Cosmos: Possible Worlds

by Ann Druyan

Overview

This sequel to Carl Sagan's blockbuster continues the electrifying journey through space and time, connecting with worlds billions of miles away and envisioning a future of science tempered with wisdom.

Based on National Geographic's internationally-renowned television series, this groundbreaking and visually stunning book explores how science and civilization grew up together. From the emergence of life at deep-sea vents to solar-powered starships sailing through the galaxy, from the Big Bang to the intricacies of intelligence in many life forms, acclaimed author Ann Druyan documents where humanity has been and where it is going, using her unique gift of bringing complex scientific concepts to life. With evocative photographs and vivid illustrations, she recounts momentous discoveries, from the Voyager missions in which she and her husband, Carl Sagan, participated to Cassini-Huygens's recent insights into Saturn's moons. This breathtaking sequel to Sagan's masterpiece explains how we humans can glean a new understanding of consciousness here on Earth and out in the cosmos—again reminding us that our planet is a pale blue dot in an immense universe of possibility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426219085
Publisher:	Disney Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	432,460
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

ANN DRUYAN is a celebrated writer and producer who co-authored many bestsellers with her late husband, Carl Sagan. She also famously served as creative director of the Voyager Golden Record, sent into space 40 years ago. Druyan continues her work as an interpreter of the most important scientific discoveries, partnering with NASA and the Planetary Society. She has served as Secretary of the Federation of American Scientists and is a laureate of the International Humanist Academy. Most recently, she received both an Emmy and Peabody Award for her work in conceptualizing and writing National Geographic's first season of Cosmos.

Table of Contents

Prologue 15

1 Ladder to the Stars 28

2 Oh, Mighty King 60

3 Lost City of Life 88

4 Vavilov 114

5 The Cosmic Connectome 144

6 The Man of a Trillion Worlds 174

7 The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth 198

8 The Sacrifice of Cassini 226

9 Magic Without Lies 252

10 A Tale of Two Atoms 278

11 The Fleeting Grace of the Habitable Zone 308

12 Coming of Age in the Anthropocene 332

13 A Possible World 348

Acknowledgments 372

Further Reading 376

Illustrations Credits 377

Index 379

Editorial Reviews

In the breadth of its scope and the magnitude of its imagination…Possible Worlds is a triumphant return to scale, and a direct challenge to a humanity that seems to have lost its will  to confront and overcome the problems that face it. It encompasses astronomy, neuroscience, quantum physics, the origins of life, the future of space flight, nuclear weaponry, alternate intelligence models, cosmology, archaeology, anthropology, and biochemistry in the breathtaking course of its 370 richly illustrated pages, all driven by Druyan’s approachable but grand prose that urges us to find in ourselves the intellectual courage to truly know who we are, where we came from, and what possible futures stretch out before us.” –Women You Should Know

“Now, 40 years later, Ann Druyan boldly carries the torch forward with the long-awaited sequel to the book, COSMOS with Cosmos: Possible Worlds.” –Laughing Place

“In the breadth of its scope and the magnitude of its imagination, it is teaching us again how to look beyond our tribal specializations towards a future powered by a bold syncretism. Possible Worlds is a triumphant return to scale, and a direct challenge to a humanity that seems to have lost its will to confront and overcome the problems that face it.  It encompasses astronomy, neuroscience, quantum physics, the origins of life, the future of space flight, nuclear weaponry, alternate intelligence models, cosmology, archaeology, anthropology, and biochemistry in the breathtaking course of its 370 richly illustrated pages, all driven by Druyan’s approachable but grand prose that urges us to find in ourselves the intellectual courage to truly know who we are, where we came from, and what possible futures stretch out before us.” –Women You Should Know
 
“Ann Druyan is reimagining the future.” –Scientific American

From the Publisher