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Contact
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Contact (1985) (edit title/settings)

by Carl Sagan (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

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.

Summary edit see section history

Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway is the director of "Project Argus," in which scores of radio telescopes in New Mexico have been dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Before long, the project does, indeed, discover the first confirmed communication from... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway is the director of "Project Argus," in which scores of radio telescopes in New Mexico have been dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Before long, the project does, indeed, discover the first confirmed communication from extraterrestrial beings, a repeating series of the first 261 prime numbers (a sequence of prime numbers is a commonly predicted first message from alien intelligence, since mathematics is considered a "universal language," and it is conjectured that algorithms that produce successive prime numbers are sufficiently complicated so as to require intelligence to implement them). Further analysis of the message reveals that two additional messages are contained in different forms of modulation of the signal. The second message is a primer, a kind of instruction manual that teaches how to read further communications. The third is the real message, the plans for a machine that appears to be a kind of highly advanced vehicle, with seats for five human beings.

In one scene, Ellie is shown interacting with a pair of Christian preachers, informally debating God's existence. Placing the burden of proof on her opponents, she argues the agnostic viewpoint, saying "there isn't compelling evidence that God exists... and there isn't compelling evidence that he doesn't."

Ultimately, a machine is successfully built and activated, transporting five passengers—including Ellie—through a series of wormholes to a place near the center of the Milky Way galaxy, where they meet the senders in the guise of persons significant in the lives of the travelers, whether living or dead. Some of the travelers' questions are answered by the senders, with the senders ultimately hinting at proof of a Universal Creator contained inside one of the transcendental numbers. Upon returning to Earth, the passengers discover that what seemed like many hours to them passed by in only twenty minutes on Earth, and that all their video footage has been erased, presumably by the time changing magnetic fields they were exposed to inside of the wormholes. They are left with no proof of their stories and are accused of fabrication.

Thus, though Ellie has traveled across the galaxy and actually encountered extraterrestrial beings, she cannot prove it. The government officials deduce an international conspiracy, blaming the world's richest man in an attempt to perpetuate himself, embarrass the government and get lucrative deals from the machine consortium's multi-trillion-dollar project.

The message is claimed to be a fabrication from a secret artificial manmade satellite(s) that cannot be traced, because the message stopped once the machine was activated, a feat that is impossible unless one considers time travel feasible, and Ellie and other scientists are implicated.

Ellie, a life long religious skeptic, finds herself asking the world to take a leap of faith and believe what she and the others say happened to them. But one of the only people who is willing to do so is a minister/ love interest introduced early in the book.

In a kind of postscript, Ellie, acting upon a suggestion by the senders of the message, works on a program which computes the digits of π to record lengths and in different bases. Very, very far from the decimal point (1020) and in base 11, it finds that a special pattern does exist when the numbers stop varying randomly and start producing 1s and 0s in a very long string. The string's length is the product of 11 prime numbers. The 1s and 0s when organized as a square of specific dimensions form a rasterized circle.

The extraterrestrials suggest that this is an artist's signature, woven into the very fabric of space. It is another message, one from the universe's creator. Yet the extraterrestrials are just as ignorant to its meaning as Ellie, as it could be still some sort of a statistical anomaly. They also make reference to older artifacts built from space time itself (namely the wormhole transit system) abandoned by a prior civilization. A line in the book suggests that the image is a foretaste of deeper marvels hidden even further within Pi. This new pursuit becomes analogous to SETI; it is another search for meaningful signals in apparent noise. This idea, among other plot points, was omitted from the film version.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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Quotes edit see section history

Organizations edit see section history

  • SETI: The group responsible for the "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence"

First Sentence edit see section history

By human standards it could not possibly have been artificial: It was the size of a world.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Part I: The Message

Chapter 1. Transcendental Numbers
Chapter 2. Coherent Light
Chapter 3. White Noise
Chapter 4. Prime Numbers
Chapter 5. Decryption Algorithm
Chapter 6. Palimpsest
Chapter 7. The Ethanol in W-3
Chapter 8. Random Access
Chapter 9. The Numinous

Part II: The Machine

Chapter 10. Precession of Equinoxes
Chapter 11. The World Message Consortium
Chapter 12. The One-Delta Isomer
Chapter 13. Babylon
Chapter 14. Harmonic Oscillator
Chapter 15. Erbium Dowel
Chapter 16. The Elders of Ozone
Chapter 17. The Dream of the Ants
Chapter 18. Superunification

Part III: The Galaxy

Chapter 19. Naked Singularity
Chapter 20. Grand Central Station
Chapter 21. Causality
Chapter 22. Gilgamesh
Chapter 23. Reprogramming
Chapter 24. The Artist's Signature

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Extraterrestrial Life: Man's place in the Universe is finally discovered, but how does Humanity deal with it?

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 7 of 9 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels In 1985. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Secrets, and followed by Lucky.

This is book 50 of 100 in National Public Radio's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Childhood's End, and followed by Hyperion.

This is book 69 of 99 in NPR's Top 100 Killer Thriller. (community list)

Preceded by Timeline, and followed by What the Dead Know.

This is book 241 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Less Than Zero, and followed by The Handmaid's Tale.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Carl Sagan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Country: United States
Publication Date: 1985
ISBN: 0-671-43400-4
Page Count: 432

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3569.A287 C6 1985
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

This book contains advanced concepts and issues, and may not be enjoyed by younger children.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • Wikipedia: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • His Master's Voice

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