Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective (1973) is Carl Sagan‘s pellucid treatise, predictive expose, and topical, lyrical novel on the outer-state of our Cosmos — and where he percieved that we (and It!) were techno-cresting.

In much of it, Carl was wrong. Gallingly. But there were flares of rightness in its shooting dark:

We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow, biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has stopped. Man is a transitional animal. He is not the climax of creation.

In the cosmic perspective there is no reason to think that we are the first or the last or the best.

Contents

1. Foreword. (Freeman Dyson.)
2. Personal Reflections. (Ann Druyan.)
3. Preface.
4. Cosmic Perspective.
   1. A transitional animal.
   2. The Unicorn of Cetus.
   3. A message from earth.
   4. A message to earth.
   5. Experiments in utopias.
   6. Chauvinism.
   7. Space exploration as a human enterprise.
      1. The scientific interest.
      2. The public interest.
      3. The historical interest.
5. The Solar System.
   1. On teaching the first grade.
   2. ‘The ancient and legendary Gods of old.’
   3. The Venus detective story.
   4. Venus is hell.
   5. Science and ‘intelligence.’
   6. The moons of Barsoom.
   7. The mountains of Mars.
      1. Observations from earth.
      2. Observations from space.
   8. The canals of Mars.
   9. The lost pictures of Mars.
   10. The Ice Age and the cauldron.
   11. Beginnings and ends of the Earth.
   12. Terraforming the plants.
   13. The exploration and utlization of the solar system.
6. Beyond the Solar System.
   1. Some of my best friends are dolphins.
   2. ‘Hello, central casting? Send me twenty extraterrestrials.’
   3. The cosmic connection.
   4. Extraterrestrial life: an idea whose time has come.
   5. Has the Earth been visited?
   6. A search strategy for detecting extraterrestrial intelligence
   7. If we succeed …
   8. Cables, drums, and seashells.
   9. The night freight to the stars.
   10. Astroengineering.
   11. Twenty questions: a classification of cosmic civilisations.
   12. Galactic cultural exchanges.
   13. A passage to elsewhere.
   14. Starfolk.
       1. A Fable.
       2. A future.
       3. The cosmic Cheshire cats.
7. Epilog. (David Morrison.)
8. Index.