Cosmos: The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation

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The content is more up to date but many still prefer the older Sagan version with less reliance on CGI. Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part, 1980-1981 television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. He raises issues about anti-scientific movements in society and how an uneducated society is more likely to throw itself into irrational conflicts. In 2005, The Science Channel rebroadcast the series for its 25th anniversary, with updated computer graphics and film footage, digital sound, and information about relevant scientific discoveries in the intervening 25 years. The story of fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution transforming matter and life into consciousness, of how science and civilisation grew up together, and of the forces and individuals who helped shape modern science.

In making the move to commercial television, the hour-long episodes were edited to shorter lengths, and Sagan shot new epilogues for several episodes, in which he discussed new discoveries—and alternative viewpoints—that had arisen since the original broadcast. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. On many topics, the book encompasses a more concise, refined presentation of previous ideas about which Sagan had written. Each of the book's 13 illustrated chapters corresponds to one of the 13 episodes of the television series.To quote the first line of the first chapter: "The cosmos is all that ever is or ever was or ever will be. The book could be described as a history of ideas, in particular the supreme achievement of humans, that of Science. Sagan discusses the story of the Heike crab and artificial selection of crabs resembling samurai warriors, as an opening into a larger discussion of evolution through natural selection (and the pitfalls of intelligent design).

Another sequel series from the same team (with Tyson again hosting), Cosmos: Possible Worlds, premiered on March 9, 2020, on National Geographic.

I legit feel smarter for having listened to Cosmos, and I'll also never be able to forget why medieval Catholic monks first domesticated rabbits (hint: it wasn't because they were cute). If every human were raised to value the wisdom contained in this book, humans would finally set aside religious, political, territorial differences and disputes and achieve lasting peace across all parts of the earth. On August 5, 2011, plans were announced for a sequel to the series, bringing up-to-date special effects and scientific discoveries to the themes and messages of the original series. The new series was hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and produced by the two surviving original creators, Ann Druyan and Steven Soter, with Seth MacFarlane. Carl does a very good job in providing explanations on the subject matter in a way that is generally easily understood, although for some of the more advanced concepts you will need to concentrate and have a presence of mind.