Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

Contact
  • Rated 0 stars

Contact (1985) (edit title/settings)

by Carl Sagan (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

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)

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Eleanor 'Ellie' Arroway: Director of a telescope site and leader of a SETI project , also religious skeptic
  • Palmer Joss: religious leader questioning the veracity of the scientists involved in the project.
  • Vaygay: Russian scientist who is part of the international team working on the message. Ellie's old friend.
  • Ted Arroway: Ellie's father
  • John Staughton: Ellie's stepfather whom she dislikes
  • David Drumlin: One of Ellie's professors and a skeptic of the messages.
  • Peter Valerian: One of Ellie's professors who believed in extraterrestrials and the use of radioastronomy to locate them.
  • Kenneth Der Heer: the presidential science adviser and Ellie's lover
  • Revered Billy Jo Rankin: Fanatical televangelist who believes the machine should be destroyed
  • Sol Hadden: Billionaire tech giant who helps build and manufacture the machine
  • Xi Qiaomu: Chinese scientist who is chosen to be one of the crew of the machine
  • Devi Sukhavati: Indian scientist chosen to be part of the crew for the machine
  • Dr. Eda: Brilliant Nigerian physicist who is part of the crew for the machine
  • Michael Kitz: Assistant Secretary of Defense for C3I and skeptic
Show all 14 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “I work for a project called SETI.”
    Ellie Arroway
  • “It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, and there's this couple laying naked in bed reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica to each other, and arguing about whether the Andromeda Galaxy is more 'numinous' than the Ressurection. Do they know how to have a good time, or don't they?”
    Ken der Heer
  • “We all have a thirst for wonder. It's a deeply human quality. Science and religion are both bound up with it. What I'm saying is, you don't have to make stories up, you don't have to exaggerate. There's wonder and awe enough in the real world. Natures a lot better at inventing wonders than we are.”
    Ellie Arroway
  • “What is there in the precepts of science that keeps a scientist from doing evil?”
    Palmer Joss
  • “She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

Organizations edit see section history

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

First Sentence edit see section history

My heart trembles like a poor leaf. The planets whirl in my dreams. The stars press against my window. I rotate in my sleep. My bed is a warm planet. - Marvin Mercer; P. S. 153, Fifth Grade, Harlem New York City, N. Y. (1981)

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 Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 7 of 9 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels In 1985. (authoritative list)
This is book 50 of 99 in National Public Radio's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy. (authoritative list)
This is book 69 of 99 in NPR's Top 100 Killer Thriller. (community list)
This is book 329 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

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

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • His Master's Voice

We’re hiding the glossary entries, errata, books with additional background information, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

© 2006-2013 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close