The poetry and passion of science Thanks to his undeniable scientific credentials and his poetic books and TV specials, Carl Sagan was the foremost science educator of the 20th century.
Few people dispute that assessment.
Each of these issues left behind scars and, inevitably, anecdotes. Two authors have grappled with the scientific and personal details and produced biographies of the man who became science's best apostle to the masses since Thomas Huxley kept Victorian working men spellbound with his vision of nature. Davidson is the chief science reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and has written many articles and coauthored the science book Wrinkles in Time. His biography is thoughtful, balanced, with a solid understanding of the scientific background, and Davidson writes with a feel for language and analogy. He understands Sagan's passions and conveys the difficulties and complexities of a career that combined both serious scientific work and mass-appeal education.