Reddit reviews Cosmos
We found 28 Reddit comments about Cosmos. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Reddit reviews CosmosWe found 28 Reddit comments about Cosmos. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Read all of his books.
The Demon Haunted World
Cosmos
Varieties of the Scientific Experience
Pale Blue Dot
The Dragons of Eden
Billions and Billions
His novel:
Contact
It depends. I actually recommend not getting stuck reading religious arguments and anti-religious arguments. Try instead simply learning about the world. Your life and happiness don't need to be defined by religion, there's a lot more out there.
Read some books on science and history, not religious or atheist ones, just ones that expand knowledge. Things like Cosmos, or a History of the Peloponnesian War. Read about different cultures and their myths, like Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And in the meantime, just be a good person who loves their friends and family, and don't worry about God, or the lack thereof.
When you've learned more and feel comfortable, I suggest learning about the history of your religion, and what people actually believed, not just what the religion claims it was always like. Karen Armstrong's 'The Bible' is a good one. Read an annotated Bible and look at what's actually there. Then feel free to read an apologist and atheist book to hear both sides.
Most importantly, you should be learning for the sake of learning, and enjoy it. Don't feel guilty or torn. That you feel like you deserve eternal torment for simply participating in a ritual with friends and family is a fucking tragedy. Hell, Christmas and Easter are mostly made of pagan traditions, some explicitly outlawed in the Bible, but I'm sure eating chocolate eggs and decorating the tree doesn't make you feel sinful, not should it. We give these things our own meaning, there's no outside force causing you unhappiness or judging you.
This question gets asked all the time on this sub. I did a search for the term books and compiled this list from the dozens of previous answers:
How to Read the Solar System: A Guide to the Stars and Planets by Christ North and Paul Abel.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan.
Foundations of Astrophysics by Barbara Ryden and Bradley Peterson.
Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program by Pat Duggins.
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything by Chris Hadfield.
You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station by Chris Hadfield.
Space Shuttle: The History of Developing the Space Transportation System by Dennis Jenkins.
Wings in Orbit: Scientific and Engineering Legacies of the Space Shuttle, 1971-2010 by Chapline, Hale, Lane, and Lula.
No Downlink: A Dramatic Narrative About the Challenger Accident and Our Time by Claus Jensen.
Voices from the Moon: Apollo Astronauts Describe Their Lunar Experiences by Andrew Chaikin.
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin.
Breaking the Chains of Gravity: The Story of Spaceflight before NASA by Amy Teitel.
Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lunar Module by Thomas Kelly.
The Scientific Exploration of Venus by Fredric Taylor.
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.
Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White and Richard Truly.
An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Bradley Carroll and Dale Ostlie.
Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space by Willy Ley.
Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Clark.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Russia in Space by Anatoly Zak.
Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment by John Lewis.
Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets by John Lewis.
Asteroid Mining: Wealth for the New Space Economy by John Lewis.
Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris.
The Whole Shebang: A State of the Universe Report by Timothy Ferris.
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson.
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Packing for Mars:The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.
The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution by Frank White.
Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler.
The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne.
Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Oddyssey by Joseph Allen.
International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems by Hopkins, Hopkins, and Isakowitz.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene.
How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space by Janna Levin.
This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William Burrows.
The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan.
Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Eugene Cernan.
Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
The end
The best beginner book as to "What the fuck is the universe about?" is definitely "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan.
It's a really interesting read, and runs the gambit from the origins of the universe to evolution by natural selection.
Check it out.
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/0345331354
I think I could possibly answer a part of your question in this post that I already made, but let me elaborate further since it isn't everyday that I'm able to have deep conversation IRL. My room-mates are muggles.
>But, what you're saying is that any such identity is acceptable and that one has to possess at least one such identity to be alive?
Yes. That's what I feel. As long as I (what is this 'I' in the first place) have an identity which ever it may be, as long as I'm self-aware I don't mind.
After all, can you imagine how the world was before you were born? How it will be after you die or 'die'? It's simply unimaginable. Coming back to our identity, I'd rather be someone since hey, if I'm that someone, I wouldn't know about this 'me' or would I? What guarantee do I have against the fact that every night when I go to sleep, my mannerism are completely altered, and my memories retroactively correct themselves.
Not to sound depressing (since I'm not depressed or anything) but mind, brain, body, life, existence seem pretty puny when compared to the vast scales of space and time that exists. Yes, I'm reading that and each moment I spend reading it, I get angrier at humans for the false sense of pride.
Bill Nye
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Carl Sagan
Stephen Hawking
Other
Here's a quote from Carl Sagan's Cosmos:
> There is the deep and appealing notion that the universe is but a dream of the god who, after a hundred Brahma years, dissolves himself into a dreamless sleep. The universe dissolves with him - until, after another Brahma century, he stirs, recomposes himself and begins again to dream the cosmic dream.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, there are an infinite number of universes, each with its own god dreaming the cosmic dream. These great ideas are tempered by another, perhaps greater. It is said that men may not be the dreams of gods, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men.
You might also find The Conscious Universe: Brahma's Dream interesting. The author discussed Hindu timescales.
I've always heard good things about Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land that Time Forgot though I've sadly never read it myself. And, hey, it's free!
As far as science non-fiction, I consider A Short History of Nearly Everything to be absolutely essential since it covers so very much in a tremendously entertaining way. Also, if you are interested in physics but don't have any background in it I recommend any of Michio Kaku's books such as his latest Physics of the Future. He writes in an accessible manner that distills all the things that make the ongoing developments in physics exciting. I credit reading his books many years ago with getting me started in the sciences. Lastly, for learning about the universe, you can never go far wrong with Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is easy to see from reading it why he is considered one of the greatest of the science popularizers.
I think pockets of extreme ingenuity were present in certain places, Asimov has some great non fiction books that explore the nature of these types of discoveries and sciences... Its a look at human intuition, ill post links when I get home!
Edit: As promised, here is the link to the Asimov book: The Edge of Tomorrow. It's a great book that combines non-fiction stories and science-fiction stories to stir the imagination and provide a framework as to how/why humans and their intuition lead to the amazing fantasies in science-fiction (which often lead the way for future discoveries).
Another great book to read is Carl Segans: The Cosmos, I know the TV series was wicked awesome (and inspired a generation of great scientists) but the book is that much better... being able to break down the math and explore core concepts in much more depth is very eye opening. The book is written in a way that the technical information provided can be figured out by a lay person while not losing to much of the concepts in the translation.
Then that means any of the ones that attempt to provide a mathematical basis are no good, those usually require two or more calculus courses. The aforementioned book "Fundamentals of Physics" won't do you much good since you'll need to know calculus to understand it.
A Brief History of Time is a very good book written by a very knowledgeable scientist. This book very nicely explains the concepts behind gravity and spacetime. I was about your age when I read it. This is one of the most popular books on the subject and will be at your local library.
While I've not read it, Carl Sagan's Cosmos is a popular book on the subject.
This and this explains general relativity nicely. There are a lot of videos on youtube that are very interesting.
And finally a rap battle between Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
http://www.amazon.com/Genome-Autobiography-Species-23-Chapters/dp/0060194979
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/0767908171
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/0345331354
I'm assuming you're looking for things geared toward a layman audience, and not textbooks. Here's a few of my personal favorites:
Sagan
Cosmos: You probably know what this is. If not, it is at once a history of science, an overview of the major paradigms of scientific investigation (with some considerable detail), and a discussion of the role of science in the development of human society and the role of humanity in the larger cosmos.
Pale Blue Dot: Similar themes, but with a more specifically astronomical focus.
Dawkins
The Greatest Show on Earth: Dawkins steers (mostly) clear of religious talk here, and sticks to what he really does best: lays out the ideas behind evolution in a manner that is easily digestible, but also highly detailed with a plethora of real-world evidence, and convincing to anyone with even a modicum of willingness to listen.
Hofstadter
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: It seems like I find myself recommending this book at least once a month, but it really does deserve it. It not only lays out an excruciatingly complex argument (Godel's Incompleteness Theorem) in as accessible a way as can be imagined, and explores its consequences in mathematics, computer science, and neuroscience, but is also probably the most entertainingly and clearly written work of non-fiction I've ever encountered.
Feynman
The Feynman Lectures on Physics: It's everything. Probably the most detailed discussion of physics concepts that you'll find on this list.
Burke
Connections: Not exactly what you were asking for, but I love it, so you might too. James Burke traces the history of a dozen or so modern inventions, from ancient times all the way up to the present. Focuses on the unpredictability of technological advancement, and how new developments in one area often unlock advancements in a seemingly separate discipline. There is also a documentary series that goes along with it, which I'd probably recommend over the book. James Burke is a tremendously charismatic narrator and it's one of the best few documentary series I've ever watched. It's available semi-officially on Youtube.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. The writing is so good you won't care about the squeamish content.
The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. A perfect blend of a historical retelling and science.
A Treasury of Deception by Michael Farguhar.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks. Short stories of the mentally abnormal patients of Sacks.
My Stroke of Insight by Jill Taylor. Very good insight on what it is like to live with, and recover from brain damage. Also talks science about parts of the brain as a nice intro to the subject.
Mutants: On Genetic Variety in the Human Body by Armand Leroi.
And of course,
Cosmos by Carl Sagan.
http://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/0345331354/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321641323&sr=1-1
I wrote this for you really quick, it's a simple web service that will return the price given an amazon product id. Example: http://amazon-simple-price.heroku.com/product/0345331354 returns "$7.99"
If you know the amazon id, you already know the product URL: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/${the_id}/ so it is no necessary to return with the price.
About the universe and what happened between t=0 and now? Well, I'd have to say start with Cosmos and you can also go with the documentary Sagan did of the same name. He touches on this subject in both of those.
Lawrence Krauss wrote A Universe from Nothing which goes into how there are explanations on how our universe could come to be without the need of the supernatural.
Victor Stenger has a bunch of books on this topic but I guess I might recommend The Falacy of Fine-Tuning.
English.
Cosmos is written By Carl Sagan. Amazon sure has it.
If not, google it. It's pretty popular/famous book.
 
I guess you're pretty young because you didn't recognize Carl Sagan.
Carl Sagan was american researcher, astronomer and educator, very famous in public because his involvement as host/narator for Cosmos TV Series.
The new Cosmos TV Series is being hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson btw.
 
If you have finished Cosmos, read his sci-fi Novel "Contact"
Really good.
Ridiculously good.
Same book was adapted to movie with same title :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/
Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey
 
Interesting trivia:
Carl Sagan is also the one who design/head committee of Voyager Golden Record.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record
His legacy literally will go on forever, unless it bump into celestial object :)
 
I'm glad you found the beauty in old literature.
Huge fans of Agatha Christie myself.
 
edit (add Amazon link):
https://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Carl-Sagan/dp/0345331354
Going to try and post books that are related, but not actually "atheist".
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The first one for obvious reasons. Sagan is the secular Jesus, and I'd say the second is an interesting read for anyone religious or otherwise, but I feel like it would be better received if you don't actually believe in Christianity. It's a great read though
You can't go wrong with anything by Carl Sagan. Try Cosmos to start with.
Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S. Thorne is another good one.
This is a question I have grappled with, since it is something I will eventually face if I ever have children. I feel like the only reasonable route is to provide my child with a copy of this, this, and this, as well as a copy of the Bible, and encourage them to ask questions about anything they're trying to understand. I'll tell them the truth: that many people believe in a god or gods, but that there's no proof that any of it is actually true, and tell them that it's important to understand it for themselves instead of relying on someone stating that something is true and refusing to allow them to question it.
Question everything, even the most mundane detail, until you understand why anything is said to be true or false. That will hopefully be the legacy that I can leave to a child.
Santa Claus will also be a problem.
Looking on their website it seems as if they do not let outside people borrow from their library, sorry :(.
I know many libraries have "partnerships" for the lack of a better word, where if you try to borrow a book from the library, and they don't have it, they will request it from somewhere else they are partnered with and get it for you.
Some ideas of books:
For my undergraduate astrophysics class I used - Foundations of Astrophysics by Ryden and Peterson, ISBN13: 978-0-321-59558-4
I have also used (more advanced, graduate level) - An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostlie, ISBN13: 978-0-805-30402-2
There are plenty of other undergraduate text books for astrophysics, but those are the only two I have experience with.
Some other books that may be just fun reads and aren't text books:
A Brief History of Time - Hawking
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter - Feynman
Random popular science books:
Parallel Worlds - Kaku (or anything else by him Michio Kaku)
Cosmos - Sagan
Dark Cosmos - Hooper
or anything by Green, Krauss, Tyson, etc.
Videos to watch:
I would also suggest, if you have an hour to burn, watching this video by Lawrence Krauss. I watched it early on in my physics career and loved it, check it out:
Lawrence Krauss - A Universe From Nothing
Also this video is some what related:
Sean Carroll - Origin of the Universe and the Arrow of Time
Hope you enjoy!
Edit: Formatting.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan Get a used copy. Best 50 cents you can spend.
Yes it is. Written by Carl Sagan.
For Cosmology, check out Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is a fantastic book and a favorite of many astronomy, cosmology enthusiast. It was also produced into a TV series which you can watch online for free. It's a bit dated, as it came out in the 80's, but still a fantastic read and very good for a layman understanding of a lot of science.
Cosmos
I liked Carl Sagan's Cosmos too!
There was a book that is basically the series in print. Carl Sagan wrote it. I have not read it personally, but fully plan on it. I have seen the series and fully endorse it as well. But I understand some people absorb and learn better through reading, so for posterity:
Wikipedia,
Amazon