Contact

After an epic road trip with stops at space museums, radio telescope arrays, and endlessly starry nights in clear desert skies, I took a break from my normal pace of reading (working on the Wheel of Time series) to read Carl Sagan's Contact. For someone with very little background in astronomy/physics, I was absolutely enthralled and devoured the book in a little over a week. Sagan is a fantastic author and brought together so flawlessly an engaging book that bridged science, philosophy, religion, the cosmos, and the endless search for truth in the world we live in.

I loved the main character Ellie, and while I certainly can't consider myself on par with her intelligence I understand her desire to merge her scientific endeavors with her passion for understanding the universe and her place in it, her almost romantic view of this quest for understanding, merged with a skepticism that keeps her uncertain but still curious. As I set forth on my own journey forward into science, to a destination as of yet unknown, I hope that my drive and innate curiosity for understanding and seeing the big picture will lead me to some piece of understanding and peace that Ellie found at the end of her story.

Trying to get the perfect picture at the VLA