Carl Sagan
Billions & Billions (1997)
Author: Carl Sagan
Genre: Nonfiction (Science)
Book Summary:
In his last book, Sagan talks about a number of issues. He begins talking about a myriad of different topics including extraterestrial life, the future of human development, space, and even football giving scientific support for the issues. The second part of the three delves deply into Sagan's environmental views providing in-depth discussion on things like CFCs, global warming, fuel efficiency, and the importance of heeding scientists warnings on the topic. The last section discusses Sagan's political views and provides additional warning for harmful effects of disagreeing nations. The last chapter follows differently and discusses his fight with the disease that ended his life and, in part, was written from the hospital bed.
Geographical Setting: the Universe
Time Period: Current event discussion dated to late 1990s
Appeal Characteristics:
The biggest appeal is in the explanation of the many different topics. For example, hearing a scientific explanation for the appeal of football is interesting. The personal tone or the non-technical explanations could also be appealing to some. Most of the book has a tone of Sagan talking directly to the reader and the last chapter especially has a very personal feel to it. Of course, the topics are also of interest to many and the conversational vocabulary makes them easy to read and understand. Those interested in astronomy will be interested in the first third of the book while those interested in environment will be interested in the second third. The last section is a bit out of date and will appeal mostly to those directly interested in past political issues.
Read-alikes: The first place to continue reading would probably be with more of Sagan's nonfiction work including Cosmos or Pale Blue Dot. Readers may also enjoy Contact, a fictional story of Sagan's about first contact with extraterrestreal life. Readers looking for more astronomy, science, or cosmology-related topics may wish to try A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking or The Elegant
Universe by Brian Greene. Those interested in the environmental topics may wish to try The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery and those interested in the Cold War politics may enjoy trying The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis.
Red Flags: non-environmentalists and pro-life advocates may have a problem with Sagan's views.
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