Ok so it's not a book....well it kind of is. You see, back in the day there was an astronomer named Carl Sagan. He was an author as well as a champion of inquiry and wonder. His book Cosmos was published in 1980 and was a 13 chapter tour into the workings of the universe. It accompanied the miniseries whose 13 episode arc had me hooked from the first time I saw it on the terribly rendered VHS tapes I found laying around my aunt's house.
Even in fuzzy, poor audio, 1970's style hair, Carl Sagan delivered speeches on the origins of life, the vastness of space, and beauty of dying stars that were so eloquent I couldn't help but want to read more. I was thrilled when I heard Cosmos was coming back to TV and even more elated when I read that Neil deGrasse Tyson would be hosting it. Tyson himself is the author of many books and is probably best known now for hosting NOVA Science NOW on PBS and his guest roles on The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Anyone that has had Mrs. Pollack this year knows that I am a huge fan of NDT as I delivered a riveting speech in Mr. Tyson's voice during a debate.
Needless to say....I was not disappointed! For me, it was nostalgic and new all at once. This episode was more of an introduction entitled "Standing Up in the Milky Way" but it gave a bit of a snapshot into what's to come. It was a blend of visual elegance and animated shorts. This episode's animated feature centered around Giordano Bruno and his quest for the infinite. Bruno is quite well known and a bit of a hero in the world of cosmology in that his idea of an infinite universe was panned by the church who, in Bruno's time, was the authority on creation.
The most powerful part of the show was the cosmic calendar. Now, this has been told and done before, but I can't stress enough how much I love this comparison. The idea is to take the entire existence of the universe, all 13.8 billion years, and compress it into a calendar. I won't go through each month, but it makes the point that humans show up at 12:53 on December 31st. Our first writings, at 12:59:47- What does this mean? We are young, we are new. The universe has existed and will continue to exist without us. And while that may seem like a depressing idea, Cosmos will take us through a tour of the galaxy that will make question everything, including why we are here and what we should do with time we have. I can't wait for next week!
#geek
Even in fuzzy, poor audio, 1970's style hair, Carl Sagan delivered speeches on the origins of life, the vastness of space, and beauty of dying stars that were so eloquent I couldn't help but want to read more. I was thrilled when I heard Cosmos was coming back to TV and even more elated when I read that Neil deGrasse Tyson would be hosting it. Tyson himself is the author of many books and is probably best known now for hosting NOVA Science NOW on PBS and his guest roles on The Daily Show and Colbert Report. Anyone that has had Mrs. Pollack this year knows that I am a huge fan of NDT as I delivered a riveting speech in Mr. Tyson's voice during a debate.
Needless to say....I was not disappointed! For me, it was nostalgic and new all at once. This episode was more of an introduction entitled "Standing Up in the Milky Way" but it gave a bit of a snapshot into what's to come. It was a blend of visual elegance and animated shorts. This episode's animated feature centered around Giordano Bruno and his quest for the infinite. Bruno is quite well known and a bit of a hero in the world of cosmology in that his idea of an infinite universe was panned by the church who, in Bruno's time, was the authority on creation.
The most powerful part of the show was the cosmic calendar. Now, this has been told and done before, but I can't stress enough how much I love this comparison. The idea is to take the entire existence of the universe, all 13.8 billion years, and compress it into a calendar. I won't go through each month, but it makes the point that humans show up at 12:53 on December 31st. Our first writings, at 12:59:47- What does this mean? We are young, we are new. The universe has existed and will continue to exist without us. And while that may seem like a depressing idea, Cosmos will take us through a tour of the galaxy that will make question everything, including why we are here and what we should do with time we have. I can't wait for next week!
#geek
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