Ann Druyan

I really admire the ambition of Sagan and Ann Druyan to embark on the multi-volume examination of the roots of humanity beginning with this tome. At times, however, I feel they could of gained in cohesion and clarity what they may have lost in breadth had they constrained themselves to a single opus. This just seems to wander at times, which makes me wonder...

However, it is a wondrous topic and the pair bring humanity down from a self-ascribed special realm closer to the animals, which are show more raised up. (Especially chimps and bonobos.) This was an excellent read after Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? which is a slimmer and more concise consideration of many of the same topics using updated research. show less

Wow. Serendipity trebled. First came Braiding Sweet Grass. Then the next book that came my way was The Light Eaters. Now comes Cosmos: Possible Worlds. The three build on one another in a most delightful way. Well, at least Chapter 7 of Ann Druyan's Cosmos dovetails beautifully with the other two in its coverage of plant evolution. Druyan, of course, covers much else in addition to plant behavior, but the commonality of thought among these three authors is remarkable.

I can think of four show more questions that Druyan strives to address in Cosmos: Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? With whom are we traveling through spacetime? I'm not quite sure whether she approaches these questions as a scientific philosopher or a philosophical scientist, but she manages to interweave the two disciplines in a most gratifying manner; in fact, she demonstrates that the two are quite complementary, perhaps even inseparable.

From the creation of the universe 13.8 billion years ago (according to current scientific thought), advancing through the earliest common ancestor of humans and all other animals 540 million years ago, and projecting to a World's Fair in 2039, Druyan paints a colorful and informative word picture of the cosmos and of our place in it. Along the way, we also learn some fascinating facts of mankind's study of the nature of light, radioactivity, development of agriculture, anthropology, astronomy, the future of our own solar system as the Sun ages, dancing bees, and quite a bit more. Ever hear of Nikolai Vavilov? Had Stalin not been turned against him, much Soviet hunger might have been averted. We see that Druyan has even managed to weave a bit of human political history into the warp and weft of her book's fabric.

Potential readers who fail to pick up Cosmos: Possible Worlds fearing that it's too much of a scientific textbook beyond their comfort zone will be making a terrible miscalculation. Similarly, those who pass it by in the belief that it's some sort of foggy philosophical rumination with no firm substance will also be in abject error. Druyan commingles past, present and future as well as fact and thought in an impressively instructive way. Her skill as an adroit wordsmith also deserves kudos. Her writing style is a pleasure to read.

As I have noted in comments on other books and other authors, I tend to value a book on whether or not reading it was worth the expenditure of the days taken from my finite lifetime. Could I have spent those hours doing something more beneficial to whatever days I have remaining in this life? Cosmos: Possible Worlds was worth every minute I devoted to its reading, and I recommend it as a valuable addition to one's lifelong learning curriculum. show less

I have always been fascinated by the Voyager spacecraft. The thought of those little workhorses still spinning through space decades after being launched, endlessly and patiently faithful to the commands of those who made them and sent them on their way is always incredible to me. And as our first ambassadors to whatever may live beyond our solar system, nothing is more evocative than the little gold record each carries, with the voices, music and images of humanity. The story of how the show more record was assembled, the difficulties in finding exactly what the creators wanted to put on it, the instances of serendipity where they found content that was perfect by sheer chance, is enthralling . This book is a treasure, and the farther the little spacecraft travel into the cosmos, the more precious it will become. show less

Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan poetically present the humble beginnings of homo sapiens. They begin with the formulation of the universe and then with the many processes that went into the origination of our planet. The wonder that is DNA and genetics is then explained, showing how closely linked humans are to everything but just how intimately related we are to the great apes, mostly the chimpanzees.

The book is 80% about chimpanzee and other ape behavior and how they relate to us. I show more found it fascinating how many of our social behaviors are nearly identical with the apes. They function as a family unit. Mothers breastfeed their young and the young learn by seeing what the elders do. Apes groom each other and we like to give massages or cuddle with our loved ones. Chimps like Lucy displayed intelligence and the ability to think abstractedly. They have emotion and use facial expressions to communicate.

Apes are also highly sexual and can be really violent. Especially the Hamadrya baboon. Where the male chimps loosely guard their females when they are not ovulating, the male baboon treats the females like private property and will violently discipline them if they stray to another male. Apes will go patrolling in groups and are masters of stealth and strategy. The military branches of the world can take a page out of the chimp's playbook.

I found it all to be engrossing and enlightening. Carl and Ann shed a sliver of light on the shadows of our ancestors and bring them to the forefront for us to appreciate. We can learn so much about our past if we can continue to study our great antecedents. show less