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Contact Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 5,863 ratings

The future is here...in an adventure of cosmic dimension. In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who - or what - is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future - and our own.

Product details

Listening Length 14 hours and 45 minutes
Author Carl Sagan
Narrator Laurel Lefkow
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date March 23, 2012
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B007NVE0KA
Best Sellers Rank #6,447 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#40 in First Contact Science Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#85 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction
#164 in First Contact Science Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
5,863 global ratings
In order to read all the words on a single page you nearly have to crease over the rest of the book putting great strain on the binding
1 Star
In order to read all the words on a single page you nearly have to crease over the rest of the book putting great strain on the binding
This is not a review of the content of the book but the item I received itself. This type of copy is very hard to read, by the end of it you will have a book with a broken binding. The inside margins are too tight. The book itself is at least an inch thick and the inside page margins are only about a quarter of an inch. In order to read all the words on a single page you nearly have to crease over the rest of the book putting great strain on the binding.The attached photo is the book folded open on a table. Spend more money don’t get the mass market paperback.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2010
Another great book by Carl Sagan. I expected a great book by the Pulitzer Prize winner author of Cosmos... Carl Sagan ( see my review 5 stars) and I was not disappointed.

As an amateur astronomer of 40 years I knew of the famous distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan. All of the basic astronomy used in this great Sci Fi I knew about but I know very little of Radio Astronomy. By reading this book I learned a few tidbits about Radio Astronomy. To me this book was fascinating.

We see the central character Ellie Arroway growing up and eventually getting a PHD and becoming a world class astronomer in charge of a huge radio telescope... project Argus. Dr. Arroway leads a team and finds an ET signal originating from near the star Vega beaming to Earth. Project Argus receives a signal of prime numbers and then the The ETs beam back a radio signal received from us of Hitler and the Olympic games in the late 30s. Embedded in the signal is a message of instructions for us to build a 2 trillion dollar machine but there is problems getting the "primer" message to understand it. Eventually we get the "primer" and build the machine in the US, Russia and Japan. 5 people are selected to go into the machine ( Dr. Arroway is one of them) and using wormhole technology on double black holes are.....that's enough I wont ruin the book for you. Just to say the famous 5 are threatened to not say what they discovered and let the world think the machine did not work. But it did....! At the end of the book we learn the final message.

Carl Sagan was a world class astronomer and scientist that also worked as part of the Viking Mars spacecraft team. One of the things I liked about Carl was his seemingly effortless way of making complex problems in astronomy and science understandable to the general public. That is a rare gift. Many times brilliant men/women can not write to the average laymen complex thoughts in a way for the less educated to understand. Carl was a master at this.

This is excellent Sci Fi. Also some real Astronomy and some Radio Astronomy is used. The book reads very well. A fast read. The characters are well established and there is good interaction. As a novice to Radio Astronomy it was great learning a few very, very basic tidbits of Radio Astronomy.

Also Contact was a major motion picture from Warner Brothers. I remember seeing the movie and liked it too. The book was just as good.5 stars for a very enjoyable book.

Sadly Carl Sagan passed away in 1996. The world misses a great astronomer, scientist and a great man. Even though he never knew of me I considered Carl Sagan a friend who I respected very much.
16 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2011
This is my first book I've read by Carl Sagan and it was a spectacular ride. It teases all your emotions. So,what would happen in society in all parts of the world IF contact was made?, this is as real as your going to get in my opinion. I saw the film years ago and was upset by the ending but this book covers and goes over what really happened on that trip through the galaxy, and of course the novel is always better. What I got most from this read was an actual education, I learned more science in this book than in school(do they still teach science in school?),I finally understand Pi. Most worthy of what I got out of this book since I'm an Atheist myself was the discussions between characters about the interwoven arguments between science and religion. As well as what an entire world would go through mentally if a alien being was known to us. Fear,happiness,questioning faith,and a feeling that us humans are very very small, and how a world can come together in such a crisis or should I say 'such a moment in our history'.

Sagan has a incredible style that is very well thought out and scientific, yet explains it to the reader in such an easy to understand way that like I said, is understood by the casual and hardcore reader. His character development is on point, with so many main characters its hard to fully understand their situations but Sagan had woven their origin perfectly and no character is felt as lackluster or incomplete. I had feelings for these people,loving and hating characters is a sign of great writing.

I urge everyone to give this a try for you will learn something of the human race, religion, science, philosophy,and world government, economics and the lessons we need to learn if such a scenario did happen for REAL, the coming together as a species for the benefit of the world. A must read and I'm still thinking about this story days after I finished.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Juan Carlos Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente novela de ciencia ficcion de uno de los mejore divulgadores de los ultimos tiempos
Reviewed in Mexico on August 26, 2022
Con todo el sustento tecnico y cientifico que el que alguien como Sagan le aporta a una novela de esta naturaleza las cuestiones que plantea al termino de la novela siguen y seguiran siendo muy validas
Aitor
5.0 out of 5 stars estupendo libro
Reviewed in Spain on March 16, 2024
El libro ha llegado un poco tarde, pero venía desde Inglaterra. Está en bastante buen estado y no era caro. Muy contento.
arc_lite
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr gut
Reviewed in Germany on October 17, 2023
Buch in einen sehr guten Zustand, schneller Versand, vielen Dank.
AQL
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite books
Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2021
The subject is fascinating. I particularly love the questions that are conjectured by the author should we be contacted. And I love the answers even more. Much more thorough than the movie starring Jody Foster (another favorite). Maybe the book deserves a mini series like some of today’s shows. A 2 hour movie could not do this justice, the movie Contact is just an appetizer. Well written. Quite an expansive vocabulary. I was happy to read it on my iPad w/ Kindle App so I could highlight a word I didn’t know and get the meaning right away.
One person found this helpful
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NineDem
5.0 out of 5 stars Très bien
Reviewed in France on August 26, 2023
Merci beaucoup