• Broca's Brain

  • Reflections on the Romance of Science
  • By: Carl Sagan
  • Narrated by: Dion Graham
  • Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (210 ratings)

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Broca's Brain  By  cover art

Broca's Brain

By: Carl Sagan
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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Publisher's summary

Carl Sagan, writer and scientist, returns from the frontier to tell us about how the world works. In his delightfully down-to-earth style, he explores and explains a mind-boggling future of intelligent robots, extraterrestrial life and its consequences, and other provocative, fascinating quandaries of the future that we want to see today.

©1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 Carl Sagan (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material: Cornell University Press: "An Analysis of 'Worlds in Collision'" by Carl Sagan, in Scientists Confront Velikovsky, edited by D. Goldsmith. © 1976 by Cornell University Press. Encyclopedia Americana: "UFO's." © 1975 by Americana Corporation. Field Enterprises: "The Climates of Planets" in Science Year 1975. © 1975 by Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. William Morrow & Company, Inc.: Excerpts from The Planets by Diane Ackerman. © 1975, 1976 by Diane Ackerman. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow & Company, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Magnificent.... Delightful.... A masterpiece. A message of tremendous hope for humanity.... While ever conscious that human folly can terminate man’s march into the future, Sagan nonetheless paints for us a mind-boggling future: intelligent robots, the discovery of extraterrestrial life and its consequences, and above all the challenge and pursuit of the mystery of the universe.” (Chicago Tribune)

“Go out and buy this book, because Carl Sagan is not only one of the world’s most respected scientists, he’s a great writer.... I can give a book no greater accolade than to say I’m planning on reading it again. And again. And again.” (The Miami Herald)

“Closely reasoned, impeccably researched, gently humorous, utterly devastating.” (The Washington Post)

What listeners say about Broca's Brain

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Captivating Read.

I find any work by Sagan to be scintillating.

As to the performance, While I cannot know this for sure, it felt to me as though this reader put some time into listening to the manner in which Carl speaks. This resemblance enhanced the experience for me, as I could almost imagine, in many instances, that Sagan would say certain lines in much the same way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone on planet Earth.

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent :) A must read for those looking to lear

Carl Sagan was a true prophet of his time. Believing in the inherent good of man, questioning life with the unwavering confidence of science and dreaming, no, expecting a progressive future. I just wish he could share the many wonders he predicted with us today.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent book and narration

Would you consider the audio edition of Broca's Brain to be better than the print version?

no.

Any additional comments?

The audio was bad for some Chapters. I tried downlouding the audio again, changing to another device, changing headphones, etc, but nothing worked.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Title is misleading but the story is wonderful

The title acted as an anchor drawing me to read this book. I wanted to read about the author’s insights on the human brain and it’s relation to the universe around us. Instead, i was taken to a wonderful journey into interstellar space and back... Back to womb. It is eloquently written and enjoyable to read/listen to.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not Sagan's best, and dated, but... it's Sagan!

For those of us who've been patiently waiting for Carl Sagan's books to come out in audiobook form, this is a must-listen.

It's not Sagan's best work. But that's like saying "not Pixar's best movie" or "not Einsten's best discovery".

"The Pale Blue Dot", "The Demon-Haunted World" and "Dragons of Eden" are all better than this. But if you've read all those multiple times, this is good.

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5 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Assorted Sagan essays, somewhat dated.

This is a motley assemblage of various essays and talks Dr Sagan had written over a period of years. There's no overall theme, no relation from one chapter to another.

"Broca's Brain" is the title of the first chapter, and has nothing to do with the rest of the book.

Fans of good science writing will probably enjoy most of the book, although the chapters on planetary exploration and extraterrestrial life are somewhat dated, being written back in the 70s. A long chapter on the conventions for naming craters should have been cut out, IMHO.

The narration was generally good, but monatone-ish in spots.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Carl Sagan is a champion of science and reason!

A brilliant work of science writing. Sagan knows his subject with such deep understanding. Natural born scientist.
An eloquent piece!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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its as natural to listen to as it is to sleep

the soothing voice of dion graham is reminesceint of those long forgotten bedside tales, this pairs wonderfully with carl's writting style qhich can best be summerized by a very enthusiastic friend sitting across from you at the campfire. Carl sagan is a masterfull writer and is able to cover a wide breath of topics from religion to science, from life to death, without rambling and seamlessly transitioning between. broca's brain is truly a disection of carl sagan's brain as proposed at the begining, starting with an acknoledgement of those before him, then delving into his passion of science, his inquiries of religion, his birth and finally his death.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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great book!

it has soo much science in such specific detail and it full of rich and wonderfull ideas.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too old

This work needs to be reviewed and revised to reflect current knowledge. Old theories and and data throughout

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