# Are Carl Sagan's books still accurate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 3, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839 "2009-07-03T19:16:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ourrah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9de0a6/32.png) [@Ourrah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ourrah)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839/21 "2009-07-04T22:02:26Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Yes, but Sagan said “billions” so many times that I figured that I had to make up for it by saying it less often.

Well played sir.

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**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839/22 "2009-07-04T22:14:31Z")

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> [@digs](#):
>
> But what do I do when the party bogs down, and I know I can save it with my vast storehouse of Fitzgerald Contraction jokes?

_There was a young fellow named Fiske  
Whose fencing was exceedingly brisk  
So fast was his action  
That the Fitzgerald Contraction  
Reduced his rapier to a disk_

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**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839/23 "2009-07-04T22:38:31Z")

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> [@Free\_Range\_Otter](#):
>
> The title pretty much says it all. If I sat down and read _Cosmos_, and then spoke about it at the next cocktail party\* to show how smart I am, would the astrophysicists there\*\* laugh me out of the room?

I have been to cocktail parties with astrophysicists.

You’re not going to impress them with ANY knowledge you’ve culled from popular science books, whether it’s correct or not. What will impress them is intelligent questions about their work. Most academics never get an opportunity to talk about what they do with anyone outside their field. So if you make a little effort and ask them to explain their work in language a layman can understand, most of them are thrilled to have the opportunity to share.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839/24 "2009-07-04T23:06:09Z")

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I’m sure [_The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World) is as current now as in 1995.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-carl-sagans-books-still-accurate/501839/25 "2009-07-04T23:07:57Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> Yes, but Sagan said “billions” so many times that I figured that I had to make up for it by saying it less often.

“I never said it.”

– Preface to [_Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billions_and_Billions:_Thoughts_on_Life_and_Death_at_the_Brink_of_the_Millennium)

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