Book: Contact

Wow.

If the T.C. Boyle collection was a personal breakthrough in literary tolerance then Carl Sagan's Contact was a miracle. Despite constant glaring offenses in the writing style and story framework I was able to participate with very little annoyance.

The book - though clearly fiction - reads often like biography or technical article. And when venturing into the softer matters - of the heart for instance - the narrative is brutally unsubtle. Incredibly I was okay with all this. The only sin that got me at all worked up was the terribly indulgent travelogue chapters that made the second of the book's three parts drag like a sonofabitch (yes - drag like a sonofabitch. What a brilliant simile, eh? I swear I'm gonna be famous one day with such scintillating description as this). The plot has the heroes travelling to different countries, the primary reason, apparently, being an excuse to regale the reader with historical and geographical factoids of the sort that Sagan clearly finds interesting and that this reader most fervently did not.

Aside from that I was thoroughly immersed in the book. Partly, I suppose, because I'd already developed significant trust and respect for Sagan through his other, technical, works and partly, I suppose, because of the subject matter, having to do with the future of humankind and the nature of the universe, being very near to my heart; being of intense interest to me.

I'd seen the movie a couple of times and loved it and was surprised - and disappointed, actually - to discover how closely the movie adhered to the book with regards to themes and the core speculations of the author. I'd hoped to absorb more advanced insights than I had gleaned from the film. Mind you the afterward seems to suggest that Sagan himself designed the concept of the movie and did so prior to writing the book.

Much of this work has to do with the rift between science and religion and some attempt to bridge it - or at least to propose commonality. I can see how this might have fascinated me at one time but at this stage of my exploration I'm far more interested in the gap between scientist and poet. This seems to be an outright war of paramount importance. At this time I can imagine no greater accomplishment in life than uniting the scientist and poet. I wonder often if such an endeavor is indeed the purpose that my own core work is evolving toward. I also wonder if such a dream is thoroughly and pathetically naive.

Anyone interested in cosmology, astronomy or theology, I suggest you'll find Contact entirely useful. As for all others - It's a great story. I beg you to experience it. But I suggest you choose between the movie and the book. You probably won't want to do both.

FWG