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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I loved the idea of this book, and I enjoyed getting to know the characters and feel the awe and excitement they felt throughout the story. However, I feel like it could have given me just a little more, as a reader. I would’ve liked to have more context, more explanations and backstories, for some of the chapters.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
"We all have a thirst for wonder. It's a deeply human quality. Science and religion are both bound up with it. What I'm saying is, you don't have to make stories up, you don't have to exaggerate. There's wonder and awe enough in the real world. Nature's a lot better at inventing wonders than we are."
"She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."
A must read.
"She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."
A must read.
Awesome book, the movie is good, but as usual they had to leave stuff out for time, drama buildup and simplicity. The book is superb, I still got exasperated with the conversation with the religious guys (at a Creationism museum and later) and the response from the governments at the end; situation that I believe speaks volumes about the book.
Been a long time since I cried at the end of a book, especially one that I’ve read multiple times before. Or maybe it’s those books that have that effect.
Contact is the type of sci-fi novel that I love: a healthy mix of hard sf and good character development, wrapped in a stories spanning the whole life of the main character. Throughout the story, we examined the developments of technology and how humans respond to them, the hurdle women and marginalized people have to go through in the name of bettering humanity as a whole, and the constant struggle in how to react to the "unknown". All classic theme of sci-fi, rendered in a nice package.
3.5/5
3.5/5
This was a highly enjoyable "real science" science fiction novel. Aside from not being familiar with some details of the astrophysics, the rest of the story was engaging and much richer than the film.
I don't think that Sagan believed in God... I wonder if he does now?
I am not mathematically or scientifically minded. Maths in particular makes me feel sick. The numbers sort of blend together and I can't process what I'm seeing. I mean, beyond simple calculations I am useless.
So I thought I'd struggle with this book. And I did. But I tell you what? The story and the characters more than made me want to power through the confusion and the nausea the mathematic and scientific explanations - of which there are a few - gave me. And it was so worth it.
This is very much a science fiction story but it's also an exploration of science and theology and, perhaps most importantly, what it is to be human. At least to me.
It was a superb story and well-written. The only thing that stopped me from giving it a fifth star was a comment toward the end of the book about people with disabilities or 'slightly malformed beings'. Even within the context I found it to be random and ignorant and, as a slightly malformed being myself, I found it hard not to take personally.
So I thought I'd struggle with this book. And I did. But I tell you what? The story and the characters more than made me want to power through the confusion and the nausea the mathematic and scientific explanations - of which there are a few - gave me. And it was so worth it.
This is very much a science fiction story but it's also an exploration of science and theology and, perhaps most importantly, what it is to be human. At least to me.
It was a superb story and well-written. The only thing that stopped me from giving it a fifth star was a comment toward the end of the book about people with disabilities or 'slightly malformed beings'. Even within the context I found it to be random and ignorant and, as a slightly malformed being myself, I found it hard not to take personally.