Reading List: Carl Sagan

I wish you could see my library. It's a rather eclectic collection of things, from the creaky wicker furniture to the cacti shivering in the corner to the collection of skulls from Grandpa's hunting days. There's a sizable collection of indigenous art from both North and Central America, ranging from hand-painted pottery to huge dream catchers to ornamental ladders hung with pelts and preserved hooves to painted plates and a regal sculpture of a revered Native Chief. My own scientific endeavors have left their mark on the room as well. A squirrel tail dangles from one of the bookcases, a line of skulls sits atop a pile of books, and a tin of assorted vertebrae rattles about every time a drowsy dog bumps into the bookcase.

Of course, the purpose of a library is to house books, and we have plenty of those. We have so many, in fact, that the shelves are bowed under their weight. One bookcase is dedicated almost entirely to science fiction and mystery novels. I have my own little section from the days before we switched to digital that keeps tilting over and falling down. Another bookcase houses a selection of books from my childhood. My mother used to buy a hundred books for five or ten dollars at charity shops and library sales and rummage sales when I was younger. Once I was done with a batch, she'd have a tag sale of her own and donate the books that didn't sell to charity, and then the cycle would start anew.

A third bookcase houses my mother's academic books as well as an encyclopedia of dinosaurs.

But by favorite bookcase by far is the one that's split between various anthologies of fairytales, myths, and legends from across the world and my science books. I'm not in the library right now and I don't recall every book on the shelf, but I'd like to tell you about the one I treasure above all overs.

I read Carl Sagan's Cosmos in the summer of fourth grade after a family friend gifted it to me. For the first time, I understood the world around me in brilliant, beautiful technicolor. I knew the origins of the atoms in my body and I knew how the sun was born and when it would die. I understood that life was ancient and amazing and mind-bogglingly complex. And for the first time, I looked up at the sky and saw something more than just twinkling points of light. I saw a universe of wonders untold, an eternity of splendor, billions and billions of stars and planets just waiting for someone to lift the veil of mystery up off their shoulders. I saw unending beauty as I flew through the chapters of Cosmos and I felt boundless, bottomless elation every time a new piece of the puzzle slotted into place. For many years, I felt like that book and the dozens I read afterwards in the pursuit of knowledge dropped the keys to the kingdom right into my lap. The doors to the universe had been slammed open, and I could not wait to see where they would lead me.

That's why I'm recommending it to anyone and everyone who has even the most passing, fleeting interest in science. For me, Cosmos and many of Sagan's other books were life-changing. I personally think everyone should read them, but perhaps I'm just a bit biased in that regard.

Some of the books I enjoyed the most are as follows:

• Cosmos (obviously)
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (I believe I read this one directly after Cosmos, and loved it almost as much.)
• The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
• Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium
• Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
• Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science
• The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence