Audiobooks narrated by Ann Druyan

This new and long-awaited sequel to Carl Sagan's international bestseller continues the electrifying journey through space and time, linking worlds within and worlds billions of miles away and envisioning a future of science tempered with wisdom. Based on National Geographic's internationally-renowned television series, this groundbreaking and visually stunning book explores how science and civilization grew up together. From the emergence of life at deep-sea vents to solar-powered starships sailing through the galaxy, from the Big Bang to the intricacies of intelligence in many life forms, acclaimed author Ann Druyan documents where humanity has been and where it is going, using her unique gift of bringing complex scientific concepts to life. With evocative photographs and vivid illustrations, she recounts momentous discoveries, from the Voyager missions in which she and her husband, Carl Sagan, participated to Cassini-Huygens's recent insights into Saturn's moons. This breathtaking sequel to Sagan's masterpiece explains how we humans can glean a new understanding of consciousness here on Earth and out in the cosmos--again reminding us that our planet is a pale blue dot in an immense universe of possibility.

Ann Druyan (Author), Ann Druyan, Jennice Ontiveros (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spiritualityThe late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as 'informed worship.' Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century. Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.

Carl Sagan (Author), Adrienne C. Moore, Ann Druyan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record

In August and September 1977, two remarkable spacecraft named Voyager were launched. After exploring Jupiter and Saturn, they left our solar system and now cruise for eons to come through the realms of other stars, other galaxies. Affixed to each craft is a gold-coated phonograph record, a message from Earth to possible extraterrestrial civilizations. By far the most complex and informative of all our attempts to communicate with other intelligences, the record contains, encoded in the audio spectrum, 117 pictures explaining our planet and ourselves; greetings in fifty-four different human languages and greetings from the humpback whales; a representative selection of "the sounds of Earth," from an avalanche to a rocket launching, from an elephant's trumpet to a kiss; and almost ninety minutes of some of the world's greatest music. The chance that the record will ever reach an extraterrestrial is remote, but this by no means diminishes the significance of its presence on Voyager. In this audiobook, the group that was responsible for making the record forty years ago explains how and-still more important-why they did it, and what they feel the record says not only to possible extraterrestrials but to human beings. "No one sends such a message on such a journey without a positive passion for the future. For all the possible vagaries of the message, any recipient could be sure that we were a species endowed with hope and perseverance, at least a little intelligence, substantial generosity and a palpable zest to make contact with the cosmos." -Carl Sagan **Please Contact Customer Service for Additional Documents**

Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan, F. D. Drake, Jon Lomberg, Linda Salzman Sagan, Timothy Ferris (Author), Ann Druyan, F. D. Drake, Jon Lomberg, Nick Sagan, Timothy Ferris (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

Thirty-three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list! Dr. Carl Sagan takes us on a great reading adventure, offering his vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends-and their amazing links to recent discoveries. "How can I persuade every intelligent person to read this important and elegant book?...He talks about all kinds of things: the why of the pain of human childbirth...the reasons for sleeping and dreaming...chimpanzees taught to communicate in deaf and dumb language...the definition of death...cloning...computers...intelligent life on other planets...Fascinating...Delightful." -The Boston Globe "A history of the human brain from the big bang, fifteen billion years ago, to the day before yesterday...It's a delight." -The New York Times "In some lost Eden where dragons ruled, the foundations of our intelligence were laid...Carl Sagan takes us on a guided tour of the lost land...Fascinating...Entertaining...Masterful." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Carl Sagan (Author), Ann Druyan, JD Jackson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium

In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us. These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan''s thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease. Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day. **Please Contact Customer Service for Additional Documents**

Carl Sagan (Author), Adenrele Ojo, Ann Druyan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

World renowned scientist Carl Sagan and acclaimed author Ann Druyan have written a Roots for the human species, a lucid and riveting account of how humans got to be the way we are. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a thrilling saga that starts with the origin of Earth. It shows with humor and drama that many of our key traits-self-awareness, technology, family ties, submission to authority, hatred for those a little different from ourselves, reason and ethics-are rooted in the deep past, and illuminated by our kinship with other animals. Sagan and Druyan conduct a breathtaking journey through space and time, zeroing in on critical turning points in evolutionary history and tracing the origins of sex, altruism, violence, rape, and dominance. Their book culminates in a stunningly original examination of the connection between primate and human traits. Astonishing in its scope, brilliant in its insights, and an absolutely compelling read, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors is a triumph of popular science. "Dazzling... A feast. Absorbing and elegantly written, it tells of the origins of life on earth, describes its variety and character, and culminates in a discussion of human nature and the complex traces of humankind's evolutionary past... It is an amazing story masterfully told." -Financial Times (London)

Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan (Author), Ann Druyan, Clinnette Minnis, Nick Sagan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pale Blue Dot

In Cosmos, the late astronomer Carl Sagan cast his gaze over the magnificent mystery of the Universe and made it accessible to millions of people around the world. Now in this stunning sequel, Carl Sagan completes his revolutionary journey through space and time. Future generations will look back on our epoch as the time when the human race finally broke into a radically new frontier—space. In Pale Blue Dot Sagan traces the spellbinding history of our launch into the cosmos and assesses the future that looms before us as we move out into our own solar system and on to distant galaxies beyond. The exploration and eventual settlement of other worlds is neither a fantasy nor luxury, insists Sagan, but rather a necessary condition for the survival of the human race. "Takes readers far beyond Cosmos… Sagan sees humanity''s future in the stars." —Chicago Tribune

Carl Sagan (Author), Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Cosmos

Cosmos is one of the bestselling science books of all time. In clear-eyed prose, Sagan reveals a jewel-like blue world inhabited by a life form that is just beginning to discover its own identity and to venture into the vast ocean of space. Featuring a new Introduction by Sagan’s collaborator, Ann Druyan, and a new Foreword by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science. Includes introductory music: Heaven and Hell by Vangelis from Cosmos: A Personal Voyage used with permission from Druyan-Sagan Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

Carl Sagan (Author), Ann Druyan, LeVar Burton, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Seth MacFarlane (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions. Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms. Introductory music from the original score for COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey composed by Alan Silvestri, used with permission from Cosmos Studios, Inc. and Chappers Music. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Fuzzy Planets, Inc.

Carl Sagan (Author), Ann Druyan, Cary Elwes, Seth MacFarlane (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Ann Druyan