Contact

Thom reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

First written as a screenplay in 1979, it was later brought to the screen in 1997. The action reads like a film, the science and history is wonderful popular science. The relationships and faith are the real impact here, one I didn't get from seeing the film first.

In very brief summary, this is a very personal story of Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, who today would be a poster child for STEM. Her science leads her and the world to the discovery of alien contact and beyond, but her relationships with scientists and others remains the focus. In a very strong way, this novel is as much about her contact with humanity as with aliens.

This is Sagan's only fiction, which is a shame - the world needs more science in fiction (and outside of it also). I wish I'd read this in college. 4½ stars.

Noisy Deadlines reviewed Contact by Carl Sagan

Review of 'Contact' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

I am a huge fan of Carl Sagan and somehow I haven't read this book before. I have seen the movie probably in the beginning of 2000 but I really didn't remember the details of the story so I decided to finally read the book and forget the movie.

I love the idea of this book! And, of course, Dr. Ellie Arroway, the scientist genius that built her way up to being the director of “Project Argus”, a radio telescope institute for research into SETI (“search for extraterrestrial intelligence”). The mix of real scientific research and science fiction is done brilliantly, making us wonder why we haven't received any signal from space yet? It is very plausible. Of course, SETI is a real program that still exists but we haven't any search results after more than 50 years.

Although the book was written in the 80's, with a Cold War …

I am a huge fan of Carl Sagan and somehow I haven't read this book before. I have seen the movie probably in the beginning of 2000 but I really didn't remember the details of the story so I decided to finally read the book and forget the movie.

I love the idea of this book! And, of course, Dr. Ellie Arroway, the scientist genius that built her way up to being the director of “Project Argus”, a radio telescope institute for research into SETI (“search for extraterrestrial intelligence”). The mix of real scientific research and science fiction is done brilliantly, making us wonder why we haven't received any signal from space yet? It is very plausible. Of course, SETI is a real program that still exists but we haven't any search results after more than 50 years.

Although the book was written in the 80's, with a Cold War political background, the religious, political and scientific ethics discussions are amazing. It raises questions about the purpose of humanity, the dangers (and fears) of contacting an alien species, the importance and the flaws of religion, the utopic search for peace and so on.

Another point that amazed me is that Ellie is a feminist brilliant scientist written by a man in the 80's. I identified myself with her because she is a girl that pursued her interests into a field usually dominated by men. If we look at sci-fi written around this period it's very uncommon to have a female protagonist like her.

Carlos Cámara

rated it

Jan. 1, 2004

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