Contact ★★★★☆

Contact (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★☆

Contact by Carl Sagan is a science fiction book about receiving a message from extra terrestrials. I read this for a book club at my place of work.

There’s science fiction and then there’s SCIENCE fiction, this is definitely the latter. Sagan was an astrophysicist who dedicated his life to the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). This is the basis for Contact. Ellie, the main character, is the director of a radio telescope project when she discovers a signal, which turns out to be a message from another world. Ellie works with other scientists from around the world to collect and decipher the message, which they learn is an instruction manual to build a machine. Governments and religious sects become involved as the world collaborates to build what has been discovered to be a transporter. Ellie and four other scientists board the completed machine on New Years Eve 1999, the turn of the millennium to contact the extra terrestrial beings. Upon returning when no one believes their incredible experience, Ellie looks into pi to find the answers.

The book reads heavy science and there are some interesting conversations between science and religion. I thought some sections were wordier than they needed to be but I was still able to remain intrigued. Going to go watch the movie now and compare (one of my favorite things to do). Have you read this or seen the movie? What do you think?

If you liked Contact, I also recommend Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle, War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, Shoot for the Moon by James Donovan, and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Happy reading!

Ms.Bjork