Cosmos

Reading Cosmos put me in awe of the universe we live in. Sagan gives a sense not only of the enormity, but of the way it has evolved and is still evolving. It is a system that was born from the laws of physics and a large mass of hydrogen atoms with some energy. And now we have stars going through life and death cycles, and also now we have complex ecosystems on Earth, including us - the humans who look up and wonder.

Sagan uses the history of science and the development of astronomy to add an extra layer to the book: it's not just an astronomy book. (If it were, the fact that it's out of date on some points due to being 40 years old would subtract from the book, but it doesn't.) Because more than a book about astronomy, it felt like a book about science: the role scientific pursuit has played in society, in development of civilization. How it interplays with religion, imperialism, slavery. Cosmos is inspirational - it almost makes me want to stop what I'm doing and go off and become a scientist.