“Cosmos” by Carl Sagan

A book about the universe and our significantly insignificant role in it.

As the New Year looms closer I often giggle at how the world still operates quite fervently under the arbitrary changes of an astronomical event. The earth continues to spin around and revolve even as the Sun accompanies the rest of the Milky Way in its journey onwards upon the expanding Universe. 

But we count down another number, “Auld Lang Syne” echoes, kisses are exchanged, and time remains untouched.

I heard this book on countless Metro rides when time did appear to freeze and I am perpetually indebted to it for reminding me of the cosmic perspective. On one memroable ride, as my vehicle raced forward the book recounted what a traveler on the Voyager Space Mission would have logged passing through the Solar System. You may have encountered a taste of Sagan’s wit in the book’s most memorable utterance: “To bake an apple pie, you must first invent the Universe.” 

If you require any reminders of the same, the below image, titled “Pale Blue Dot” is our earth and the accompanying text is Carl Sagan’s immortal analysis of our predicament. 

Astronomy vs Astrology 

Sagan had many gentle quips throughout the book about how unscientific so many of our cultural practices are. He specifically singles out astrology and star signs and how they devour so much social discourse even as actual scientific achievements are relegated to the backpages. 

In India, this perspective looms large, and I often find well-meaning people wax poetic about planetary alignments and time of births- an Indian way of comic perspective, if you may.

However, the collective national joy when Chandrayaan-3 successfully completed its soft landing on the moon earlier this year shows that India still holds strong weightage on space travel and investing in such programs. As Neil deGrasse Tyson often quotes, nothing better unites and puts things into perspective than the vastitude of space and all that it holds. 

The Experimental Method

For the most part, this book is a celebration of the several individuals whose scientific contributions have enabled numerous modern achievements. One that stood out to me in particular was the story of the “Wolf Trap” supposed to be sent to Mars to test for life on the rocky planet. The story of Wolf Vishniac was a tragic one. His experiment gets shelved due to budgetary reasons and his continued scientific endeavours lead to his untimely demise during an accident in the Antarctic cold. 

Having said that, he best championed the experimental method where one is proven right by first being ready to be proven wrong. This attitude is grossly missing in the modern day where ignorant confidence reigns supreme and the loudest voice is often the correct one. 

In this respect, Sagan utters powerful sagely words: “If a human disagrees with you, let him live, for in a hundred billion galaxies you will not find another.”

Such a simple scientific thought and yet the sheer apathy and coldness of our “civilized’ attitudes towards our fellow humans seems to not indicate this exclusivity of life. In 2024 and beyond let us try to work towards appreciating this thought better.

That’s a wrap for a fairly decent reading and writing year. Read this book, or listen to it as I did. Better still, watch the documentary series which immortalized the work. Do follow this newsletter for I plan on reading and writing more regularly in the arbitrary revolution of Sol which is to follow.

I will leave you with a poem I wrote about our star. Do enjoy-

Sol 

Today I learnt 

that the Sun 

has a name. 

It was christened Sol,

and that gives us 

the Solar System-

that body significant 

that houses 

my body 

relatively insignificant. 

Sol.

What a solemn word 

an old word,

befitting the ball of gas

that slowly consumes itself 

for us,

I think. 

It is human to assume 

that Sol does what Sol does 

solely for us. 

Sol was there before the first thought,

it was the light.

It’ll remain 

after the last sigh,

A Red Giant by then. 

My hair won’t know that day,

the tread of my sole,

won’t either. 

Sol speaks 

to my soul,

I call it our Sun,

in my usual

selfish 

possessiveness. 

For when I don’t see Sol,

I instead commit 

adultery 

with its several brethren 

speckling the night sky 

all at once. 

They too speak 

to my soul 

and to whatever passes 

for my thoughts. 

-NKD