Contact: A Novel

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Contact blends detailed scientific explanations with a human-focused story about faith, ambition, and connection. How well did the novel balance these elements? Were you more engaged in the science of SETI and the Message, or in Ellie’s personal journey?

2. For those of you who are familiar with Carl Sagan’s nonfiction work or his Cosmos series, how did his fiction differ from these endeavors? How does the novel’s narrative style convey his passion for science and education?

3. Consider the moment when the team discovers the Hitler broadcast within the signal. What was your initial reaction to this revelation? How did this scene set the tone for humanity’s complex journey into the cosmos?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Ellie uses the theological term “numinous” to describe the feeling of awe that scientific discovery inspires within her. Think about a time you experienced a sense of wonder. How does your own experience of awe compare to Ellie’s?

2. Early in her career, Ellie prioritizes her scientific ambitions and rejects a relationship that would have required her to abandon her deepest passions. Given her later regret over not having a baby, how does the novel explore the personal sacrifices that often accompany a great calling?

3. The travelers return with no physical proof and can only offer their testimony. How would you react if you were in their position? What does the novel suggest about the nature of belief versus evidence?

4. The revelation about Ellie’s true parentage reframes her entire personal history. Did this discovery change your perception of her character and her lifelong search for connection? Why or why not?

5. Ellie’s “dream of the ants” analogy suggests that advanced beings might simply be indifferent to humanity. Have you ever felt a similar sense of scale or insignificance when contemplating nature or the cosmos?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel, written during the Cold War, depicts a world in which nationalistic suspicion nearly derails a global project of universal importance. How do the political challenges of building the Machine reflect the political anxieties of that era? How are those challenges still relevant to international cooperation today?

2. What does the ongoing debate between Ellie and Palmer Joss reveal about the relationship between science and religion in modern society? Does Sagan present one viewpoint as more valid than the other?

3. The discovery of the Message triggers a massive wave of public reaction, from millenarian fervor to widespread panic. How does the novel’s portrayal of this global reaction compare to modern society’s reactions to major events in the age of the internet and social media?

4. Watch this excerpt from the Q&A session that follows Carl Sagan’s 1994 lecture, The Age of Exploration. How does Sagan’s response to the student’s query affect your understanding of the philosophical stances featured in Contact? Which character’s stance, if any, most closely represents Sagan’s own views on the nature of the divine?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the structure of the Message as a “palimpsest,” with its multiple layers, apply to the characters’ personal discoveries as well?

2. What is the significance of the number Pi (π) in the story? How does Sagan develop it from a childhood curiosity into the novel’s ultimate symbol for Reconciling Faith and Reason?

3. David Drumlin is an antagonist driven by ego, while S. R. Hadden is a trickster figure who helps humanity for his own complex reasons. How do these two men challenge Ellie and complicate the idea of a purely idealistic search for truth?

4. Unlike many science fiction stories that end with irrefutable proof of alien life, Contact ends with a private, mathematical revelation. How does this narrative choice subvert expectations and reinforce the novel’s central themes about faith and internal transformation?

5. How does the “first contact” scenario in Contact compare to other stories, such as the film Arrival or Arthur C. Clarke’s novels, like Childhood’s End (1953) or Rendezvous With Rama (1973)? What makes Sagan’s vision unique?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. What three images or ideas would you include in a new “golden record” to represent humanity to an alien civilization, based on the lessons learned in the novel? What would you want to communicate most?

2. If the story had been told from the first-person perspective of Palmer Joss, S. R. Hadden, or one of the travelers other than Ellie, what new insights would their worldview provide?