I read this years ago and have also seen the movie a couple of times. So it was time to reread it over Christmas 2017. Still an excellent read.
Written in 1985, the science fiction novel deals with the theme of contact between humanity and a more technologically advanced, extraterrestrial life form. It ranked No. 7 on the 1985 U.S. bestseller list. The novel originated as a screenplay by Sagan and Ann Druyan (whom he later married) in 1979. When development of the film stalled, Sagan decided to convert the stalled film into a novel. The film concept was subsequently revived and eventually released in 1997 as the film Contact starring Jodie Foster.
I'm pretty sure it was his only novel. His other books were scientific non-fiction. I have a 1980 edition copy of his book Cosmos, based on his 13 part TV series of the same name, which I watched when I was much younger. It must be time to download it and watch it again, like I did last year with Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man.
Similar to Arthur C Clarke or Michael Crichton, Sagan uses his scientific knowledge to lay out a plausible scenario for first contact with a superior alien race, and how that might unfold.
Born in 1934, sadly he died in 1996, aged only 62. Too young for such a mind with so much still to offer. He was an astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He popularized science and astronomy and led from the front in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Do yourself a favour and do a youtube search on Carl Sagan - you will see lots of interviews and lectureas on various topics, all thought provoking and professionally delivered. One of my all time heroes.
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