WILEY Carl Sagan

As early as the third page (Preface p.viii), Keay Davidson cautions his readers of the dangers of 'scrutinizing Sagan's life in detail'. Fortunately, like Davidson, I found myself liking and respecting Carl Sagan more at the end of this book rather than less but sadly, the same cannot be said of my feelings for the author.The problem with this biography is that it is little more than a salacious exposé of Sagan's oft-cited character flaws rather than a balanced account of his life and (significant) achievements. Davidson paints Sagan as a social and professional climber who, in the gratuitous pursuit of celebrity, allowed his ambition to sour marriages, professional collaborations, and friendships alike.As evidence of the 'serious flaws' involving his personal relationships (p.viii), Davidson cites Sagan's three marriages and throughout the book, holds Sagan unilaterally responsible for the breakdown of the first two. Conversely, Davidson's treatment of Lynn Margulis (Sagan's first wife) is far less judgemental despite her being divorced exactly the same number of times as her first husband (p.394)! This lack of even-handedness pervades Davidson's work; for instance, whilst he is content to infer that Sagan's ambition was a corrosive vice, Margulis' professional aspirations are characterised as enviable virtues (p.71). The biographer even lampoons his subject's curriculum vitae (p.383), seemingly dismissive of Sagan's contributions to over six-hundred scientific papers, twenty popular science books, a novel, a major television series, and a Hollywood film. Doubtless there were some trivial entries in Sagan's resume, but is that not true of most CV?Clearly, it is entirely reasonable for a biographer to make judgements and form opinions about his subject and it is obvious that Davidson had extensive access to people that were close to Sagan. Undoubtedly, Keay Davidson's judgement of Carl Sagan is better informed than my own, but it seems to me that, by focussing on Sagan's shortcomings rather than his prodigious achievements, Davidson misses an opportunity to celebrate Sagan's contribution to science and society.

HEAVY READING AT TIMES

Out of this world

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, this book is very well written and very interesting. It kept my interest from start to finish and was hard to put down. The detailed anecdotes and thoughts of Sagan's friends, colleagues and family members make for very interesting reading. I also came away with an enhanced respect for Sagan as a scientist. On the other hand, I think Davidson goes to far injecting his personal anti-science opinions and in tearing down Sagan's books. For instance, Davidson goes on a tirade trashing "Dragons of Eden", which was a magnificent achievement. I think there was some jealousy of Sagan among scientific circles, since it was Sagan who got all the attention. Maybe Davidson is a little jealous of Sagan's mega-success too. Despite this, I do feel the book is worth reading.

I was extremely disappointed in this book. It reminded me of a high school term paper how it continuously reflected back on the New York's World Fair and "Pete can Fix It" analogies for being the primary contributors to Sagan's personality. The author both applauds and criticizes Sagan for being a creative thinker. The criticism is for not being educated enough in some fields that he wrote about in his "popular" books. The author claims to be a fan of Carl Sagan but I don't totally believe that after reading this book. Unfortunately, I don't feel the author has enough depth in his personality to write a quality biography. This came off as superficial and an oversimplification, to which I am very disappointed.