Cosmos: Possible Worlds

By: Ann Druyan

Narrated by: Ann Druyan, Jennice Ontiveros

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

This new and long-awaited sequel to Carl Sagan's international best seller 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. 

©2019 Ann Druyan (P)2019 Recorded Books

Just no replacement for the great Carl Sagan.

I thought this was a sequel to Cosmos, but couldn't finish due to all of Ann Druyan's overly emotional autobiographical detail and the overall poor narration. Read Brian Greene's Until the End of Time instead.

Red-dwarfs in Comparison to the Original

Pales in comparison to original Cosmos. You occasionally learn something interesting but the book wastes way too much time on personal details (She was suicidal when Carl Sagan died? Really?), fanciful flowery visions of a perfect world and times-bashing opinions. I really love Ann Druyan, but there should have been a much stronger narrator, what's here is a cross between an old lady and a silly girl. This should have been twice the length with 10X more science. Piffling.

So good!

Such a great sequel to cosmos. I'll listen to it many times. Couple things I liked:

1 I'm so glad Ann narrated the beginning and end of the book. Definitely liked the other narrator for the bulk of it, but starting and ending with Ann's passionate voice was a treat.

2. They handled the quotes before the chapters super well for audio. They say "so and so said.." then the quote so you have context. Much appreciated. In the first Cosmos the quote attribution is at the end so I was always confused as to if this was Sagan or a quote and couldn't keep up with the quotes. So thank you Director for that one.

WOW what a follow-up to Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos”!

What big shoes Carl Sagan left to be filled. Ann Druyan does just that and more with this continuation of the “Cosmos” book series. She narrates the first and last chapters of her book.
I had pre-ordered this book months ago, and have just finished listening today. Happy to not have finished too quickly as there is many moments where pausing and pondering help to make the most out of the experience. If you enjoyed the first book “Cosmos” then you are certain to find interest in this sequel written by his wife.
I am incredibly excited for the 3rd season of the Cosmos television series; set to premiere on National Geographic in 4 days on March 9th, 2020.
What an amazing world we live in where the Cosmos can know itself.
Thanks you to anyone and everyone who contributes or participates to the knowing of our cosmos! This of course is still just the beginning.
I highly suggest anyone who have not yet done so to read/listen to Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” before this follow-up, and to watch the Cosmos television series in order :)
Love may be the best intercosmic language 💫

Terrible narration

What a scratchy,horrible voice to listen to, and why is she whispering the whole time?

Must read must read read

Don't sit here reading this you silly just go read the book. That's all thanks

Beautiful and poetic; I wept several times

I love the original Cosmos more than just about anything in the world.

Ann does a superb job trying to captain the ship all by herself. And in truth she isn't alone. She had feedback including from her son Sam.

Hits the mark:

* Poetry and cosmic perspective; I wept several times
* Inspiring, relevant stories from the history of science

Misses the mark:

* Critical thinking and skepticism
* Scientific and historical accuracy

For example, the section about quantum mechanics gets a few things wrong.

1. It's implied that "free will" is a challenge to quantum super-determinism, which it's not. First of all, we can't start out by assuming our intuition that we have free will is correct. It's not. Libertarian free will is incoherent, even in an nondeterministic universe.

2. It's claimed that entangled particle pairs "communicate" with one another which is incorrect. There's a coincidence between their measured spin on a given axis, but that's merely a perfect correlation. Bell's inequalities show this doesn't arise through any "communication" as typically understood. Instead, it's just how the universe works. We can't use this to communicate faster than light, because knowledge of the coincidence has to be transmitted along some classical channel. This isn't me being pedantic. Her point was that the universe is spooky and allows for faster than light communication. Which is wrong.

3. It's claimed there is "no objective reality" under quantum mechanics. It's not even very clear in the context of the chapter what justification she intends to support this claim. It's just not true. There's nothing subjective (as opposed to "objective") in QM. There's nothing surreal or unreal as opposed to plain old "reality". Certainly the theory doesn't have local realism, which might be what she was getting at. But she goes on to use it in the context of spookiness about there being no objective reality, which is clearly antithetical to QM, which is a well-established physical theory of an objective, external physical reality. I don't forgive this as poetic license. Unfortunately, she was just lying.

But in the whole book these are the only three mistakes I found. That's not so bad.

Content Overcame Narration

Ann Druyan should have been limited to the prologue. Jennice was serviceable but I can’t help but wonder how someone like Angela Bassett would’ve come across. All-in-all with the listen.

Something Missing

This is the much needed science audiobook for people who are the type described as "a bundle of feelings." While there is some truly beautiful writing in this book, for me, it lacks the power of the original. It is not Anne Druyan's fault. She does her best here, but I think that her contributions are best served in collaborations.

Legend of Sagan

The torch of knowledge passed by Carl continues to shine bright in all of us

Fact and Feelings

I have read many popular science books. This is an excellent example of a history of pivotal moments in science history presented with the people and the emotions intact.