Apple Pie

  

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, first invent the universe.”

- Carl Sagan

I love that quote.

While I was never into Sagan as a kid, I knew of him. For a kid in the 70s, with one teevee with seven channels in the house, his face was ubiquitous. As was the mock phrase “billions and billions,” though I understand he never actually said it. As a young padawan who loved physics I knew him; as a teenager struggling with calculus in high school I knew him; as a college student contemplating a major in something ending in “-ology” I knew him.

Despite all this, though, I never saw Cosmos. Thought about renting it over the years, but felt that it wouldn’t live up to the hype with its dated special effects. (Though it might have some weird type of never-experienced nostalgia for me as a big fan of Nimoy’s In Search Of). But I did read the paperback version of Cosmos during my time at Seton Hall, followed by either Dragons of Eden or Broca’s Brain. Can’t remember which one. Might have been both.

I also read his science fiction novel, Contact, and found it somewhat entertaining. There was a really good idea in there, something about how the aliens either communicated with us or enabled us to travel to them. Don’t remember, unfortunately. And now that’s making me think I should re-read the book. Saw the movie in the 90s and was underwhelmed. First in a long line of the girl-scientist cliché as well as the religion fanatic with a bomb cliché.

Anyway, this is all just some random warblings from me. No ulterior motive behind this post, written only because I came across that apple pie quote.

Now I need to keep my eye out for a Sagan next time I’m at the used book store.

N.B. A “sagan” is the tongue-in-cheek scientific unit of any number greater than four billion – “billions and billions” translates to at least two billion plus two billion, or four billion. Example: Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world, is estimated to have a net worth of around 22.5 sagans of dollars.