Pale Blue Dot (book) explained

Pale Blue Dot
Author:Carl Sagan
Country:United States
Publisher:Random House
Release Date:1994
Media Type:Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Dewey:919.9/04 20
Congress:QB500.262 .S24 1994
Preceded By:Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Followed By:The Demon-Haunted World

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space is a 1994 book by Carl Sagan. It is the sequel to Cosmos and was inspired by the famous Pale Blue Dot photograph, for which Sagan provides a poignant description. In this book, Sagan mixes philosophy about the human place in the universe with a description of the current knowledge about the Solar System. He also details a human vision for the future.[1]




Sagan argues that studying other planets provides context for understanding the Earth—and protecting humanity's only home planet from environmental catastrophe. He believes that NASA's decision to cut back exploration of the Moon after the Apollo program was a short-sighted decision, despite the expense and the failing popularity of the program among the United States public. Sagan says future exploration of space should focus on ways to protect Earth and to extend human habitation beyond it. The book was published the same year comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter, an event Sagan uses to highlight the danger Earth faces from the occasional asteroid or comet large enough to cause substantial damage if it were to hit Earth. He says we need the political will to track large extraterrestrial objects, or we risk losing everything. Sagan argues that in order to save the human race, space colonization and terraforming should be utilized.

Later in the book, Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan, challenges readers to pick one of the other planetary dots photographed and featured in the book, and imagine that there are inhabitants on that world who believe that the universe was created solely for themselves. She shared Sagan's belief that humans are not as important as they think they are.

The first edition of the book includes an extensive list of illustrations and photographs, much of it taken from public archives of information released by NASA.

See also


. Carl Sagan. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. 1st. 1994. Random House. New York. 0-679-43841-6.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pale Blue Dot Media Reviews and Publisher's Notes on