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If there were half stars, I'd go with a 4.5. The movie is one of my all-time favorites. This book is good, and probably a bit better if you haven't seen the movie over a dozen times. I appreciated the plot differences. The biggest difference, however, was the drama and emotion that rings through the movie. Carl Sagan is brilliant and a good writer. But the emotions didn't resonate with me. It's probably more accurate if this were to happen, as the scientists I know don't show their emotions as outwardly as Jodie Foster did. Despite my having an astronomer father who has taken me around the world for astronomical events, my eyes glazed over for the frequent math-related sections. In the movie, Palmer Joss was a much more significant character throughout, and his less significant role in the book made the philosophy less obvious. Hadden was also much more exciting and pivotal in the movie. The author's note at the end said he and a woman named Ann wrote the movie premise in 80-81, which expanded into this novel in 1985. So glad they finished making the movie, even though he died while they were filming (his daughter continued to stay involved). It's definitely worth a read, and I'm sure true science nerds would love it.