Author: Carl Sagan
Format: Paperback. Size: about 12.7cm W x 19.8cm H x 2.8cm T. Pages: 413. Bibliography. Index [17 pages].
Copyright: Carl Sagan Productions Inc., 1980.
Publisher: Abacus - Little, Brown & Co. London, U.K. 1995.
ISBN: 0-349-10703-3
Status: Second-hand. Stock available: one copy
 
Contents page
 
Cover notes about this book:
 
REAR COVER:

• Spacecraft missions to nearby planets
• The Library of ancient Alexandria
• The human brain
• Egyptian hieroglyphics
• The origin of life
• The death of the Sun
• The evolution of galaxies
• The origins of matter, suns and worlds

The story of fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution transforming matter and life into consciousness, of how science and civilization grew up together, amd of the forces and individuals who helped shape modern science. A story told with Carl Sagan's remarkable ability to make scientific ideas both comprehensible and exciting, based on his acclaimed television series.
 
Notes about this book's author [page 1]:
 
Carl Sagan is Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University. He played a leading role in the Mariner, Viking and Voyager expedi­tions to the planets, for which he received the NASA medals for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and for Distinguished Public Service, and the international astronautics prize, the Prix Galabert.
 
He has served as Chairman of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, as Chairman of the Astronomy Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as President of the Planetology Section of the American Geophysical Union. For twelve years, he was Editor-in-Chief of Icarus, the leading professional journal devoted to planetary research. In addition to four hundred published scientific and popular articles, Dr Sagan is the author, co-author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Intelligent Life in the Universe, The Cosmic Connection, The Dragons of Eden, Murmurs of Earth and Broca's Brain.
 
He is a recipient of the Joseph Priestly Award 'for distinguished contributions to the welfare of mankind', and the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

Author: David H. Levy © 1998
Format: Paperback. Plain white endpapers. Size: about 13.9cm W x 21.3 H x 1.7cm T. Pages: 256. Index.
Publisher: Touchstone - Simon & Schuster, New York.
ISBN: 0-684-85255-1
Status: New

Contents page

Cover notes about this book and its author:
 
FRONT COVER:
 
"I welcome David Levy's excellent book ... I hope it will help the battle to save the glories of the night sky." Dr. Arthur C. Clarke
 
REAR COVER:
 
Gossamer travellers that visit our sky from time to time, these flying balls of ice and dust have shaped the course of life on Earth. In a special sense, we are the children of comets.
 
David Levy brings these "ghostly apparitions" to life. With fascinating scenarios both real and imagined, he shows how cometshave wreaked their special havoc on Earth and other planets. Beginning with ground zero as comets take form, we track the paths their icy, rocky masses take around our universe and investigate the enormous potential that future comets have to directly affect the way we live on this planet and what we might find as we travel to other planets.
 
In this extraordinary volume, David Levy shines his expert light on a subject that has long captivated our imaginations and fears, and demonstrated the need for our continued and rapt attention.
 
"There's so much in these scientifically rich yet fast-moving pages that I have a new awareness of the history and vitality of these wonderful astral phenomena." Walter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Parade magazine.
 
"A truly fascinating book! David Levy has managed to explain profound scientific theories in a way that is exciting and easy to understand." Majel Barrett Roddenberry
 
"David Levy's wonderful tale brings the spectacular beauty and terrifying danger of comets, both literally and figuratively, down to Earth." James V. Scotti, Spacewatch Project, University of Arizon.
 
David H. Levy is a contributing editor of Parade magazine and has discovered 21 comets, including Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 which collided with Jupiter. He is the author of nineteen books, including Skywatching, hundreds of articles, and a number of screenplays, all on aspects of astronomy. He lives in Vail, Arizona.