Carl Sagan has 17 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 23 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 5,496 ratings. The most-rated is Cosmos.
Cosmos
Summary
Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring a new Introduction by Sagan's collaborator, Ann Druyan, and a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science. Includes introductory music: Heaven and Hell by Vangelis from Cosmos: A Personal Voyage used with permission from Druyan-Sagan Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
©1980 Carl Sagan Productions, Inc (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Foreword © 2013 by Ann Druyan. “Reflections on Carl Sagan’s Cosmos” essay © 2013 by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
Summary
Number One National Best Seller
Shortlisted for The 2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY THE GLOBE AND MAIL • CBC • CHATELAINE • QUILL & QUIRE • THE HILL TIMES • POP MATTERS
A bold and profound meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression, and racism in North America from award-winning Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott.
In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about the treatment of Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight into the ongoing legacy of colonialism. She engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrifcation, writing, and representation, and in the process makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political - from overcoming a years-long battle with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft Dinner to how systemic oppression is directly linked to health problems in Native communities.
With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott provides a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future.
©2019 Alicia Elliott (P)2019 Doubleday Canada
The Perfect Husband
Summary
What would you do if the man of your dreams hides the soul of a killer? Jim Beckett was everything she'd ever dreamed of...But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped - and the most dangerous game of all begins.... After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill - or be killed.
©1998 Lisa Baumgartner (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Demon-Haunted World
Summary
A prescient warning of a future we now inhabit, where fake news stories and Internet conspiracy theories play to a disaffected American populace “A glorious book... A spirited defense of science... From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought.” - Los Angeles Times How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions. Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms. Praise for The Demon-Haunted World “Powerful... A stirring defense of informed rationality... Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing.” - The Washington Post Book World “Compelling.” - USA Today “A clear vision of what good science means and why it makes a difference... A testimonial to the power of science and a warning of the dangers of unrestrained credulity.” - The Sciences “Passionate.” - San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle
©1996 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Pale Blue Dot
Summary
"FASCINATING . . . MEMORABLE . . . REVEALING . . . PERHAPS THE BEST OF CARL SAGAN''S BOOKS." --The Washington Post Book World (front page review) In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier--space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race. "TAKES READERS FAR BEYOND Cosmos . . . Sagan sees humanity''s future in the stars." --Chicago Tribune Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.
©1994 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Magic Hour
Summary
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an incandescent story about the resilience of the human spirit, the triumph of hope, and the meaning of home. In the rugged Pacific Northwest lies the Olympic National Forest - nearly a million acres of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this old growth forest, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past. Having retreated to her western Washington hometown after a scandal left her career in ruins, child psychiatrist Dr. Julia Cates is determined to free the extraordinary little girl she calls Alice from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation. To reach her, Julia must discover the truth about Alice’s past - although doing so requires help from Julia’s estranged sister, a local police officer. The shocking facts of Alice’s life test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice - and for herself. “One of [Kristin Hannah’s] most compelling and riveting novels.” - Booklist
©2006 Kristin Hannah. (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Contact
Summary
The future is here...in an adventure of cosmic dimension. In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who - or what - is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future - and our own.
©1997 Carl Sagan (P)1997 Simon & Schuster
The Dragons of Eden
Summary
The Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Carl Sagan takes us on a great adventure, offering his vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends - and their amazing links to recent discoveries.
©1977 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Hornet Flight
Summary
It's June 1941, and the low point of the war. England throws wave after wave of RAF bombers across the Channel, but somehow the Luftwaffe is able to shoot them down at will. The skies, indeed, the war itself seem to belong to Hitler. On a Danish island across the North Sea, Harald Olufsen stumbles upon a secret German installation. With England preparing its largest aerial assault, what Harald has discovered may turn the course of the war, but the race to convey the information could have terrible consequences for everyone close to him. For his older brother, Arne, a pilot in the Danish air force, and for Arne's fiancee, Hermia, an intelligence analyst desperate to resurrect the foundering Danish resistance. And most of all, for Harald himself. Filled with knife-edge suspense and rich, tantalizing characters, this is Ken Follett writing at the top of his form, unforgettable storytelling from an unforgettable writer.
©2002 Ken Follett (P)2002 Penguin Audiobooks
Broca's Brain
Summary
Carl Sagan, writer and scientist, returns from the frontier to tell us about how the world works. In his delightfully down-to-earth style, he explores and explains a mind-boggling future of intelligent robots, extraterrestrial life and its consequences, and other provocative, fascinating quandaries of the future that we want to see today.
©1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material: Cornell University Press: "An Analysis of 'Worlds in Collision'" by Carl Sagan, in Scientists Confront Velikovsky, edited by D. Goldsmith. © 1976 by Cornell University Press. Encyclopedia Americana: "UFO's." © 1975 by Americana Corporation. Field Enterprises: "The Climates of Planets" in Science Year 1975. © 1975 by Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. William Morrow & Company, Inc.: Excerpts from The Planets by Diane Ackerman. © 1975, 1976 by Diane Ackerman. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow & Company, Inc.
Billions & Billions
Summary
In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us. These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan's thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease. Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©1997 The Estate of Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
Summary
World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits - self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason, and ethics - are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals. Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and absolutely compelling, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science.
©1992 Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience
Summary
Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as "informed worship". Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2006 Democritus Properties, LLC. (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Comet
Summary
Comet begins with a breathtaking journey through space astride a comet. Pulitzer Prize-winning astronomer Carl Sagan, author of Cosmos and Contact, and writer Ann Druyan explore the origin, nature, and future of comets, and the exotic myths and portents attached to them. The authors show how comets have spurred some of the great discoveries in the history of science and raise intriguing questions about these brilliant visitors from the interstellar dark. Were the fates of the dinosaurs and the origins of humans tied to the wanderings of a comet? Are comets the building blocks from which worlds are formed? Comet is an enthralling adventure, indispensable for anyone who has ever gazed up at the heavens and wondered why. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©1997 Ann Druyan and the Estate of Carl Sagan. © 1985 by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Murmurs of Earth
Summary
In 1977, two extraordinary spacecraft called Voyager were launched to the stars. Affixed to each Voyager craft was a gold-coated copped phonograph record as a message to possible extra-terrestrial civilizations that might encounter the spacecraft in some distant space and time. Each record contained 118 photographs of our planet; almost 90 minutes of the world's greatest music; an evolutionary audio essay on "The Sounds of Earth"; and greetings in almost sixty human languages (and one whale language). This book is an account, written by those chiefly responsible for the contents of the Voyager Record, of why they did it, how they selected the repertoire, and precisely what the record contains. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©1977 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
A Path Where No Man Thought
Summary
The spread of nuclear weapons to unstable third world countries means that despite the dramatic improvement in US/Soviet relations, we are living in a time of unprecedented danger of nuclear war. In 1982, Professors Sagan and Turco made known their discovery of the concept "nuclear winter", a widespread cold and dark, resulting in agricultural collapse and world famine, that would be generated in even a "small" nuclear war. It was a landmark discovery that revealed in the starkest terms how vulnerable our civilization is to the long-term environmental effects of nuclear war. Carl Sagan, Pulitzer prize-winning science writer, and Richard Turco, tell the personal story of their findings, and how, despite the much-heralded thawing of the Cold War, there are dangerous inadequacies in nuclear policy and doctrine that need to be addressed. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©1990 Carl Sagan and Richard Turco (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Wild River
Summary
Daniel Redmayne is fast asleep on the first night of a white water rafting trip when he's awoken by screams. The dam has failed. The river is surging, and their camp will be under water in a matter of moments. As the shrieking roar of the river rushes closer, the kids scramble to higher ground. They make it; their counselors do not. Now they're on their own, with barely any food or supplies, in the middle of the Montana wilderness. Do Daniel and his four classmates have what it takes to stay alive until they can get rescued? Alone in the wild, they forge powerful bonds - but develop dangerous disagreements. If nature doesn't break them, they might just destroy each other. This gripping survival story from the Newbery Honor author of Wildfire is filled with adrenaline-pumping adventure and moments of true bravery.
©2021 Rodman Philbrick (P)2021 Scholastic Inc.