[0345376595] [9780345376596] Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space-Paperback

"fascinating . . . Memorable . . . Revealing . . . Perhaps The Best Of Carl Sagan's Books." —the Washington Post Book World (front Page Review) in Cosmos, The Late Astronomer Carl Sagan Cast His Gaze Over The Magnificent Mystery Of The Universe And Made It Accessible To Millions Of People Around The World. Now In This Stunning Sequel, Carl Sagan Completes His Revolutionary Journey Through Space And Time. future Generations Will Look Back On Our Epoch As The Time When The Human Race Finally Broke Into A Radically New Frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan Traces The Spellbinding History Of Our Launch Into The Cosmos And Assesses The Future That Looms Before Us As We Move Out Into Our Own Solar System And On To Distant Galaxies Beyond. The Exploration And Eventual Settlement Of Other Worlds Is Neither A Fantasy Nor Luxury, Insists Sagan, But Rather A Necessary Condition For The Survival Of The Human Race. "takes Readers Far Beyond Cosmos . . . Sagan Sees Humanity's Future In The Stars." —chicago Tribune publishers Weekly in A Tour Of Our Solar System, Galaxy And Beyond, Cornell Astronomer Sagan Meshes A History Of Astronomical Discovery, A Cogent Brief For Space Exploration And An Overview Of Life-from Its Origins In The Oceans To Humanity's First Emergence To A Projected Future Where Humans ``terraform'' And Settle Other Planets And Asteroids, Earth Having Long Been Swallowed By The Sun. Maintaining That Such Relocation Is Inevitable, The Author Further Argues That Planetary Science Is Of Practical Utility, Fostering An Interdisciplinary Approach To Looming Environmental Catastrophes Such As ``nuclear Winter'' (lethal Cooling Of Earth After A Nuclear War, A Widely Accepted Prediction First Calculated By Sagan In 1982). His Exploration Of Our Place In The Universe Is Illustrated With Photographs, Relief Maps And Paintings, Including High-resolution Images Made By Voyager 1 And 2, As Well As Photos Taken By The Galileo Spacecraft, The Hubble Space Telescope And Satellites Orbiting Earth, Which Show Our Planet As A Pale Blue Dot. A Worthy Sequel To Sagan's Cosmos. Author Tour. (dec.) “Fascinating . . . memorable . . . revealing . . . perhaps the best of Carl Sagan’s books.”—The Washington Post Book World (front page review) In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot, Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan traces our exploration of space and suggests that our very survival may depend on the wise use of other worlds. This stirring book reveals how scientific discovery has altered our perception of who we are and where we stand, and challenges us to weigh what we will do with that knowledge. Photos, many in color. The spacecraft was a long way from home, beyond the orbit of the outermost planet and high above the ecliptic plane-which is an imaginary flat surface that we can think of as something like a racetrack in which the orbits of the planets are mainly confined. Author Carl Sagan suggests that the survival of the human race depends on the exploration and settlement of other worlds