the possible in the here and almost-now rather than the sometimes ridiculous space opera with mythical laser gun battles and aliens that speak perfect English. Reminiscent of Asimovs(un-Asimovian) The Gods Themselves and the recently published " A Quiet Invasion"

This book was a great treat for me. I have always viewed Carl Sagan with much respect. There is-I believe-no one better qualified who could bring to reality this idea of "contact." Carl Sagan filled his book with such details that made the idea of extraterrestrial contact seem-for once-plausible. He brought his knowledge and wisdom, as seen in Cosmos, to this novel to make it extraordinarily realistic. But it wasn't only his great detail of scientific facts that made the story seem rational; it was also his painstaking detailed descriptions of the lives of all the characters. I don't believe his only message in this novel was that of "contact"; he had many other messages especially in the intercalary chapters and flashbacks. Contact is an extended parable in a sense; Carl Sagan had much to teach us in both philosophical aspects and in individual and societal thinking. Another facet that made this book an incredible read, were all the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and each part; it makes the reader think more into the story. Carl Sagan's writing style also was attractive. His style of writing is uncommon and makes the read easier. The underlying but prominent theme of Contact is knowledge is power. Carl Sagan knew this very well and he tells us to acknowledge everything in this world and if we do so, we will find the truth.

It's a rather romantic representation of science at it's current stage, but I think that's one of the things about Sagan's work that tends to draw in so many people. He's not afraid to dream, whilst still remaining rooted in science fact. It's an excellent delving into human nature on so many levels, as are his other works. The one scene in the book where Ellie is clutching the ground, and can "feel" the earth churning and spinning beneath her ... I can really identify with those sorts of things. It was amazingly touching, but perhaps not for a steadfast science-only type of person.
All in all, I loved the book. I *thought* the movie was excellent, but it simply does not compare once you read the novel. This book is well worth the six or seven dollars it costs. It's a colourful book filled with fascinating descriptions and characters.

This was a great story. I am a science and astronomy buff so this was right up my ally. Sagan did a wonderful job and I love how he put an agnostic scientist in the place of not being able to prove the experience she had with aliens. I read this book years ago and when the movie came out I couldn't wait to see it. Sagan was a wonderful human being and tread lightly when it came to the beliefs of others.

This is an excellent book, both because it is so imaginative and so concrete. Carl Sagan's excellent science knowledge make the ideas plausible in a sci-fi kind of way. Where the book leaps up and excels is that it is so eerily close to what I could imagine happening in the real world, the government official are real, the talks, the deliberations, the project, and the reactions of people. If aliens contacted us tomorrow, this book would be the blueprint, there would be groups for it, groups against it, and groups willing to go to any length to thwart the meeting. If you have seen the movie, compare the end of the book to that of the movie, see who gets in the last "blow" science or religion. It is interesting to see how they differ. This is one of the most excellent books I have read.

I think this is a three or four-star book. I have mixed sentiments. The first time I read it, I remember being impressed by the witty dialogue on the issue of religion and science, the reasons to doubt as opposed to the reason to believe. Religion and believe makes up an important theme of the book, and Sagan's insights (as expressed through the characters) are important and still useful. But in another sense, Sagan is merely substituting a more impersonal, science friendly religion for what he perceives to be an older-time worn formula for religion. His caricature of religion seems to omit that anyone could have a liberal sense of religion, and focuses mostly on the fundamentalist view. I just wish the book weren't so "chatty." Honestly I think it could have been edited to be much shorter, more succinct. In a nutshell, I think there are important themes of religion and science here, and that it is a still a worthy read - if also a mildly flawed one.

Although maybe a little too optimistic, "Contact" is one of the best books I have ever read. I saw the movie first (yes, I did like her going alone better) yet the book had a stronger message than it. Make sure you have patience when reading this- it's worth it. This book forces you to think, like it or not.

I was really looking forward to listening to this story. But Mr. Sagan's continued references to and emphasis on his atheistic ideas was bothersome to me and interfered with the story line. I tried it a few times, then asked to return it for a refund. I'm old enough that I will no longer tolerate having someone push their personal agenda on me via a novel or film.

It has a lot of interesting ideas, and I would say that it's worth looking into.

However:

There's a hell of a lot of filler, and it's in all of the wrong places; the author tends to exhaustively detail irrelevant side-topics while only barely touching major plot devices. Worse still (to me, at least), the language is extremely dry. The characters are very bland and one-dimensional, not so much people as they are idealized Shakespearean characters that go on long soliloquies about how very beautiful caterpillars are.

I'm about halfway through, and I'll finish it, but I can safely say that it's not for me.

If you like science, speculation, ideas, literature, evolution, religion, philosophy, theology; in general, just "know" about everything, this book will stretch your mind and imagination, and you will surely begin to wonder how much we have yet to learn about our universe and planet and ourselves.

Contact, by Carl Sagan, is overall a mediocre book. There are three parts in the novel. The first part, The Message, is mostly about Ellie, the main character's childhood and background. This is a very boring part in the book. It is basically a biography of Ellie. There is not really any reason for me to care. There is no action or suspense. There are no interesting concepts that would intrigue a reader. In fact, there is little science fiction in this part of the book. The only aspect of science fiction prevalent in part one of the novel is the fears, hopes and dreams of Ellie Arroway. That sounds interesting, doesn't it?

The second part, The Machine, is mostly about the interpretation of the Message. Also this part includes the building of the machine. In this section of the book, it is still very boring. There is a pattern for the chapters in part two. The beginning of the chapter starts with an uninteresting concept or theme in math or science. The middle of the chapter expands on the concept or theme. The beginning and middle of the chapters are dull because of this. The only exciting parts in the chapters occur at the end. They introduce new interesting concepts. One example is the introduction of the idea of the Trojan horse theory. Someone suggests that the machine they are building is a way for the aliens to voyage to earth easily. The problem is that they do not expand on the concepts that I, the reader am interested in. Instead they waste most of each chapter on uninteresting dull concepts that my chemistry teacher would find boring.

The third part, The Galaxy, is a very interesting part in the book. I could hardly put the book down. The main reason I liked the third part of the book was the abundance of science fiction. In this part of the book, Ellie and some other scientists are using the machine to travel to Vega. This part of the book deals with technology and perceptions of reality. In the third part of the book, they throw out many new concepts. One example is the "space subway". The machine that they build allows the people to travel to the center of the galaxy by using a galactic subway. The third part in the book introduces a lot of cool concepts like that. The main reason the third part was the best is because of all the action. There is not much action in the first two parts. In the third, the scientists travel to the center of the Galaxy and also have to prove to everyone that they are not lying. Perceptions of reality play a big role in the third part. People on earth do not believe the Scientists, because the voyage seems to only take the scientists 20 minutes. To the scientists, their adventure takes a day and 20 minutes. The third part of the book was fun to read.

Overall, I think it is an okay book. It could have been better if the author had further developed the concepts that I found interesting.

Carl Sagan captures your interest the moment the book begins, not with the science of it mind you, but with the main character, whom one automatically recognizes is a exceedingly gifted, and yet compassionate person. The book details her trials in life, including discrimination, death, and domestic family problems, as well as romance. Sagan of course has a healthy mix of technicality within the book, virtually all of of which is based in fact. Between the characters, which seem all to real, and the actual story line and discovery of extra-terrestrial life, this turned out to be my all time favorite book which has something for everyone to enjoy! Its almost larger than life, and should be considered a classic by future generations.

This book was a terriffic read. I really enjoyed it. Although I am not generally a fan of Science-Fiction, I found this book amazingly realistic. However, the movie of this book was a big dissapointment. I found that the story was incredibly different in the movie, although the basics stayed the same. If you have seen the movie, then I suggest you read this, and be prepared for a pleasant surprise. In the copy I read, there were quotes relavent to the coming chapter on the page preceeding. This gave an extra depth to the story. I wasn't able to put the book down. This book is an amazing read for anyone who has looked up at the stars and has wondered if we are alone.

I hardly give 10 to a book. This one deserves it.
Whenever a movie based on a book is released, the book gains attention. Usually, movies are better then their book couterparts. This is not the case. The book is much more complete then the movie, it has a scientific approach. Things that couldn't be used on the movie are available on the book.
The ending, for example, is fantastic. I won't tell you how things end, but the feeling you have after finishing the book is that you left the movie in the middle. It's something you just can't imagine. It makes the book worth to read.

I loved this Carl Sagan masterpiece for three main reasons: (1) it is an intelligent, realistic look at what would happen if we actually did make contact with an alien civilization; (2) it is an insightful commentary on the relationship between religion and science; and (3) it is wonderful fiction, with characters as realistic as the plot and the science. It is the kind of science fiction that is only one step removed from science fact: Consider it a realistic story with some fantasy elements, rather than a fantasy story with some realistic elements (a la Star Wars). I saw the movie first, and it's the only movie that has made me want to go out and buy the book. And the book did not disappoint; in fact, it was even better than I had expected.

Like one other reviewer, I don't know what the two one-star raters saw or experienced. Maybe it was no monsters (except the traditional governmental bad guys.) I got the movie on a whim after ignoring it for years. What a shock--it was fantastic. I now own the movie and a hard-to-find hardbound copy of the book. What an experience. Read, watch and listen to the book, movie, and book on tape!!!!

While taking care to keep the fantastical adventure scientifically sound, Sagan seems to have given into his didactic nature. The book is a novel in the sense that it focuses on the central characters' thoughts, feelings, and experiences, but it is also an examination of human culture and philosophy. Fascinating . . . it will provide enlightenment for all future generations.

I am normally not a science fiction reader. I enjoy non fiction and rarely dabble in fiction but i had to make an exception for carl sagan. I read essentialy all his other works and decided i had to read this book and lets just say i was not disapointed. This is a must read for everyone, especially fans of sagan or astronomy. It is well written and has a gripping story. Highly recommended

While updating 'Anomaly at Fortune Lake,' I searched for classic first contact stories. Of course, Contact is known as one of the best, and I wasn't disappointed. The book's real world astronomy, with technology not overly exaggerated, will appeal to readers of all ages. If you're an avid amateur astronomer, like me, you must read this classic. Endings are always the toughest part to write (I struggle in my own books), and Sagan has stepped up to the challenge, with a firmer ending than in the movie-version of this book.

With my respect to TITANIC's lovers, CONTACT is one of the most fabulous movies I have seen. - People most hungry for meaning : "The one science as valuable give them" ...i.e "science killed GOD", what if science simply revealed and doesn't exist on the first place.
- Okam Rayzer : "Basic Scientific Principal"
"All things being equal, the simplest explanation is the right one"
===> All powerful mysterious GOD created university and decided not to give any prove of his existence OR Have simply doesn't exist at all and we created him so we don't have to feel so small alone.

I like this game.
Thomas Al-Hamad

It's 20 or more years since I read it so can't remember whether third person or not... I'm giving it 5 stars because it was well ahead of it is a landmark in popularizing real science and not setting up fallacies; but rather creating an authentic and possible (even perhaps probable) scenario that may greet us... when? Who knows?

A young scientist is a dedicated researcher, astronomer and SETI type. She detects a signal from space and finally works out what it is, in that it is instructions from a group of aliens on how to build a machine that will allow transport/or communication with them.

A fairly understated style of story, the heroine has to deal with the self serving politicians and the religious nuts to try and get the job done.

Definitely the most thought-provoking science-fiction novel I can remember. No, the movie was OK, but don't read this book because of the movie.
Sure, if you like Matrix or Star Trek, just the sci-fi aspect of the story would blow you away. But here is more:
If you want to know how to reconcile between Religion and Science, Carl Sagan offers such a good view on this ever-controversial topic, I can't help but feeling a subtle shift in my own fundamental philosophy after reading this book.
Why are there so many Christians, Catholics, Islamics, Buddhists, or even athiests? You would find such distinction a bit ironic once you read "Contact."
Bravo, Carl Sagan!

Like most of his work, Sagan puts across the sciences and professions of astronomy and astrophysics across for the lay reader with great ability and an obvious feeling for his subject and his readers. I enjoyed the humanness of his characters, the realities of their work world, and the science in which they were involved. I read the book before watching the video and felt, as I usually do, that the book was better. One can always create more side plots and develop to a greater extent the individual characters in a volume of so many pages, which the reader can set aside at will and return to as needed. The director must stick to a central theme and be constantly mindful of budgetary constraints. I also thought the relationship of the heroine with her father was more intense and surprising in the book than in the movie.

I am not exactly scientifically inclined but I enjoyed this novel very much. This is an intensely involving story that draws you into the heart of wonderment and discovery. This book is intelligent and passionate, a bit heavy on the jargon but throughly enjoyable.

For those who loved the movie, you should have read the book first- and then you'd have hated the movie. The movie's ending was anti-climactic, whereas the last page of the novel presents one of the most mind-boggling concepts I have ever encountered- a picture built into a number. And not just any picture! I found this to be a genuinely moving book- a distinct rarity in the science fiction world. And for the lost soul who rated the book a "1" because Carl is an "atheist"- you totally missed the point of the book! Like Einstein, Carl was an agnostic- but he was profoundly and deeply "religious," in his way, as the ending of the book makes so clear. Carl's reverence and concern for this planet and for its future generations should qualify him for sainthood, in any religion. As Carl said of Euclid's Geometry, this book is "a great read."

Like a lot of Sagan's work, Contact is really about the place of humanity, and life, in the greater reality of the universe. Are we a random accident of nature or is there a more fundamental meaning behind our existence?

As a novel Contact is an entertaining, but sometimes cumbersome, read. The payoff is a brilliant little twist at the end, completely absent in the movie. It is original, delightful and a complete surprise, and by itself it raises a pretty good book onto my short list of personal favorites.

Some readers won't get it, or won't get the significance of it, but those who are fascinated by the big questions and reasonably literate in scientific/mathematical thinking, will stumble upon a hidden little gem here.

I was so awed by the 1997 movie "Contact" with Jodie Foster that I had to read the book. Am I ever glad I did! Carl Sagan weaves together a brilliant story with characters that are true to life, with faults and all. The questions he raises in regards to faith, science and religion are honest ones. Many of them we may never know the answers to until we meet God. I only wish Mr. Sagan had continued on with the story of Ellie in a follow-up novel. It would be wonderful to re-visit her again.

I read this book when I was in the 7th Grade. I understood most of what Sagan was refering to, but since I still had a few questions I read his equally great non-fiction novel, Cosmos. These two novels have had a profound impact on my views of life.

The lead in was great. Good details, very interesting suspenseful story. I just thought the end was way too fast, almost if he said, enough of this - lets end it. I am looking for the second half of the story. The book was better then the movie.

I found Sagan's fictional work interesting from
the standpoint of it's scientific base.
I enjoyed learning about MESA and the search for
audio contact from others in the universe. The characters
were believable, and the weaving of the social,
political. and economic implications were thought
provoking.
I can't say it was a page turner, but I managed to turn them all.

Carl Sagan really did out-do himself when he wrote Contact. It is the best book in the world by far...except for the bible, of course. And the movie just takes your breath away. No other movie in the world has been as awesome as this one.

This review addresses the construction quality of the book which is the absolute worst possible. The paper is cheap, the binding is cheap, it feels as though it could fall apart at any given moment. Contact, Carl Sagan's book, is of the highest quality but please purchase a different edition.

although, for lack of free time, it took me just under six months to read this book, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It seemed to help expand my imagination, and consider possibilities that I've never thought about before. It had all the elements to make a good book... and just in case you're wondering.... IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE MOVIE!! :):)

This book (and movie) are at the top of my very long must-read, must-see list. Carl Sagan weaves a brilliant science fiction story that makes us step back and take a look at our faith, whether it is faith in science, God, or humanity. And he tells us that through all of the stuff that we have to muddle through each day, the only thing that matters is love. This is a rare occurrence where both the book and movie are superb and they will leave you enthralled to the very end.

I don't know what these one star raters are thinking. If nothing else this book and movie give you some very important things to think about. We are not alone be it an alien civilization or an omnipresent, omniscient God. I like to think that both exist together. There is also the hope that we may be reunited with our lost loved ones, be it in a tropical Pensacola paradise or the Paradise that Christ describes for us in the Bible. Either way it would be wonderful. I can't think of a better way to spend an evening or two reading this book or watching the movie. Thank you Carl for giving us this part of you.

I chose to read this book for my book report in school. It has a captivating plot about science and religion intertwined in one story. Why can't religion and science be in the same book. I think religion proves science and science proves religion. Why can't God have created and follow the rules of science.

The story had a great plot and had good meaning, but was bland and dull through one third of the book. Carl Sagan would go off for pages talking about things that are irrelevant to the story and disrupts the flow of the events.

All in all, the "Contact" was good, but could be revised and be made into a more captivating and intriguing story.

Great book for all ages with a little scientific background. Carl Sagan explains that humans are not alone in this vast universe we occupy. In a few words, a must have book from a great man. The movie was great too.

I read this book shortly after I saw the movie, just after completing my sophomore year in high school. The book went much more in depth than the movie; something that usually makes books better than the movies that are based on them; which is true in this case.
If you can understand the complex math and science that is interwoven into the chapters (I didn't, but I read it anyway :) you'll probably enjoy it that much more. Otherwise I would have rated it five stars. A must for for the obsessive sci-fi reader (such as myself :).

This was and is still is one of the greatest books I've read. Though I didn't like that the machine didn't work as expected, the dimension that Sagan shows us is believable, if only for the fact that I have no idea what form of contact aliens would make.

This book is wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone who has seen the movie, but beware the book does turn out different. This book keeps the reader involved and always wondering what is on the next page.

If you like science fiction that leans heavily on the fiction, then this novel is not for you. There are no Dragons of Pern or Swords of Shanarra. This is the real deal, and provides the most reasonably realistic way for the human race to receive communications, and ultimately, make physical contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. As for the review that put the pu pu on the last chapter...suggesting Sagan was throwing a bone to the religious...I say he was throwing a bone to the ultimate question any thinking being can ask...WHY IS THERE SOMETHING INSTEAD OF NOTHING?

I saw the movie and immediately got the book. Overall, the book is better. But I thought that the character of Ellie was weaker in the book. I thought Jodie Foster was great in the movie, but in the book, the character isn't very interesting. But the book is great anyways. Really recommend it.

Carl Sagan was Absolutely one of the greatest minds of out time. He was the only person so far that has expressed a complete understanding of both science and religion truly unambiguously, and with the most comprehensive, nevertheless beautiful poetic voice, a work finer than Cosmos. Sangan's insight in physics is no less that that of Feynman, Weinberg or Hawking; in addition, he may have explained the importance of Christianity to the world better than John Paul II.

contact is one of my favorite movies. it has content, something lacking from most hollywood drivel. i figured, the universal rule is that the book is always better than the movie, so i should read the book. i was vastly dissapointed.
the movie seemed to be more well thought out, have a more consistant theme, and have more parallelisms and symbolisms with respect to religion and science. there were differences on the order of detail, up to major plot changes, and in each and every case, i thought that the movie version was far superior.
this is, without a doubt, a rare case where the movie is better.

I saw the movie and then read the book. They both were intelligently done. The book is not only entertaining but it also provokes many thoughts about science and religeon. It is full of creativity.

The story is amazing in content, but can be rather hard to follow. I saw the movie first and if I hadn't already had an idea of the plot, I would have been thoroughly confused. Even with prior knowledge, it was a difficult book to follow. The story itself is incredible and very thought provoking, but the technical descriptions and scientific jargon are somewhat hard to grasp.

At first I dont had read the book and I did not miss anything, but a very short time after finishing, I began to think about what I've read and now I say: the film or the book is really not from this world. In our world we try to dominate us and make us very sad...FOR NOTHING! And that was not the only Thought, Carl Sagan(Owner of the Pullitzerprice) means; the most of us have one no changing point of view, In case we would change this point, perhaps we would come to other, maybe better decisions! All time Favourite...

I actually saw the movie before I read the book, so was partially biased through that experience, but in spite of it, I was enthralled by the sheer brilliance on display in Contact. A brilliant story, challenging, stimulating and tightly-written, it's speculative science fiction at it's very best.

Great book. After 20 years I keep on going back to my favorite passages. I've always had a "thing" about initial contacts,the value of "pi" and its place in the universe. Contact ties math, science, and science fiction all together. Like all critics, I could chop out at least 50 pages to quicken the pace.

Fairly entertaining sci-fi book with frequent references to popular scientific theories from the 80's and infrequent attacks on religion. The book was closely imitated by the popular movie of the same name and I found the book more enjoyable. Certainly a classic sci-fi from a classic era of sci-fi writers.

Forget about little green men, flying saucers, and anal-probing experiments! Sagan's "Contact" is the most believable science-fiction I've encountered, and by far the most enjoyable. The political, religious and emotional arguments surrounding the construction of an extraterrestrial device are all considered in detail, leading to an emotionally-charged climax that left me wondering, "What if...?"

Few books will make your mind soar like this one can. Sagan's genius shows in this book again like it has in every other book he has written. What a wonderful book! It combines science, religion, philosophy, and literature. Each chapter begins with a wonderful quotation by some famous scholar or thinker.

The most enjoyable part of the book is the debate between believers and atheists/agnostics. Definitely a very thought provoking book.

This is one of my favorite books. I did think it started out a little slow but once the message was recieved the book really took off. This is a beautiful story and Carl Sagan once again inspires me with his hopeful writing. His vision of the universe, shared with us, is a beautiful and optimistic one. The writing may be a little dry at times but the message is worth the wait. This book remains on my "favorites" shelf and on my list of books to recommend.

Carl Sagan was a genius on this book. His truly visionary ideas mixed with the reality of politics and social fads(how people would reject the project at one moment and love it the next) was truly stunning. His idealism about us being silly to think of ourselves as the only living beings in the universe is visionary and seemingly accurate. The excitement of evolving sciences and the wonder this book fills you with are all well worth the time to read this book.

I saw the movie Contact, and I wanted to read the book. Boy, this is a great book! Much more detail and plot than the move (no kidding right!). Once you start reading this book, you will not want to stop until you are done. It is not an overly technical book, but one everyone can read and enjoy... you may even learn something about science and space!

Carl Sagan's Contact is a very well-written, enjoyable books that manages to get a scientific point across and be fun to read at the same time. Many books have approached the problems of first contact, but few have examined it as thoroughly as Sagan does here. Also, he approaches it in a different way from most. Rather than have the aliens visit the earth, the human race instead picks up artificial radio signals, which allows us to go to them.

I am currently reading this book for the fifth time. It is one of the greatest books I have ever read. The characters are vivid, the ideas explored are profound. It is a positive book; it gives one hope for the future of this little planet. I would recommend it to absolutely everyone.

Paperback book in hardcover! An awful piece of garbage. I should have noticed that it was incorrectly sized, so I'm the idiot here, but it would be nice if the store had a standardized, easy-to-spot moniker for hardcover paperbacks so I could avoid them in the future. Live and learn!

This is a passionate book that seems to be the sum of everything that Sagan cared about. I've always loved it.

Has anyone else figured out the origin of Ellie's name? It's an anglicization of "Arouet" which was Voltaire's original surname. There are several references in "Contact" to Voltaire's writings, especially his "conte philosophique" Micromégas.

I have seen the movie, Contact, about 20 times, and every time i watch it i love it. I am on my second reading of the book which has made me think a lot more. It had made me more interested in the universe - how infinite it is, how beautiful it is...and it is shown beautifully in both the movie and the book.

Definately the most awe inspiring novel I have ever read. The imagery given as I was dragged into the story by your words is just beautiful. I was caught up for weeks on your theories on how likely life is out there and I will forever be caught up in the mystery. Three cheers for the high master Carl Sagan! Thank you sir and you are correct. We Are Not Alone!

This would have made an excellent short story. There were good philosophical and theological undertones. I felt that the story was too long. I think the first 50 and the last 100 pages would have made the story. There seemed to be a lot of chapters that did make certain points, but were not very relevant to the book

This book is pure magic. I very rarely read science fiction (I tend to think it's a genre best left to adolescent boys), but "Contact" is no mere adventure story. Rather, it's a soaring achievement of intellect and imagination -- and a love letter to the human race. So much better than the movie, which was already quite good. It's like the movie, squared.

After watching the movie, I _finally_ decided to get the book to see if it cleared up any of the (relatively few) plot holes that were in movie. And for me at least, it did. Fortunately, the book rarely used complex technical terms and so was very easy to understand. I couldn't recommend a better science fiction book!

This book is about an astraunamer whom was a child prodigy when she was young, always ahead of class. Her and her team intercept a transmission from deep space where what they think are given instructed to build a machine that is supposed to transport them to a star in lira constellation. This book was written by the same author and scientist who wrote "Dragon of Eden", and "The Cold and the Dark".Carl Sagan

This a was a spellbinding book! The chapter that portrayed Arroway's meeting with the TV Evangilists was a tremendous piece of literature. It was up there with Bertold Brecht's Life of Gallileo. The movie was a dissapointing because of the ommission of this scene.

I have just finished reading Contact and I have to say that it is spell-bounding. I'm only 13, and reading this book caused a few strange stare's from my classmates, but they were worth it it. This book is worth taking the time it takes to read, and comprehend, it.

This book will challenge your beliefs, whether they are science bound or religious, or both. The way Sagan combines the hard science approach of radio-astronomy with social and religious relations is brilliant. This book is a must read for any one who enjoys challenging their beliefs

This book is beautiful, stirring, and breathes life into science, religion and life in general. The overall effect is one of intense and complete humanity. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever pondered the meaning of anything.

I could tell you why I liked this book, but I think you really need to read it yourself to appreciate it. If you haven't seen the movie yet ---read the book first---!!! The book is a million million times better. A 'must-read' even for those who don't like Sci-Fi

I'm glad I saw the film first.
I read the book to find details missing from the movie, and I was somewhat disappointed. The text lacked the excitement that I expected, and the writing was long-winded at times. Not enough hard SF details for me.

5 hours I'll never get back in my lifetime... The movie is DEFINITELY far better an entertainment value. The book itself is worth using it in the forest, instead of leaves.... You can tear half the pages out and still get bored reading this poorly written page turner... There's nothing of added value; and as for the "different" ending.. there's no such thing.. the movie's ending is merely a subset of what the book offers... (in the book 5 people travel to Vega...) but the book adds very little to the plot or subtext... the book is a throw-away...

What's to like about Carl Sagan's one and only SF novel? The characters are stiff, the plot is simplistic, and the ending is unfulfilling. I find the author's contempt for organized religion disappointing. CONTACT should have been a short story --- the shorter the better!

I first saw the movie, thought it was fairly good, then ordered the book. Far better! I especially liked the stuff at the end involving transendental numbers. Sagan's imagination really comes through here.

I find it difficult to understand why so many people find this to be a great novel. The overall story is quite interesting, that of the discovery of a signal of intelligent extraterrestrial origin from the star Vega. The plot then deals with the response of the scientific community and the world to this discovery as well as the construction of a machine to bring some humans into contact with the senders of the message. What Sagan gives us though is mostly a dull, long-winded exposition of his philosophy of science vs its adversary (in his mind), religion. I don't really have an objection to long-winded philosophical books. After all, I read Atlas Shrugged (well, I did skim over the long radio broadcast that was a repetition of earlier ideas). I really felt that a primary goal in Sagan's mind was to debunk religion, especially Christianity, which he saw as holding back a world that would soar if it would give itself over to materialistic, atheistic science. Sagan obviously has greater faith in human wisdom than I do. Such science was practiced by the Nazis and that did not turn out well. Sagan clearly had a jaundiced view of Christianity as the vast majority of the practitioners were seen as either simple believers (contrary to the evidence), crackpots, or charlatans. A balanced book this is not.

Sagan was a brilliant scientist who was expert in the field of astronomy and exobiology (the biology of possible extraterrestrial life). There is much helpful information in the book on how radio astronomers do their work and of views within the SETI community about how life might have appeared on other worlds. However, I found myself skimming over large portions of the book to gather the overall story. In my opinion, this is definitely the case where the movie is better than the book.

Terribly written book - it is as if Carl Sagan is trying to talk down to his mortal reader in a very pompous fashion. Congrats, Carl, you're a walking thesaurus.

The plot is intriguing, but it's constantly interrupted by pages upon pages of pointless narrative. Stuff that does absolutely nothing to forward the story line or character development. 1/2 a chapter to introduce a character by talking about his involvement in historical Russian politics? How exactly does that tell me anything about how this character relates to the present? How dull.

Also, it's ironic how Sagan banters on and on about how religious faith is a farce, but yet the premise of the book is about extra terrestrials. Wow...so God is cooky and childish but believing in ETs isn't? Huh. Because we all know how much evidence there is to support intelligent life on other worlds...oh right it's all just a construct of probability with nothing to support it. But faith, now there's a waste of time! Genius...I expected something a bit more sophisticated out such a brilliant and rational mind. A passable author does not scientific genius make.

Frankly, the overwhelming good reviews that this book receives is probably because of the name attached to it. People love Carl Sagan, therefore people love Carl Sagan's books. I love science - I study optical physics for a living - and this book is one of the most disappointing I have read to date. Carl Sagan or not, this needs an abridged version, wherein about 25% of the entire text is cut out and thrown into a fire; now that would be a much more interesting read. This is what happens when Dan Brown overcompensates for his literary failure as an author.

Contact = fail. Good try, but fail.

I recently re-read this book and was again impressed with Dr. Sagan's attention to detail and work. I am an astrophyscist and his work and research inspire many of us who deal in theoretical issues that this book deals with.

I stopped reading this book right smack in the middle. I was wasting my time. It confused the hell out of me! I would read a page, and then I would have no idea what I just read. Well, I was younger then. I'll try reading this again in a couple years.

Would be 4.5 stars without the PC agenda. Subtract 1 star for feminist PC agenda. Subtract 1 star for racial PC agenda. Sagan ilved in a dreamworld. I've worked extensively in the science and IT industry. Despite what Sagan implies, women are given EVERYTHING and never held accountable for anything. A far cry from his virtue-signalling BS where the main character has it "so tough" being a woman. Sagan's agenda is so blatant that Ellie can claim victimhood for being a woman yet at the same time there is a female President! LOL! With this you can peek in to the addled mind of cultural marxist. And naturally there is a ham-fisted token "brilliant Black guy." Well, this is fiction, after all. But I can do without the fantasy.

This book is wonderful it tells how won woman gets to jonery far off into space and here chalange to get there But it is not all alein filled it actuly tells a wonderful storie everyone should read this book

With all due respect for the late Mr Sagan, he might be a brilliant astronomer but he was definitely not a good story teller for several reasons:

1. Throughout the book, there're plenty passages which are redundant & irrelevant to the story development. For example, I found that you can actually skip the whole Ch 10 (and Ch 17 too) without affecting the story development at all - which is not a good thing for a fiction.
2. Perhaps also due to the above, the story movt is very slow. At times it gives me the feeling that the author does not know how the story should progress, so every other 2 or 3 pages, he repeated & recapitulated the then situation of the story.

Actually the idea of the story was great, but sadly it's a waste for the idea has not been developed into an attractive story. I like the movie but not the book.

PS for a debate of science vs religion, I would recommend "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown. The outline of ideas & controversy is far clearer than "Contact".

I saw the film and the book and have to say that both strike me as being rubbish. I still own the book and also own other materials from Sagan. Despite the bore the book gives the causual reader - it's still fun to have it in one's library. Most of my friends dare not touch it which convinces me they feel it's boring too and not a single atheist club has mentioned it in their lectures recently - if they have then my apologies. Still, funnily people are giving it one star reviews because they don't know why. It's also a bit outdated. Produced in an age people believed in moon landings and when mentioning UFO's or outer space in general would often result in enormous hostility from the antiscience crowd. Though the novel isn't about moon landings or their b.s. of course. Not surprisingly tons of sci - fi authors tried nonetheless to imagine what it's like to land on another world. And why won't the bloody aliens send do it the opposite way ? Why does the novel have to make everything sound so complex and make the reader feel that wanting to go to a mathematics course will make him look like an idiot? Broca's brain is way more fun to read than Contact despite it's obvious political correctness.

I very much tried reading this book with an open mind, and it wouldn't have mattered to me in the least if Ellie's character was an atheist. But Carl Sagan had to try and place biblical doubt in the mind of the reader by expressing his own apparent atheist views, by saying the Bible is contradictory. It's too bad that Carl Sagan couldn't have just written a fascinating Sci-Fi book without critiquing the word of God.
Without a doubt Carl Sagan was a brilliant scientist. I viewed Cosmos open-mindedly and was fascinated. I understand most scientists are unbelievers of God, and they place their beliefs on the Big Bang theory, Evolution, etc. And that's fine; they have the right to believe what they choose. But please do not critique other people's beliefs.
If you want to read a very good Sci-Fi book, check out 2001 a space odyssey.

I know my review of this book will strike a nerve with other reviewers. Though, as a believer in God (as I am) and someone who values God's word (as I do) I refuse to give a book a good review when said book critiques the Holy Bible as "Contact" does. For the unbeliever in Christ, and those who hold no value for the Holy Bible, Carl Sagan's book, Contact, will probably be the next best thing to the creation of Star Wars. For those who value God's word, this book, Contact, has way too much Blasphemy in my opinion. Once again, it's too bad Carl Sagan, couldn't have just written this Sci-Fi book without having to "TRY" and place Biblical uncertainty. That's all that needs to be said. The "point of the book" is meaningless. I wish very much that I did not even have to bring up religion when giving this book review. Quite possibly many people will love this novel. But being as though this book really did speak negative about the Bible, shame on me if I didn't at least warn anyone who values God's word, and who might be thinking about reading this book.