Sternenfall (Falling stars) by artist Anselm Kiefer

S+ Stimulant: Carl Sagan

 

“I grew up in Brooklyn, New York … a city neighborhood that included houses, lampposts, walls, and bushes. But with an early bedtime in the winter, I could look out my window and see the stars, and the stars were not like anything else in my neighborhood.  I didn’t know what they were, my mother … said to me, “You have a library card now, and you know how to read. Take the streetcar to the library and get a book on stars.” … I stepped up to the big librarian and asked for a book on stars. … I sat down and found out the answer, which was something really stunning. I found out that the stars are glowing balls of gas. I also found out that the Sun is a star but really close and that the stars are all suns except really far away I didn’t know any physics or mathematics at that time, but I could imagine how far you’d have to move the Sun away from us till it was only as bright as a star. It was in that library, reading that book, that the scale of the universe opened up to me. There was something beautiful about it. At that young age, I already knew that I’d be very happy if I could devote my life to finding out more about the stars and the planets that go around them. And it’s been my great good fortune to do just that”

-Carl Sagan

Seymour suggests:

The Dragons of Eden: Speculation on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan

 

*Quote borrowed from an interview conducted by Jack Rightmyer for Highlights Magazine. Jan. 1997.

Published: May 1st, 2012

Previous in this series:

S+ Stimulant: Cole Porter



One Comment

  1. Name * wrote:

    Belle nuit…..

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