Cosmos
This book is about science in its broadest human context, how science and civilization grew up together. It is the story of our long journey of discovery and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science, including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huygens, Champollion, Lowell and Humason. The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds. The author retraces the fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into life and consciousness, enabling the cosmos to wonder about itself. He considers the latest findings on life elsewhere and how we might communicate with the beings of other worlds. ~ WorldCat.org
Stats for nerds
58recommend
148mentions
124people
2007–2026years
47% recommend51% neutral2% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- 1. Animal Farm by George Orwell
2. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes [1]
3. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette Mccurdy
5. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe [2]
7. Cosmos by Carl Sagan
8. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins [3]
9. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
10. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander [4]
11. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
12. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan [5][6][7]
13. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50076596
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452253
[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48326741
[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539535
[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49751771
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
Night by Elie Wiesel
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
Lying by Sam Harris
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
https://www.rxjourney.net/list-of-books-i-finished-reading-i...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize_for_General_Non...
- Thanks for this question!
I'm not reading anything at the moment since I'm taking a break and watching season one of Deadwood and also re-watching season one of Boston Legal.
But when I'm done, I plan to re-read "The Cold War A Very Short Introduction" by Robert J. McMahon. I read it about five years ago and it's time to read it again.
Having said that, I can't pass on this opportunity to share the books I've read (some are re-reads) thus far this year that I recommend. I'll just list them while saying that they all come highly recommended by me.
In the famous words of Frank Zappa - So many books, so little time.
1. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris
2. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
3. Lying by Sam Harris
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
6. Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
7. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins
8. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
9. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
10. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
11. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
13. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
14. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
15. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan
16. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins
- "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan - that book was a life changer for me and has been with me ever since.
- I can safely say the three biggest influences in my teens were Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The Muppet Show, and Calvin and Hobbes. Sagan ignited my passion for learning and made me realise I a rare ability to understand complicated things visually.
The Muppets taught me that nothing in life should be beyond ridicule, and that I should be the first one to laugh at myself, and to never be afraid to do stupid things. Also that a touch of surrealism is key to a healthy life.
Calvin gave me a sense of belonging, and made me realise I was not as weird as I originally thought. If people enough like it to the point newspapers publish the strips, I would not be alone. The final strip really hit me hard. I miss those two.
- Asimov wrote about it[0], and talked about it quite a bit.
So did Sagan. If you haven't watched Cosmos in awhile it might hit a little different these days, for multiple reasons (not all bad). The book is great too. Not to mention Sagan wrote "The Demon Haunted World".
There's a new form and an old form of this same thing happening today too. We have flat earthers, but other cults too. One of the common features of this cult of ignorance: having a little knowledge and thinking it is much more general. We all know those people who read a sentence or two and extrapolate. This happens all the time. Even in flat earthers. It's often seeking evidence to support the prior belief rather than updating that belief. Updating that belief can either strengthen the belief it weaken it. But if you're seeking truth you need you be willing to throw your beliefs out the window. Resistance to that is ego
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