A review by rick_k
Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan

5.0

I have read several Sagan books, and dozens of other books on cosmology and science in general. I cherish Carl Sagan's precise and clever mind, and the passion and honesty of his narrative voice. This book expands in to international politics and social policy, but with the same reasoned, calm assurance. Perhaps I should have read the subtitle more clearly or tried to place this book chronologically with his other books, but I was unprepared for the final chapter and afterwards. Less than a month ago I lost my father to cancer, and Carl and Annie's hopeful but unflinching accounting of Carl's own battle and death broke me down. There are so many facets to this work which expand it beyond the scope of Cosmos, Demon Haunted World, and his others, but together they relate a way of see the universe and its inhabitants with the greatest compassion and humility. I wish we had his clear voice still, but grateful for what we do have recorded. Highly recommended.