Rating: 
Summary: Humanity's coming of age in the universe.....
Review: The motion picture starring Jodie Foster differs from Sagan's book in some respects. The movie incorporates technology that was not available during the penmanship and utilizes special effects that highlight the spectacular astronomical events of Dr. Arroway's and company's trip through the universe. Despite these deficiencies, the book is still exciting. Dr. Arroway has felt like an outcast all her life. Prior to adulthood, she was alienated with her mother and stepfather. Angry at her mother for remarrying after her father's untimely death, Arroway rarely spoke with her and was outright disrespectful toward her stepfather. Although she found comfort in the realm of science, and particularly in astronomy, she found little companionship among her predominantly misogynistic colleagues and instructors. Worse, Arroway's field of interest in astronomy, being the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is consider as taboo. Just as Arroway's detractors appear to force her to abandon her dream, a message from an alien civilization is receive. Arroway is vindicated, but more importantly, it marks an important period in humanity. For the first time, people have to seriously consider their place in the universe as a species. As nations put aside their political differences to build the machine that would enable humanity to communicate with another intelligent civilization, emotions remain intense. Progressives welcome the effort and anticipate formal contact, but conservatives remain fearful; some of them even believe that an alien invasion or planetary destruction will result. At the end, progressives are proved correct, and humanity receives a message of hope and companionship from their neighbors living among the stars. Contact is an important book because it explores issues that will arise if and when humans will ever make contact with another civilization.
Rating: 
Summary: good suspense but too long
Review: I really enjoyed this film. Despite a slow start, the middle and the end of the film are GREAT. The audio commentary is very interesting, never boring. I expected many more "Extra Features". The film is superbe on large screen of projector.
Rating:
Summary: Visionary, Insightful Science Fiction
Review: The owner of my local sci-fi bookstore recently complained that science fiction has a bad name. If you write sci-fi in America, you're probably going to be stuck writing sci-fi for the rest of your life. It's why we see so few mainstream authors cross over into science fiction, and it's a shame. The problem, of course, is that too much sci-fi is written strictly to be fun reading. There's nothing wrong with this, but critics want more flesh in their reading. Some science fiction has that flesh, and it is upon such works that we science fiction fans must pin our hopes for any future acceptance of the genre as 'respectable' literature. Carl Sagan's Contact is without a doubt one of the best examples of this sort of work. The story is set in the near future, a 1999 envisioned from the mid-eighties. Its protagonist, Eleanor Arroway, is a brilliant young astronomer who has dedicated her career to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. When she finds it, the discovery changes her world in ways both radical and global, and personal and profound. The story's scope is grand. It discusses seriously the effect of the aliens' Message on the nations of the world, and also on the minds of mankind itself, which must now face the fact that it is not alone. Despite a few awkward digressions, Contact is masterfully written, engaging, and stocked with interesting and believable characters. The perhaps over-hashed subjects of "man voyages to the stars" and "man meets slimy aliens" are downplayed in favor of introspective considerations of "man realizes the size of universe" and "man acknowledges the Other." Science fiction, like any genre, can and should produce fun reading. It is a joy, however, to find that it can also produce stimulating, thought-provoking reading. Fans and foes of sci-fi alike should read Contact and see the potential of the oft pooh-pooh-ed medium.
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Summary: If you liked the movie read this!
Review: I saw the film Contact based on this novel and was totally blown away, so I went out and bought the book, and I'm very glad I did. Unlike other novel to film conversions, the film remains largely faithful to the novel. But, if you've already seen the film, not to worry as reading the novel is not merely repeating what was in the film - there's enough unique (and slightly more technicaly involved) material in the novel, along with a slightly different plot, to make reading the novel quite worth it. Unfortunately, I think the film was slightly dumbed down to be better suited to the movie-going audience - this book is smart, intelligent and thought provoking. And of course the film leaves out a lot of details. For instance, Sagan devotes quite a bit of the beginning of the novel to Elle's childhood - while the film spends some time here, Sagan goes into far more detail in the book, talks at length about Elle's mother etc. In fact, Elle's character in the novel is even better developed than in the film, which is impressive because the film really does an excellent job focusing on Elle and her beliefs. Lastly, without giving anything away, I think reading the novel is worth it just for the ending, which is a bit different than the book and explores a really cool idea relating to the fundamental nature of the universe (or at least our perception of the universe) which I found to be really intruiging.
Rating:
Summary: Inner Contact
Review: Historically, intellectuals have philosophized their ideas about god. Hitherto, those philosophies have gained popularity in many's minds. The soul of one's spirituality, faith, and belief is similarly touched in this single work of fiction by one of those former intellectuals. Carl Sagan shows us the universality of faith and spirit in all of our lives, and whole-heartedly encourages us to frame our own ideas of faithful reasoning. Ellie Arroway, the main character, shows the puzzlement of our minds and Palmer Joss, her friend, lover at times, is it's firm-minded, though not closed minded, mediator. Her journey from agnostic to enlightened agnostic occurs with this truth seeker throughout lighting the way and proving connections, comparing the scientific mind with the religious, showing that fine line which separates them. The end of the book shows no conclusion, merely the importance of being open-minded and having an astute mind, an accepting spirit and a rational sould as their parent.
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Summary: Good movie, better book!
Review: I first saw the movie, thought it was fairly good, then ordered the book. Far better! I especially liked the stuff at the end involving transendental numbers. Sagan's imagination really comes through here.
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Summary: ¿If it¿s just us, it seems like an awful waste of space¿
Review: The contact frequency is pi times hydrogen, and the first transmission is the prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7.... This is what WE would transmit and do transmit because such signals cannot be mistaken for natural phenomena. It's obvious that what we have here is intelligent science fiction. The general public may be surprised to learn-I know I was-that a significant segment of the scientific community considers the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) a pie in the sky waste of money and human energy. The prejudice is so great that until recently no self-respecting astrophysicist would dare specialize in it for fear of having no career. Well, there are a few brave souls. This is a movie about one of them. I didn't read the book-shame on me, but works of fiction by scientists usually make me blush in embarrassment for their authors. But Carl Sagan was no ordinary scientist, nor was he an ordinary writer. Still I suspect that what made this an excellent movie was the script by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg. It is extraordinarily well thought out and carefully crafted with deft turns of plot and a satisfying conclusion, with no need for spaghetti code patches near the end, the bane of most sci-fi and action/adventure flicks. It is also emotionally moving. There is, however, just the slightest "written by committee" feel to the movie. Everything is a little too neat and too well explained. It's a paradox of any art form that sometimes you can polish too much, you can overwrite and lose some spontaneity in the production. And yes, Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey) is a little too good to be true, and Arroway (Jodie Foster) really needs a serious fault or at least some kind of vice to round her out. Being a political innocent isn't enough. And the media and governmental reaction is a little too pat and cynical. However all of that is insignificant compared with the most difficult thing about writing a futuristic or "superior civilization" story, namely coming up some unknown technology or information to make it seem real. The formula for cold fusion would work, or the cure for cancer. But how can you do THAT? You can't (otherwise what you come up with would probably be more important than your script). It is fascinating to see how Sagan, Hart, Goldenberg and Director Robert Zemeckis cleverly sidestep this pitfall. Only those who have tried it can know what a fine job was done here. And incidentally Zemeckis can be given credit for making "Contact" intelligible without any dumbing down, no mean feat in itself. As far as star Jodie Foster goes, it's clear she inhaled and imbibed the persona of the modern woman of science in preparation for this role, so well does she play the part of astrophysicist Ellie Arroway. They have her come out looking androgynous, which is appropriate for two reasons, one, she lost her mother early and had to identify with her father more than most (an explanation, if one were needed, for how she became a scientist); and two, those little green beings aren't going to be men or women, having given up our sort of primitive sexuality long ago. She is never glamorized; even when she dresses up, she still looks like a normal woman in a gown. And she is appropriately unpolitical and naive and far too honest in front of the camera. Best line: "It's so beautiful. They should have sent a poet."
Rating:
Summary: Top notch, thoughtful sci-fi
Review: This movie tells an intelligent story about a possible type of first contact between humanity and an extra-terrestrial civilization. While that is part of the reason that I gave this movie 5 stars, I was even more impressed by the director's ability to catch a glimpse of what can be the dog-eat-dog world of scientific funding, credit and credibility. Jodi Foster plays a brilliant, budding young scientist who wants to pursue SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) work. Her former mentor (Tom Skerritt), now head of the National Science Foundation (the government's primary funding agency for science), sees that work as professional suicide. He then does what he can to pull the rug out from under her and her work. In the meantime, Foster meets McConaughey, a handsome ex-priest who seeks truth not via science, but through spirituality. When Foster recognizes that contact is taking place and she makes that information public, Skerritt swoops in and attempts to take control of the project. I am extremely impressed by this movie's ability to tell a great story of a possibility, presenting the premis of non-confrontational contact. This is no shoot-em up movie. It does, however, have a healthy dose of special effects, but those effects are not the heart of the show. There are interesting plot developments, instructive insights into the lengths that some scientists may go to gain recognition among their professional peers, and the conflict that some scientists face when they realize that there are more ways to learn about who we are and why we are than via science. I encourage you to give this movie a look. The combination of story, acting, special effects, and implications of the story make for a great movie! 5 stars all the way. Alan Holyoak
Rating:
Summary: It is Carl Sagan after all, isn't it?
Review: Contact is not just an ordinary literary book, I've read Carl Sagan's books and Contact is the most touching of them all. I have seen the motion picture version of the novel, even though the two do not blend very well , the motion picture conveys the same message as the book does, science and religion's main objective is the search for truth, whether that truth was in a heavenly god, or the big bang and evolution, the two are not necessarily exclusive. I have cried after reading the book, Carl invites you to live in the life of the young scientist Ellen Arroway for which Jody Foster has perfected her role in Contact the movie. From a stubborn child to a pioneer scientist, every single plot is beautifully drafted. After reading the movie I felt that everything in the world is beautiful, but not everyone sees it. Read the novel, it is nostalgia to something this world misses.
Rating:
Summary: Science, aliens, and media.
Review: This is an excellent book, both because it is so imaginative and so concrete. Carl Sagan's excellent science knowledge make the ideas plausible in a sci-fi kind of way. Where the book leaps up and excels is that it is so eerily close to what I could imagine happening in the real world, the government official are real, the talks, the deliberations, the project, and the reactions of people. If aliens contacted us tomorrow, this book would be the blueprint, there would be groups for it, groups against it, and groups willing to go to any length to thwart the meeting. If you have seen the movie, compare the end of the book to that of the movie, see who gets in the last "blow" science or religion. It is interesting to see how they differ. This is one of the most excellent books I have read.
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