Cosmos - Carl Sagan [1]
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.ballantinebooks.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-5286
eISBN: 978-0-307-80098-5
This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc.
v3.1
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
American Folklore Society: Excerpt from “Chukchee Tales” by Waldemar Borgoras from Journal of American Folklore, volume 41 (1928). Reprinted by permission of the American Folklore Society.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.: Quote by Isaac Newton (Optics), quote by Joseph Fourier (Analytic Theory of Heat), and A Question Put to Pythagoras by Anaximenes (c. 600 B.C.). Reprinted with permission from Great Books of the Western World. Copyright 1952 by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Harvard University Press: Quote by Democritus of Abdera taken from Loeb Classical Library. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press.
Indiana University Press: Excerpts from Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Rolfe Humphries, copyright 1955 by Indiana University Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Oxford University Press: Excerpt from Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma by R. C. Zaehner (Clarendon Press—1955). Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.
Penguin Books, Ltd.: One line from Enuma Elish, Sumer, in Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia, translated by N. K. Sandars (Penguin Classics, 1971). Copyright © N. K. Sandars, 1971. Twelve lines from Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). Copyright © D. C. Lau, 1963. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books, Ltd.
Pergamon Press, Ltd.: Excerpts from Giant Meteorites by E. L. Krinov are reprinted by permission of Pergamon Press, Ltd.
Simon & Schuster, Inc.: Quote from the Bhagavad Gita from Lawrence and Oppenheimer by Nuel Pharr Davis (1968, page 239), and excerpt from The Sand Reckoner by Archimedes taken from The World of Mathematics by James Newman (1956, volume 1, page 420). Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Simon & Schuster, Inc., and Bruno Cassirer, Ltd.: Quote from The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis. Reprinted by permission of the publisher in the United States, Simon & Schuster, Inc., and the publisher in England, Bruno Cassirer (Publishers), Ltd., Oxford. Copyright © 1960 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The University of Oklahoma Press: Excerpt from Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiché Maya, by Adrian Recinos, 1950. Copyright © 1950 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Reprinted by permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.
For Ann Druyan
In the vastness of space and the immensity of time,
it is my joy to share
a planet and an epoch with Annie.
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
I The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
II One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
III The Harmony of Worlds
IV Heaven and Hell
V Blues for a Red Planet
VI Travelers’ Tales
VII The Backbone of Night
VIII Travels in Space and Time
IX The Lives of the Stars
X The Edge of Forever
XI The Persistence of Memory
XII Encyclopaedia Galactica
XIII Who Speaks for Earth?
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Reductio ad Absurdum
and the Square Root of Two
Appendix 2: The Five Pythagorean
Solids
For Further Reading
INTRODUCTION
The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject … And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them … Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced. Our universe is a sorry little affair unless it has in it something for every age to investigate … Nature does