I am reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan, and absolutely love it. What should I read next?

Question

What an amazing book. I especially like learning about all the science of natural and artificial selection, and of how the Earth and the cosmos around it was formed. What is the next logical step for a book to read next?

Answer 1

Hi. You might like "Intelligent Life in the Universe".

Answer 2

I loved it too.
Pale Blue dot is my second favorite out of his nonfiction.

For a change of pace: Read his novel "Contact" if you'd like some fiction, it incorporates much of the science he discusses in Cosmos into a beautiful story.

Read Broca's Brain for a slightly different angle from Sagan.

If you want to try a new author (but why?!) I also reccomend Hawking's books and Elegant Universe (Brian Green(e)) or perhaps Here be Dragons (deals with extraterrestrial life) (Koerner & someone else haha).

Answer 3

Sagan was indeed special.

The TV series is worth watching in addition to the book. His collection of essays, "Broca's Brain", is also a good read, and his "The Demon Haunted World" is one of my favorite books.

If you're interested in natural selection, "The Beak of the Finch", a pulitzer prize winner, is an engaging read.

Timothy Ferris is an excellent astronomy writer, probably the best current one. I've enjoyed all of his books that I've read (Galaxies, The Red Limit, The Whole Shebang, Seeing in the Dark). The first two of those are rather dated now, but still worth checking out.

Answer 4

All of the previous suggestions have been excellent. I would also add that you may greatly enjoy some of Carl Sagan's other books, such as The Dragons of Eden (about evolution of human intelligence), or The Demon-Haunted World (about debunking pseudo-science and using logic and reason as a tool for determing the veracity of information given by scientists, educators, politicians, frauds, and alleged psychics).

Another excellent science book is Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, examining the history of the development of what we think of as 'western civilization' and what features have allowed that culture to dominate the modern world.

Answer 5

"Asimov's Guide to Science," by Isaac Asimov. A broad (if necessarily shallow) skimming over the fundamentals of scientific inquiry for the past few thousand years, it puts scientific development into its contemporary context and paints a good, cohesive picture of our expanding knowledge of the Earth and, eventually, the Universe. And Asimov is a witty and delightful writer, much lighter in tone than Sagan and if anything, even more readable.

Answer 6

Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" was good, I thought. I have just recently read Timothy Ferris' "The Whole Shebang" and it was really good. John Gribben's "Stardust" was really good. I really liked Robert Zubrin's books "The Case for Mars" and "Entering Space". "Mining the Sky" was really good, but i can't think of the author right now. Give some of these a try.

Answer 7

Well I heard an audio book by Stephen Hawking that was awesome. Dont remember what its called but look it up on amazon.

You might also like "The origin of species" or "the descent of man" by Charles Darwin, though they are not about astronomy.

As a thinker / logical type person, you might like Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason". You can read it online for free at http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Paine/AOR-Frame.html

Answer 8

Anything by Michio Kaku or maybe Stephen Hawking. Also Kip Thorne

Answer 9

"A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking

http://www.amazon.com/gp/explorer/0553380168/2/ref=pd_lpo_ase/102-7737054-7340124?ie=UTF8

Answer 10

Everything by Prof. Jerry Hathaway