Who wrote these popular science books "The Dragons of Eden", "Broca's Brain" and "Pale Blue Dot"?

Carl Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He is best known for his work as a science popularizer and communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation.

Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He wrote many popular science books, such as "The Dragons of Eden", "Broca's Brain" and "Pale Blue Dot".

He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Sagan and his works received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal, the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book "The Dragons of Eden".

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16 Comments

filmnut

Of’ “billions and billions of writers’, Carl Sagan’s treatment of the “Cosmos” is the best. And his subsequent works are without equal.

dlh

Wrong guess.

Todd Van Dell

joan musicmasters, I'm curious why science fiction is confusing for you? Basically, the premise of science fiction can be whittled down to one question: "What would it be like if we could travel into space and potentially live on other planets in other galaxies?" It doesn't mean we can. Doesn't even mean it has to be possible. Just means it's a way of letting our subconscious dreams become, not realities exactly, but plausabilities, if you will. The "what if" question actually forms the heart of all fiction. Like, fantasy fiction basically asks "what if we could go back in time and live in another era, one where kings and queens and brave knights and wizards and witches lived...and sometimes even dragons lived, too?" But, one has to be willing to imagine other things could exist outside of what we can see or what we can know. All that aside, the question wasn't about science fiction, it was about science fact. Believe it or not, The Dragons of Eden book Carl Sagan wrote was actually nonfiction/science fact. Despite the title. And Neil DeGrasse Tyson is basically our current Carl Sagan, since Carl Sagan passed away several years ago, and we needed another science populizer. We have Bill Nye the Science Guy, but Neil is an Astrophysicist, and space expert, or astronomer. Neil is rather gifted in the art of simplifying the concepts of astronomy so the average person without a doctorate in Astrophysics can understand it. Plus, he's funny. He could have been a stand up comic. Neil would be worth Googling. I've learned a lot from Neil about space and things related to space. (One of the most interesting questions someone asked Neil was: what would happen if Earth stopped spinning for just one or two seconds? And Neil basically said it would be catastrophic for our planet. Basically it would destroy everything on the planet, if Earth stopped spinning for even one or two seconds. Earth rotates at 1008 mph. Just imagine what could happen if we suddenly stopped spinning. If you have ever watched a high speed chase on TV, one where speeds exceed 100 mph, and suddenly the person leading police on this chase hits something that's standing still? Remember the devastating amount of damage that was done? Catastrophic. Imagine that kind of catastrophic effect but taking place planet wide, on a planetary scale. Be pretty impossible for anyone to survive what would essentially be a planet-sized car wreck at 1008 mph.)

gagibson

Lois Bartholomew-Degeneffe, You and me both!

joan musicmasters

Total guess: Sagan was the only one I'd ever heard of. Science fiction is totally confusing to me, although a lot of my friends love it. To each his own...