This way of thinking persisted for centuries until Copernicus posited that planets revolve around the sun instead. Ptolemy used this fact to theorize that the Earth was the center and everything revolved around it. Even the planets move in a cool figure-eight shape called an analemma. We can predict the movements and places of almost all celestial bodies with increasing accuracy. They could also determine when to pick fruits or know migration times of buffalo by where the stars were. Even early nomadic peoples used the stars to set the time for annual gatherings. But it wasn’t always this way.įrom the beginning, we’ve been fascinated with the heavens, trying to figure them out. If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.ĭownload PDF Lesson 1: We learn our place in the universe from the heavens, which make us constantly curious.Īre those little dots we see in the sky at night the kings of the past, or burning balls of gas millions of miles away? Today we know more about the universe than we ever have.

Voyager 1 and 2 are on an interstellar journey carrying humanities history with them.

It’s possible that aliens exist, but the odds aren’t great that they would come here by spaceship.The cosmos is constantly calling us to explore and teaches us about our place in the universe.Here are the 3 most mind-expanding lessons I got out of this book: Although this one isn’t science fiction, it’s got some incredible facts that will fill you with curiosity about outer space.

It was with the same wonder I had for space when I saw this movie that made me pick up Sagan’s Cosmos. Contact was the name of the movie and Carl Sagan wrote the book it was based on. The signal gives a blueprint for a machine that can allow humanity to teleport and meet aliens across space. At one point, after a lot of waiting, something finally comes through on their giant radio telescopes. It was about a woman who was researching messages from outer space in an effort to communicate with extraterrestrial life. When I was young I saw a movie that would forever change the way I saw outer space. Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account*:

Cosmos by Carl Sagan