What are these graceful visitors to our skies? We now know that they bring both life and death and teach us about our origins.
Comet
begins with a breathtaking journey through space astride a comet. Pulitzer Prize-winning astronomer Carl Sagan, author of
Cosmos and Contact
, and writer Ann Druyan explore the origin, nature, and future of comets, and the exotic myths and portents attached to them. The authors show how comets have spurred some of the great discoveries in the history of science and raise intriguing questions about these brilliant visitors from the interstellar dark.
Were the fates of the dinosaurs and the origins of humans tied to the wanderings of a comet? Are comets the building blocks from which worlds are formed?
Lavishly illustrated with photographs and specially commissioned full-color paintings,
is an enthralling adventure, indispensable for anyone who has ever gazed up at the heavens and wondered why.
Praise for
"Simply the best."
—
The Times of London
"Fascinating, evocative, inspiring."
The Washington Post
"
humanizes science. A beautiful, interesting book."
—United Press International
"Masterful . . . science, poetry, and imagination."
—The Atlanta Journal & Constitution