Carl Sagan
Contact
Pocket Books, New York, 1986
ISBN: 0-671-00410-7
Christina says:
1985 the American astronomer Carl Sagan wrote a novel about mankind's first contact
with aliens.
His protagonist is astronomer Ellie Arroway, a scientist who dedicated her life to
listening for signals from space.
One day her patience pays off and radio telescopes all over the world receive a complex
message. It's a construction design for a machine that will take five scientists as
representatives of mankind on a journey to the center of the universe.
Sagan gives a very credible description of the working environment of scientists and
the close connection of science and politics. Had the aliens known about the amount of red
tape and diplomatic complications they caused with their message they would have pointed
their transmitters elsewhere.
Unfortunately you can tell that the author is no novelist. His characters remain flat
and not very interesting. He equips his protagonist Arroway with a whole string of
personal problems starting with an "evil step-father" and going all the way to
an unsatisfying love affair, but like all the others her only purpose is to demonstrate a
problem. In her case it's the difficulties a woman faces when she pursues a scientific
career.
The storyline is constantly interrupted by Sagan's musings on everything under the sun.
Among other things he elaborates on the conflict between science and religion, but that
isn't as prominent as it is depicted in the movie the book was made into.
Sagan wrote CONTACT before the decline of the Soviet Union, and there are still two
superpowers in his story that takes place at the end of the millenium. But his president
of the United States is a woman, and a woman whose husband has no problems being married
to the leader of the free world - that's what I call science fiction.
Sagan's second vision of the future concerns space stations in Earth orbit as a retreat
for the rich and mighty.
The passing of time isn't always made clear as the story advances, but between the time
the message is first received and the actual journey to the center of the universe several
years go by.
CONTACT is a rather interesting read, but who - like me - prefers fiction
over non-fiction and likes her facts wrapped up in an intriguing story will probably be
disappointed.
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