Contact

by Carl Sagan

1986

Status

Available

Publication

Pocket Books: NY (1986), 434 pages

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. HTML:The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cosmos and renowned astronomer Carl Sagan's international bestseller about the discovery of an advanced civilization in the depths of space remains the "greatest adventure of all time" (Associated Press). The future is here...in an adventure of cosmic dimension. When a signal is discovered that seems to come from far beyond our solar system, a multinational team of scientists decides to find the source. What follows is an eye-opening journey out to the stars to the most awesome encounter in human history. Whoâ??or whatâ??is out there? Why are they watching us? And what do they want with us? One of the best science fiction novels about communication with extraterrestrial intelligent beings, Contact is a "stunning and satisfying" (Los Angeles Times) cl… (more)

Media reviews

New Musical Express
It's bug-eyed monster time again. This time the alien devils are discovered not by Captain Rick Thrust of the US Starship Trousersnake but by mega-boring scientists and lots of hard-work.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lauawill
I first read this book when I was sixteen years old. I re-read it every few years and discover something new and beautiful about it each time. It's one of a handful of books I can point to and honestly say, "This book had a lot to do with who I am today."
LibraryThing member Terpsichoreus
Sagan was a lucid and impassioned defender of rationality and clear thought. Unfortunately, his foray into fiction did little to increase the understanding of his philosophies, and much to muddy the waters of once clear thought. Inspired by Asimov and Heinlein, he decided that fiction was as good a
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place as any to explore his ideas on science, belief, and wonder.

While we expect long, in-depth explanations from non-fiction, fiction readers want more than just a lecture from the author. They expect that the characterization, plot, and themes will build the author's case for them, and in a way that will engage the reader without getting bogged down in rhetoric.

Sagan's characterization and plotting are unrefined, and he builds no suspense. His characters often fall into cliche, mere mouthpieces for Sagan to explore this or that view. While Heinlein and Card are known (and sometimes reviled) for lecturing the reader, they still returned to the story at hand, and Heinlein at least made sure his asides were directed to his text.

The more complex the idea, the more difficult it is to show through character interaction and symbolism. Anyone familiar with Sagan's non-fiction work will immediately recognize the same arguments in Contact . Without this foreknowledge, the ideas become lost and muddled.

Many religious readers come away from this book with the sense that Sagan is condoning faith. Sagan struggled in 'Contact' with the themes of 'wonderment' and 'the unknown'. They became so intermingled and vague that they do seem to suggest spirituality. In non-fiction, Sagan differentiated the minute points that separate his brand of rationality from religious faith, but floundered when he found himself in unfamiliar waters.

When presenting an explanation for an idea, he can warn against pitfalls and refine specific points. Contrarily, presenting such ideas through a story requires that the symbolism of the story be extremely precise. The examples in the text must elegantly illustrate the point without leaving leeway for alternative interpretations. This is one of the hardest tasks any writer can set himself, and Sagan's inexperience with fictional construction showed through here.

Sagan hoped to widen his audience, to increase discussion and the understanding of his philosophy. He wanted to ensnare the non-scientific reader by couching scientific ideas in an entertaining story, but in his inexperience, he chose ideas much grander than his story could support.

This book is much more accessible than most of Sagan, simply because it is genre fiction. It is then doubly unfortunate that most readers will know Sagan primarily from this work, since it fails to communicate his ideas to new readers. This book is more likely to cause confusion and misunderstanding than to impart knowledge.

The vagueness of the book leaves it so open for interpretation that both the rational and irrational can grasp onto it to support their own ideas. Sagan should have looked at the conflicts caused by similarly confusing symbolic books (like the bible) and stuck with the clear and concise writing that so often served him well.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Tricky to discuss wihout spoilers, if you're very sensitive or unaware of the plot at all, maybe you'd bbest skip this amazing work from a "real" scientist, however it is already beginning to date itself quite a bit. Set over about a decade of the 90s the opening 2/3rds of the book are definetly
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the most insightful, and the real Sci-fi doesn't start until the end.

(Dr.) Ellie Arroway is the central character of the story which is told in third person from the moment she was born thourgh to somewhere in her 50s. And we get a series of snapshot scenes from her developing years through to the beginning of the story proper when she is Director of the Argus SETI program, a vast radio telescope array primarily dedicated to searching for alien life. One day a genuine non-random signal is detected eminating from close to the star Vega. The middle third of the book is then another series of disjointed sketches of how Ellie interacts with the various different views and politics involved in such a momentus occasion. There is a lot of religious controversy, and quite a bit of government back covering and general manouvering for advantage. There are some great discussions on the power and testability of scientific and religious faith, and the smallness of human gods. And also the fickleness of human hearts.

The major downsides apart from the generally slow pace is that as a near future book, written in '85 it has already dated. Cell phones, the internet, optical storage devices are all not present. But by 1999 major habitable orbital platforms, the continuing of the Cold War, a female US president, and the demise of global media companies are predicted but without the spark that another author could give them. Instead they are taken for granted and they grate occasionally - particularly the Cold War attitudes, although the US defense dept.'s mindsets are probably likely enough.

The ending is unexpected, but it's clear that whoever Ellie meets is not the same as the builder of the tunnels. Sagan is famously an athiest, but this is not an easy position to substantiate as the it's a staggering co-incidence that the universe formed such that to 10 fingered beings pi becomes non-random like that. However it is fairly clear that Sagan has no time for an activist interventionist God, and Ellie clearly wins all the discussions on this point - even if some of the opposition is not that sophisticated.

Are we likely to recieve a message from aliens. No of course not, but if we did I think a lot of the world would react in the ways various characters do in this book do, and hopefully the Machindo - the spiritual worldwide coming togethre in the way of the Machine would also come to pass. A fascinatng read about western society, religion and our ways of coping with change.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
The film: ignore it. You're best off doing so right from the start. Theories abound as to why it was so bad, and here's mine: Sagan passed away early in its production, and in his stead rose his wife Ann Druyan; now, this is pure speculation but one has to wonder if she didn't decide to lessen the
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atheistic tendencies of the book in favour of a more mainstream, and perhaps forgiving, audience.

The book itself is captivating, and follows much the same theme as the film - aliens make contact with Earth. Ellie Arroway, a brilliant young scientist, works to decode their message, and to make first contact. That we all know.

But what I liked most about the Sagan book is the cold reality of what contact means, about the growth industries that would appear to take advantage of alien technology, about the cultural shifts that would take place; this is, inevitably, ignored on celluloid, but is part of what makes the novel so compelling.
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LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
Forget the movie version, this is the real deal. Don't get me wrong, I thought the movie was very well done, but the book goes much further, especially with the ending scenes that are essential to closing the story.

The premise of the story, Earth finally receives a message from a source outside our
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planet, is certainly within the realm of possibility. Carl Sagan spent the last years of his life reminding us of the "billions and billions" of stars in the galaxy and by virtue of statistics alone, there is probably at least one other planet out there with recognizable intelligent life on it.

What follows next is a semi-serious, semi-satirical analysis of how the Earth bound governments would react to following a set of directions from this other intelligence to build a means of physical contact with them. When complete, we don't exactly meet angelic beings from Heaven, but we learn they are most certainly not monsters bent on colonizing Earth either. We are also left with more questions than answers.

In the final chapter of the book, we don't really learn the answer, but we do get a glimpse into Sagan's personal beliefs. Sagan, and many other scientists, have no trouble with reconciling Science coexisting along side Religion and in fact see the order of Science as the proof of some Higher Consciousness governing all this. I find Sagan's mathematical proof maybe a little on the edge of reality, but after all, this is a Science Fiction story; pushing the envelope of believability is quite acceptable under these circumstances.

Very enjoyable reading and a nice blend of science and science fiction. The characters are also well rounded and their personalities contribute to the storyline. This story should appeal to general fiction fans and some technical non-fiction fans as well as science fiction fans.
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LibraryThing member felius
Great novel on the logistics of extra-terrestrial contact and communication, some gentle reminders about what "alien" means, and a good exploration of the nature of belief, whether based on evidence or faith - both types can be shaken when unusual things start to happen.

I saw the movie first and
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loved it. The book holds up very well for its age (except for the "portable fax machines"!) and I think the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation with changes that don't harm (and in one case probably strengthen) the plot.
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LibraryThing member rbtwinky
I really enjoyed this book. What isn’t there to like: strong female protagonist, sci-fi theory, real-world projection, and even a love story. Sagan wove the story incredibly well into a near future setting, giving the fiction an imminent truth. I also enjoyed that he didn’t shy away from
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reflecting the impact of the “contact” on society.
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LibraryThing member steadfastreader
I really enjoyed this book.

It was first published in 1985 and set in 1999, so it's a little dated... I especially enjoyed in this future the Soviet Union never fell.

This book is rife with great atheist and feminist quotes. The main character is a strong, self-assured woman in a field dominated by
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men. She's a great character. This book is way deeper and way more interesting than the Jodi Foster movie.

I'd recommend it to anyone interested in spirituality and/or philosophy.
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LibraryThing member aethercowboy
My first impression of Contact was the horrible motion picture released all those years ago, and it took me until recently to pick up a copy and actually get around to reading it.

Now, since I saw the film, I had learned more and more about Sagan, and how he was actually a bright fellow, so I
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decided to give him a chance by reading Contact, and I have to say that I did not regret my decision.

Like any book that was later adapted for the silver screen, they are liable to alter or remove very vital pieces, or change them for pacing or whatever other things they do to make the movies less than enjoyable. Maybe the film producers are in a way trying to promote literacy, and are thus making horrid movies so you go out an read the original source material, and be glad that you did. Or maybe the mindset that the movie is never as good as the book is less a trend and more a physical law of nature, and these movie makers are helpless to make anything better than the book. These theories would effectively forgive abominations such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (later novelized by the topmost fanfic-er, Kevin J. Anderson. Congrats, you can write a book based on a movie based on a comic book. You want a cookie? What next? Causing an established Sci-Fi writer or two to spin in their graves as you desecrate their magnum opera?), but I digress.

Contact, the book, is a great book. It's always interesting to read books written by professional scientists (I have a few), as it lends an air of credibility and believability to the story, versus soft sci-fi tales that are essentially fantasy stories in space. Sagan, however, does not hard sci-fi it up (at least, not to the point that writers like Alastair Reynolds do), so it could actually be enjoyed by people not familiar with quantum physics, or even grade school physics.

The story tells a tale of Ellie Arroway, and shows her transition from girl to woman in the first part of the book. Here we learn how Arroway excels at what she does when she puts her mind to it, eventually becoming anything from a slight annoyance to a thorn in the sides of the male physics majors. This she does all while dealing with her horrid physics professor of a step father who discourages her every chance he gets.

She excels, and grabs a post at a radio telescope lab where she monitors the heavens for any extraterrestrial signs of life. Then, it happens, and its not a hoax. A transmission seems to come from Vega, and it's too constructed to seem like static. It starts as prime numbers, but beyond that, another layer is discovered in the transmission. Reading layer after layer into the transmission, they discover step-by-step instructions on building a machine, but what the machine does is beyond their understanding.

The world must then come together to decided if the machine will be built, where it will be built, and who the five people aboard it will be.

This is a great novel, and is bound to be enjoyed by any fan of Sagan's other work (though I suspect for many that Contact provides the gateway to other Sagan works, not vice-versa), and is sure to be enjoyed by most sci-fi readers, particularly those that like a realistic story with sci-fi elements than a plotless journey through an alien wonderland by an avid sportsman with a really big laser gun.
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LibraryThing member AuntieClio
Ellie Arroway goes from smart, questioning girl to brilliant radio astronomer in charge of Project Argus, a large telescope array in New Mexico being used for SETI.

One night, something comes through the air which turns out to be a communication from space. This communication is quickly dubbed The
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Message and carries instructions on how to build a machine. No one knows what The Machine will do after it's built but all governments want in on the technology.

When The Machine is finally built and the five scientists, including Dr. Arroway, enter something odd happens. To The Five, it's mystical experience which lasts over a day. They encounter people important to them who have died. Among them, Ellie's dad Theo, who gives a rather complex explanation of what it all means and how they got there.

To the crew members waiting for their return, only 20 minutes has passed when The Five jubilantly come bounding out of The Machine and start to tell their story. Only thing is, of course, the data that had been recorded is gone so there's no proof of what really happened. Accusations fly, The Five are told never to speak of this again and basically, given any job they want so long as they keep their mouths shut.

Contact is technologically dated but kudos to Sagan for even trying to guess from 1988 what technology would look like in 1999/2000. He missed, by a lot, but he tried. There's also political and romantic intrigue, religious quackery, and useless subplots.

It's not hard for me to suspend my disbelief when I'm reading, but what happened after The Five returned was so full of shenanigans I kept thinking, "Just stop talking Sagan!"

The worst of it was a US Government official who had been opposed to the building of The Machine to begin with threatening The Five, while conjecturing the whole thing was a conspiracy to bilk governments out of billions of dollars, especially between the US and Russian scientists. Lots of people being mean for no reason other than they could, I guess.

And then there was the thing about Ellie's dad and stepfather not being who they appeared to be that made me wince.

No ... just, no.
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LibraryThing member ChristopherTurner
The movie and the novel aer both enjouable for different reasons, though the basic storyline is one that will always make me feel that the author actually gets that I want to be challenged and that I dont need to see what teh alien culture looks like in order to accept them as real characters in
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the story. I also liked the fact that the politics of science was dealt with in way that didn't hide from the fact that discoveries of greater truths often have their work stloen from them by the very people than ran their work down. Just try getting a grant to fund your research - it is soul destroying!
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LibraryThing member kthclark
This story really makes you think of what would you do if you discover a signal from space. I enjoyed this book and there was also a movie based on it starring Jodie Foster. I’m sure many more people have watched the movie rather than reading the book but I suggest that everyone should give the
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book a try. The book is very captivating and the movie does follow very close to the book.
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LibraryThing member maunder
Books about contact with extra-terrestrials are adime a dozen however what makes this one worth the read is the fact that a scientist of significance (Carl Sagan) has written it. The plot started aittle slowly however his description of how the world might react to a message from space and what
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action it might take is quite interesting. I haven't seen the movie however I enjoyed the bokk immensely.
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LibraryThing member jcopenha
Not my favortie kind of sci-fi. More like the hard sci-fi of old, but too modern of a setting. The stuff he talked about seemed belabored and old hat at this point. It felt more like social commentary with a bit of advanced science instruction.
LibraryThing member boweraj
My favorite SF novel. Sagan proves he can captivate the public not only with his non-fiction, but also with his fiction. Amazing story.
LibraryThing member www.snigel.nu
I remember I liked this novel, but reading about it afterwards still leaves me clueless as to why I enjoyed it.
LibraryThing member circlesreads
This is unusual, but I think the movie was actually better than the book!
LibraryThing member yapete
Great, serious science fiction by the master science popularizer. Sagan went through great pains to make this as plausible as possible. This is how it could happen, if one day we would intercept a message from an advanced civilizations. Great book for the serious SF fan.
LibraryThing member mobill76
I read the book first. It's very different from the movie. I like both. I think the movie took a lot of liberties with Sagan's vision that certainly pissed off the purists. Readers of the book will not find the same sympathy for faith that was exhibited in the movie. The book is a tour de force of
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science over religion. It's a good story. Sagan's writing shows a definite ivory tower disconnection with what passes for believable social situations. But the story is compelling enough to drag you through these. If you didn't enjoy the movie, you may be interested in the atheistic theme presented in the book. If you did enjoy the movie, you should read the book to hear what Sagan was really trying to say. You'll appreciate the genius of the filmmaker even more that he was able to turn Contact into a statement of faith.
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LibraryThing member dandelionroots
Earth receives a message from the star Vega detailing how to build a machine. I appreciated the way he portrayed humanity's reaction to an extraterrestrial message - scientifically, religiously, nationally, commercially. The book largely centers around the personal story of Ellie, the director at
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Argus (the array of radio telescopes searching for extraterrestrial intelligence), but her story didn't really intrigue me. The overall message for the cosmos was... anti-climatic. Really, we're back to humanity's earliest attempts at explaining the world around us? All you need is love.
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LibraryThing member andyray
This novel opened a niche in science fiction one might call spiritual visits or, better, scientific spiritualism. I reommend it to anyone seeking a knowledge of Big G God. Yehweh. "I Am that Am." It surely makes sense to me as a stepping stone to the entire knowledge of the unknowable God which
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hopefully we occur upon my earthly demise.

Literally well written, and prophetic in its sense of capitalistic individuals being part of the move into outter space.
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LibraryThing member amerynth
Great exploration of the divide between science and religion and where skepticism falls on the spectrum. Interesting story of Earth's first contact with off-planet lifeforms.
LibraryThing member satyridae
Sagan's foray into fiction is a solid home run. Who says scientists can't write? Not me.
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
Contact is less a science-fiction novel then a discourse on controversial science topics in popular culture. Science and young people, science and women, science and religion, science and skepticism, science and politics, science and funding grants. Replace the aliens with .. global warming .. and
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it's the same story. In that sense it's a good novel for looking at these topics as reoccurring themes. The story itself ends in a way that isn't too corny leaving open the mystery and endless nature of space. Curiously in the 1970s and early 80s, when the book was being written, SETI was a new thing but now that 35 years have passed, with no signal, it seems increasingly remote, maybe, and the book has lost some its exciting potential, an artifact of another age.
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LibraryThing member Devil_llama
A good solid science fiction novel. Sagan boldly creates a female lead character and makes her, for the most part, believable. His story flows along well, but the ending is...well, disappointing. It seems possible that, once he got to the end, he simply didn't really know how to end it, so he went
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in a strange ending, grafting a spiritual ending onto a scientific novel.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1985-10

ISBN

0671434225 / 9780671434229

Barcode

1603237
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