Thursday, December 20, 2007

Second Annual Carl Sagan Blog-a-thon

Today is the Second Annual Carl Sagan Blog-a-thon , on the 11th anniversary on the great mans death.

Carl Sagan was a great scientist, but I'll always know him best for his magnificent writing. "The Demon Haunted World", which is THE Skeptical Bible, "Cosmos", utterly brilliant, "Billions and Billions", "The Dragons of Eden", "Broca's Brain", an excellent collection of essays, among others.

His books are still as moving as they were when he wrote them, decades ago. I've often said that the day Mario Kart comes out for Wii, I'll buy the console, and the day that Cosmos comes out in HD-DVD or bluray, I'll buy a player.

Isaac Asimov was "The Great Explainer", probably the greatest, but Sagan could, in a way that no one can, convey such a sense of wonder at the sheer majesty of the Cosmos. Cosmos means order, and better than anyone he provided order to the vastness of space and human existence.

When Neill deGrasse Tyson is compared to Carl Sagan, it is the greatest possible complement one can pay a scientist, a science writer, a writer, and a human being.

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