Contact

卡尔·萨根 / 虞北冥Shanghai Science and Technology Literature Publishing House Co., Ltd. · ChinaFeb 2022

Rating 4.7
Word count
233K words
Chapters
29
ISBN
9787543984851

Tags

Featured Fiction Science EnlightenmentAdventure JourneyPower GameHeroismWestern ThoughtScreen Adaptation

Summary

A female scientist, Ellie Arroway, loses her father in childhood and, through her own intelligence and resolve, carves out a place for herself in the male-dominated field of radio astronomy. While systematically searching for extraterrestrial radio signals, she suddenly receives a signal from the direction of Vega that carries rigorous mathematical meaning. After a difficult decoding effort, Ellie discovers that it is a blueprint for building a mysterious vehicle.

After a fierce confrontation between scientists and politicians, the news is made public, and the entire world throws itself with feverish excitement into constructing the vehicle. At the same time, contact with an advanced civilization brings associations of the "miraculous," religious fervor is ignited among the public, and various conflicts and confrontations erupt in society. A five-person team of scientists from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and other countries flies toward Vega as humanity's representatives on the last afternoon of the twentieth century. After witnessing a series of cosmic wonders, they land at a transfer station in the universe. There the five members each undergo a wondrous experience belonging to the individual and to the nation.

The novel realistically depicts the entire process of this adventure—receiving the message, building the machine, and traveling through a black hole to the Milky Way—while exploring the relationship between religion and science and engaging in profound speculation on human nature, the scientific spirit, and extraterrestrial civilization.

Editor's review

Contact is Carl Sagan's only novel and the fullest expression of his scientific thought and humanistic concern. Far more than a science fiction novel, it explores the complex and profound dialogue between science, faith, reason and emotion through the remarkable journey of the female scientist Eleanor Arroway as she pursues an alien signal. With an astronomer's rigor, Sagan depicts humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization; his conception of that contact—communication through mathematics and the laws of physics, the universal language of the cosmos—reveals the power of science to transcend cultural divides and is still regarded by the scientific community as a classic thought experiment for SETI.

The book's appeal lies in its multiple narrative dimensions. On the surface it is a suspenseful, ingeniously constructed science fiction adventure; beneath it, it is a heartfelt tribute to scientific method and a sober critique of narrow religious views and political short-sightedness. Through Eleanor's eyes, Sagan shows the public misunderstanding, bureaucratic obstruction, and inner loneliness and resilience scientists face in pursuing truth. The notion that a creator's message lies hidden in pi ingeniously fuses the mystery of mathematics with ultimate philosophical questions, prompting endless reflection on the purpose of the universe and the meaning of life.

Unlike many science fiction works that emphasize technological spectacle, Contact keeps human beings at its core. The debate and emotional entanglement between Eleanor and the theologian Palmer Joss form the most moving confrontation between the two great human systems of understanding: reason and faith. Sagan offers no simple answer of right or wrong, but shows the understanding and resonance the two may reach in pursuing the shared question, "Are we alone?" This deep and inclusive vision lifts the book beyond genre fiction into an enduring parable of humanity's quest for knowledge and its place in existence. The Shanghai Scientific and Technological Literature Publishing House edition is accurate and fluent, conveying well the original's scientific rigor and literary power.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Read alongside Sagan's nonfiction Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot to grasp the full scope of his scientific worldview
  2. Pay attention to how the book depicts scientific discovery being politicized and mediated, and consider its real-world parallels
  3. Note the mathematical and physical imagery throughout, which is key to understanding Sagan's idea of cosmic connectedness

About the publisher

Shanghai Science and Technology Literature Publishing House Co., Ltd. China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Science and Technology Literature Publishing House Co., Ltd. is a publisher combining science and technology with classical literature features, focusing on science and technology popularization, medicine and health, and literature and culture. Judging from its available titles, works on popular science stand out, including Chinese translations of cosmology and black hole books by Carl Sagan and Brian Cox, as well as narrative works on cognitive psychology and neurosurgery. Its art list includes drawing instruction by Andrew Loomis, alongside fiction and health and lifestyle titles. Representative books include Cosmos, Contact, The Eye of the Painter: Twelve Elements of Aesthetics, Journey Through Black Holes, Quantum Universe, and Brain Wants to Learn This Way. The press draws on the collections of the Shanghai Library to advance documentary and archival publishing; public information on its specific series and author roster is limited.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 第一部分 信息
  3. 第一章 超越数
  4. 第二章 相干光
  5. 第三章 白噪音
  6. 第四章 质数
  7. 第五章 解密算法
  8. 第六章 变余结构
  9. 第七章 W-3的乙醇
  10. 第八章 随机选台
  11. 第九章 超凡
  12. 第二部分 机器
  13. 第十章 地轴进动
  14. 第十一章 世界大信息协会
  15. 第十二章 壹-德尔塔异构体
  16. 第十三章 巴比伦
  17. 第十四章 谐振子
  18. 第十五章 铒钉
  19. 第十六章 臭氧层元老会
  20. 第十七章 蝼蚁之梦
  21. 第十八章 超统一
  22. 第三部分 银河
  23. 第十九章 裸奇点
  24. 第二十章 中央总站
  25. 第二十一章 因果关系
  26. 第二十二章 吉尔伽美什
  27. 第二十三章 重新编程
  28. 第二十四章 艺术家的签名
  29. 后记

FAQ

How does Contact differ mainly from common science fiction? The key difference is that it is hard science fiction written by a leading astronomer: the scientific grounding is extremely rigorous, and the process of scientific inquiry itself serves as the narrative drive and vehicle for philosophical reflection rather than mere background. The story centers on the intellectual shock and social and cultural response to contact, not on technical details or interstellar conflict.
I haven't seen the film. Will that affect my reading of the novel? Not at all. Though the film is a classic, it was shortened and altered in many places for length, greatly simplifying the book's scientific discussion, political maneuvering and philosophical dialogue. The novel is richer and weightier, with far deeper characterization and thought, so reading it offers a more complete and profound experience.
Are the book's scientific ideas outdated today? The core scientific ideas—interstellar communication via radio and mathematics, reflection on the Fermi paradox, the social context of scientific exploration—are not outdated; they have grown more relevant with the ongoing discovery of exoplanets and the continued work of SETI. Sagan's insight into the scientific spirit and its interaction with society matters even more today, when technology so deeply shapes society.

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About the author

卡尔·萨根 Author

Carl Sagan is a science writer well received by Chinese readers, with works appearing in categories such as popular science, quality fiction, and social science; four of his works are included in the library. Representative titles such as Cosmos, Contact, and The Demon-Haunted World show that he was skilled at connecting scientific knowledge—astronomy and physics in particular—with human civilization and social issues, guiding readers toward an understanding of the natural world and the scientific method in clear and imaginative language. Contact develops scientific imagination through fiction, while The Demon-Haunted World focuses on distinguishing scientific thinking from superstition and pseudoscience, reflecting a writing approach that both popularizes knowledge for general readers and emphasizes reason and critical thinking. Public information about his specific biography, education, and honors is limited, so no speculation is offered here; readers can sense the range of his subjects and his style of science writing through the works mentioned above.

虞北冥 Author

Yu Beiming is an author about whom limited public information is available; the database contains five of their works. Judging from representative titles such as Cosmos, Contact, The Demon-Haunted World, A Fire Upon the Deep and Ready Player One (Illustrated Annotated Edition), their writing and editorial work spans popular science, literary fiction and science fiction. The works include accessible presentations of the universe and scientific topics as well as science-fiction narratives and illustrated, annotated editions. Overall, Yu Beiming's profile centers on popular science and science fiction, balancing readability with factual content and showing a varied range of interests within these categories. As no clear records of birth and death dates, nationality or other biographical details are available, this introduction is based solely on the works and category information in the database and makes no speculation about the author's personal life.