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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780671004101
ISBN number: 0671004107
Label: Pocket
Manufacturer: Pocket
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 448
Printing Date: July 01, 1997
Publishing house: Pocket
Sale Popularity Level: 166928
Studio: Pocket
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Product Description:
In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who -- or what -- is out there?
In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future -- and our own.
Amazon.com Review:
It is December 1999, the dawn of the millennium, and a team of international scientists is poised for the most fantastic adventure in human history. After years of scanning the galaxy for signs of somebody or something else, this team believes they've found a message from an intelligent source--and they travel deep into space to meet it. Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sagan injects Contact, his prophetic adventure story, with scientific details that make it utterly believable. It is a Cold War era novel that parlays the nuclear paranoia of the time into exquisitely wrought tension among the various countries involved. Sagan meditates on science, religion, and government--the elements that define society--and looks to their impact on and role in the future. His ability to pack an exciting read with such rich content is an unusual talent that makes Contact a modern sci-fi classic.
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Rated by buyers 
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This book arrived in a timely manner and was in excellent condition. I am completely satisfied with this order.
Rated by buyers 
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Carl Sagan's only endeavor at fiction has a fantastic premise, but the story is often overwhelmed, not just by the scientific terminology, but also by ham-handed characterization. The basics of the story are preserved for the movie, which eliminates much of Sagan's clutter (some will argue that the meat of the novel was lost, as well). Sagan struggles to find his narrative 'voice' here-perhaps understandable for a very first time prose author, who almost certainly relied heavily on his co-author, both for the novel and screenplay.
I saw the movie some years ago, and by comparison, I felt the story works much better onscreen, without the 'near future' setting(which had become contemporary by the time the movie was released), and less emphasis Bradburyesque 'advanced technolgy' that sounded outdated long ago. The de-emphasis of mathematics in the film made the story much easier to follow, if not as intellectually 'weighty'.
The gist of the story is Ellie's voyage of discovery, and I feel this aspect works better in the movie, without the extraneous supporting characters seen here. Sagan tends to go off on tangents on both scientific and socio-political matters, which renders some sections very 'skippable', without really affecting the story. This is a bad sign for what should be a thought-provoking exploration of faith and the 'limits' of humanity and the universe. Instead, we're forced to endure needless verbiage as Sagan tells us the life story of each crew member in excruciatingly dull detail, simply so we'll understand who their loved ones were later on.
Some of Sagan's attempts to have certain characters 'sound' like credible 'spokespeople' for the religious community are rather hollow, given Sagan's personal viewpoint on spiritual matters. He only partially succeeds in preventing his personal feelings from spoiling the story. Scholars of mathematics will no doubt find this more interesting than the average reader, or even the average science (or science fiction) buff. Too many segments read like digressions in scientific lectures, rather than plot or character development of a novel. Sagan gets carried away building and explaining the technology of the world beyond the story, and sometimes only grudgingly advances the plot.
For those who disliked the movie-sorry, but I recommend that more highly than this book. I was a bit generous with the stars-but Jodie Foster and Robert Zemeckis' vision of 'Contact' has more to do with that than the original text does!
Rated by buyers 
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Any author can write a story about science in the not-so-distant future, but Carl Sagan is the genius who portrays today's science and scientist in a realistic light. These are people worried about obtaining grants, and dealing with aging parents, trying to advance up the glacial-paced science hierarchy. The portrayal of science reminded me of Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica while the interpersonal relationships reminded me more of real life.
Reading the book could be either an interesting perspective or a bit of daily drudgery continued. Of course what keeps it moving is the story, which lays out like a mystery: find a clue and it only opens more questions. Sagan builds this right to the end and then cleverly continues it out. It is a fitting model of science -answers only leading to more questions, curiousity opening up whole new worlds- that is refreshing in contrast to some of the other aspects portrayed in the book.
An excellent read.
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My regrets that I watched the movie and then bought the book. I read the the very 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 very 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.
Rated by buyers -
As a youngster, the vastness of the universe and the possibility of life beyond our planet fascinated me. That probably explains why, when as a teenager I very first saw the movie adaptation of this book, I was moved greatly.
A lonely young woman, who misses her father who passed when she was a child, devotes herself to the pursuit of making contact with life beyond our planet. That contact is made at the facility she manages, and the entire diplomatic and economic strength of the world is thrust behind the project to decode the Message and build the Machine. All of our conceited, egotistical superstitions, as well as our secular nationalist quarrels, are put aside as we are confronted with the reality that we are not alone.
When our protagonist does makes contact, what does she learn? That there are others in the cosmos who have been here much longer than we have and are much more advanced, but do not have the answers to the fundamental questions that plague our shared existence. She learns that they have been looking for the same answers too, but in all their searching have found that what is really important is our connections with one another.
Beautiful.
While the film was able to be faithful to that central theme of the book, I think that the occasions of digression cheapen the message. Carl Sagan's written version is much, much more dynamic and ultimately intellectually and emotionally fulfilling.
*Spoiler Warning*
In the book there is no distracting romance between Dr. Arroway and Palmer Joss, the dialogue between the proponents of dogma and the proponents of science are much more interesting, there is no asinine suicide bomber sabotaging the Machine, the presence of the Five rather than simply Dr. Arroway adds to the concept of a shared human experience void of nationalistic identity, and in the end the "meaning of life" is something that Dr. Arroway ultimately learns rather than something she is simply told.
*/Spoiler Warning*
This is a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of science fiction and has an overactive imagination regarding the cosmos and the possibility of life beyond our little planet. I had anticipated Sagan's literary style to be dry and unappealing and therefore delayed reading this novel, but I could not have been more pleasantly surprised. This book was for me a literal page turner.
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