Contact

De: Carl Sagan

Narrado por: Laurel Lefkow

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cosmos and renowned astronomer Carl Sagan’s international bestseller about the discovery of an advanced civilization in the depths of space remains the “greatest adventure of all time” (Associated Press).

The future is here…in an adventure of cosmic dimension. When a signal is discovered that seems to come from far beyond our solar system, a multinational team of scientists decides to find the source. What follows is an eye-opening journey out to the stars to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who—or what—is out there? Why are they watching us? And what do they want with us?

One of the best science fiction novels about communication with extraterrestrial intelligent beings, Contact is a “stunning and satisfying” (Los Angeles Times) classic.

Wonderful Reading

I note that some reviewers did not like the narrator, (for a lack of accents?) Astonishing. This was perfectly read. A gentle caress to the ear. Letting the story do the work, beautiful timbre, and every word delivered with clarity. A masterful definition of the art of narration. Laurel Lefkow, thank you, wonderful work.

The novel, well, it does wander a bit. It addresses questions of science, some of the theories of which were at the point of writing, the shores of the unknown. Putting those questions of existence up against love and faith, an interesting and confusing basket.

I really liked it, but I admit, 60% of that was because of the beauty of Lefkow's voice. She could read the telephone directory for me.




brendan

WWSD

Making science popular for at least two generations of people, Carl Sagan's Contact goes a long way in doing just that: making science comprehensible in the form of this novel. Dr. Eleanor Arroway is an accessible, likable character and Laurel Lefkow performs her beautifully. Theists, atheists, and agnostics, and even the scientifically illiterate can all equally enjoy this book.

If you've ever been even slightly interested in SETI-the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, or in astronomy, please read or listen to Contact, but don't expect it to be like the movie.

So Much More Delightful Than the Movie

The Short:

|| Story || The book offers a great deal more subtlety and art than the movie. The story sweeps you up and is very easy to listen to, and there is a great deal more to the story - especially the characters - than what is covered in the movie.

|| Naration || Laurel Lefkoe, while making some small mistakes in pronunciation of scientific terms, proper names etc, has an eminently mellifluous reading voice that delights the ear. & I don’t mean this in a flowery, abstract sense: her narration is really enjoyable to listen to and, in the ~450 books I currently have in my library, Lefkoe’s performance stands out for this reason. She seems to know her strengths and plays to them well, while minimizing her weaknesses.

Overall - highly recommended, especially if on sale.



THE LONG:

_____ ____
_____ NOT SURE I WANT TO REVISIT THE MOVIE. ____
The movie was a favourite of mine when I was young. I re-watched it many times through my childhood and adolescence; however, I retain a memory of it being a bit slow, a bit sappy and have not revisited as an adult, for fear of ruining a good memory. Similarly, I had read several of Carl Sagan’s books between the ages of 12-15 (Billions & Billlions, the Daemon-Haunted World, Cosmos etc), and was similarly hesitant to tarnish my fond memories of the excitement those books inspired in me at that age. As such, I was a bit hesitant to give Contact a chance.

All that really matters, for the purpose of this review, is to say that I’m glad I gave it a chance. The story pulls one in quickly, and I was genuinely impressed with Sagan’s narrative style and the techniques he employed to build a strong sense of the main character without dragging us through hours of backstory. It has left me with a keen interest in his work and a desire to explore his other novel(s) to see if this was a one-off piece of good luck (or editing) or if Sagan really possessed a thorough-going talent as an author of fiction, as well (I don’t expect to be disappointed!).

____ ____
____ THIS ISN’T SCI-FI, IT’S A (GREAT) NOVEL. ____
Unlike many sci-fi novels which seem to view character development as nothing more than an unfortunately necessary afterthought to some playful, clever idea that the author wants to share, Sagan has not simply written “sci-fi,” he has written a novel that engages with fascinating questions about the nature of faith, the possibility of life beyond earth, and the fact that, at times, being human is hard and can hurt.

This makes _Contact_ a great “sci-fi” novel for readers who would not usually manifest an interest for sci-fi, so long as they do not carry any bias against an enthusiasm for math or science (just as a novel about a character passionate about gardening can be enthralling to non-gardeners so long as they don’t have a strong aversion to plants or ... soil; however, aversion to math and enthusiasm for science seem more common — no doubt due to the extreme deficit of agriculture in our primary and secondary curriculum :D).

So even if you don’t usually go for “sci-fi” — this novel is worth a try, because it does what truly great sci-fi is meant to do: it explores aspects of our humanity that are revealed through our engagement with the world, using science as one of many elements to develop the narrative.

____ ____
____ A GREAT, IMPERFECT, NARRATION ____
I want to say that Laurel Lefkoe’s performance is not really a performance. However, when I pause to think about it more closely, it’s true that she did develop a few character’s voices, although only one stands out to me. Perhaps this was intentional and is the sign of great craft; even if it is not, the narration was wonderful. It is also worth emphasizing that the lack of elaborately distinct voices did not lead to any confusion, whatsoever.

There were several clearly unintentional errors in pronunciation. For example, at one point “Vegans” (meaning people from the planet Vega, pronounced “Vay-Gah”) which is normally pronounced (including elsewhere in the novel) as “Vay-Guns” was read as “Vee-Guns” — as in people who don’t eat any animal products. Given the enormous work and long hours that go into narrating and producing an audiobook, such small inconsistencies seem inevitable to me, but if that’s the kind of thing that’ll ruin a book for you, then stick to print for this one :)

Other similar mistakes were made with a few proper names of scientists, mathematicians, philosophers or philosophical terms but, personally, I find the more I listen to audio books narrated by individuals from different parts to the world, the less attached I become to a particular pronunciation of words. Admittedly, names are a bit less less susceptible to this flexibility, but unless the pronunciation renders the text incomprehensible, the fact is that variation in pronunciation has existed, still exists and is likely to continue to exist so long as there are speakers, so none of this seems like a good reason to pass up a great story, nor cause to criticize a very enjoyable narration — but, again, if it gets under your skin, stick to print for this one.

___ ___
___ Overall ___
Very much enjoyed it & — really the highest praise I can give any book — I will undoubtedly re-listen, for the pleasure of the ideas, the story and the narration.

Why not 5 stars? It’s a great production without crossing the line to “brilliant” or “masterpiece.” It’s good, even great, and that’s definitely more than enough, but there is neither literary nor creative “genius” at work — and although I don’t consider that a slight against the book, we’ve got to keep the 5-stars for those gems amongst gems :)

I really hope you found this review helpful, if you did, please be sure to click the “helpful” button, below, so I can continue to provide useful reviews (or learn to improve for future ones). Happy listening!

Began a Bit Slow

But I enjoyed it as a whole. The writing wasn't great and the characters were thin (what do you want from an astrophysicist), and a couple of his conjectures were wrong (the health benefits of extended zero-G and the feasibility of long-term cryogenics), but the book had what I hoped it would have (meaning what Hollywood skips over) - the deep philosophical parts (though, predictably, they were clueless - not asking enlightened questions - see the Philosophy of Broader Survival to find out what). The book did not feel dated, though the real-world references were dated. Sagan did struggle with religion a bit too much, rather than quickly dismissing it, but that struggle was still an ailment of his time, and he did not have an adequate philosophy (or a course in logic) to guide him.

Good story but not flawless

I have to begin with the narrator - superb! astounding work.
The story is good but sometimes loosing traction. Sagan is master of knowledge and physics and the story line is good and not trivial, but for parts i had to bite my tongue and keep on listening just to get to the next chapter.