Cosmos | Carl Sagan
Why it is here:
This is the secular scripture. While White describes the shift, Sagan helps us feel it.
He connects our personal lives to the 14-billion-year story of cosmic evolution, reminding us that we are "starstuff pondering the stars."
Crucially, his "Pale Blue Dot" passage acts as the "Overview Effect" for the rest of us.
It grounds us in deep scientific humility.
It is the necessary emotional counterbalance to the ego, reminding us that every "Supreme Leader" and "Superpower" in history has lived and died on a "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
