Longtime readers of these pages may recall that I have previously reviewed five other books by Carl Sagan. It has been very difficult for me to choose a "favorite" work other than what I am currently reading. The thing I found most illuminating about Pale Blue Dot is that, contrary to what I previously believed, Sagan's greatest talent may not have been his ability to explain science to the masses. His accomplishments as an astronomer in general and as a directing consultant with the American space agencies and projects are phenomenal.

My understanding of our Solar System was greatly enhanced by reading this book. Sagan was convinced that one of best ways, perhaps the only way, to preserve human life is to explore and populate other planets (specifically Mars), moons (Titan first), asteroids, and comets. He described how, with technology available today, it might be possible to terraform Mars. The cost for a single country or corporation is prohibitive, but working together globally is a recurrent theme for Sagan. Perhaps most imaginative is a plan to occupy comets in the Oort Cloud hopping from one to another where eventually it is speculated that our Solar System's Oort Cloud would occasionally interact with a comet cloud of another star system and the chance to move into other solid planets.

The June edition of this newsletter contained a quote from this book written by Carl Sagan (Random House, 1994). Here are a couple more quotes in an attempt to whet your interest enough to obtain a copy for your personal reading:

The emerging picture of the early Solar System does not resemble a stately progression of events designed to form the Earth. Instead, it looks as if our planet was made, and survived, by mere lucky chance, amid unbelievable violence. Our world does not seem to have been sculpted by a master craftsman. Here too, there is no hint of a Universe made for us.

And from the book's conclusion:

Once the first children are born off Earth; once we have bases and homesteads on asteroids, comets, moons, and planets; once we're living off the land and bringing up new generations on other worlds, something will have changed forever in human history...I believe that it is healthy-indeed, essential-to keep our frailty and fallibility firmly in mind. I worry about people who aspire to be "god-like." But as for a long-term goal and a sacred project, there is one before us. On it the very survival of our species depends...Peopling other worlds unifies nations and ethnic groups, binds the generations, and requires us to be both smart and wise. It liberates our nature and, in part, returns us to our beginnings.

--Wayne Wilson