leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (02/04/86)
CONTACT by Carl Sagan
Simon and Schuster, 1985, $18.95.
A book review by Mark R. Leeper
Back when COSMOS was on TV, I read an article about how Carl Sagan's TV
series was being merchandised. There were books, calendars, and more
esoteric things like star balls. About this time, as I remember, it was
announced that Sagan received some sort of record-breaking monetary advance
to write a science fiction novel about mankind's first contact with
intelligent aliens. I knew of no previous fiction that Sagan had ever
written and frankly I was a little suspicious that it would be handed off to
a ghost writer and that it would be sold more on the Sagan name than on the
story value.
In the ensuing months Sagan's fortunes went downhill. His series did
not have the popularity expected. In fact, his brand of popularizing
science, and particularly his repeated use of the words "billions," became a
laughing stock. Sales of "Cosmos" goods were poor and I had heard that
Sagan was blaming the distributors. In any case it became clear that Sagan
as the super-star scientist was just not going to hack it. I occasionally
wondered about Sagan's novel and whether it would ever see the light of day.
Last autumn, CONTACT was finally published.
Now that I read the book, I find it much more believable that it could
have been written by Sagan. To begin with, the basic story reads like a
scenario that might have appeared in one of Sagan's books about SETI (the
"Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"). The book is far less about
the nature of the aliens than it is about the reaction to the news that a
SETI project has been successful.
Clearly the book was written by someone who has given thought to how an
extra-terrestrial contact might affect international politics, how factions
would oppose responding to the communication, and how other factions would
refuse to believe contact had really been made. In fact, the humans are far
more believable than the aliens. The aliens come off as being Sagan's ideal
of what humans should be. They have intercepted all of our television
signals from the beginning of TV broadcasting, a commitment to their own
SETI project that Sagan no doubt envies.
Another way you can recognize CONTACT as Sagan's book is that the book
seems to have a number of axes to grind and they are all on issues about
which Sagan has strong feelings. His scientist/main character has to debate
fundamentalists and people who have phobias of technology. It gives Sagan a
chance to editorialize on some of his favorite topics.
My big complaint about this book is that it gives far too little
information about the aliens. The actual contact is described as an almost
mystical experience, but one that leaves us little the wiser. It seems that
Sagan had thought out the earthly implications of a contact and then only
put in aliens because the build-up demanded them.
CONTACT is not a great piece of science fiction. If it had been
written by an unknown, it would not be getting the glossy Simon and Schuster
treatment it is getting. It wouldn't have gotten a mammoth cash advance.
But it probably would have come out in a nice Del Rey edition. It might
even have gotten a better piece of cover art. Not a great book, but easily
a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. I'm glad I finished it. Now I can wake up in
the morning and not see first thing the apparent message "Contact Carl
Sagan."
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper