I began watching Carl Sagan's public television series "COSMOS" a while back, and from the very first episode, I loved it. The series broadcasted for the first time in 1980, yet almost every bit of it is known to be as accurate today as it was then. COSMOS is inspiring and does a great job at reinvigorating a great sense of awe for the universe and appreciation of what we can know from science. Carl Sagan himself was an astronomer, but he dedicated much of his time as a scientist to the public understanding of science, which really endears him to me. Once it hits you that the magnificent things Sagan is telling you about are actually happening all around you all of the time, and once you get an idea of just how vastly large and vastly small we are in the universe and how elegantly connected we are to processes of the universe, you'll be absolutely hooked. I get an amazing feeling of wonder and mystery just by reflecting on reality. There are thirteen episodes in the COSMOS series, and each one is about an hour long. Best of all, you can view them all FOR FREE on hulu.com.
Ten years after it's introduction in 1980, Carl Sagan recorded some short update monologs to followup some of the original episodes. In the updates, he talks a bit about what has been discovered in the 10 year since the series was first made. I wish he could have been around to produce another 10-year update to COSMOS for 2000, but unfortunately Carl Sagan died in 1996 due to complications of a blood disease. Even though I never knew him before he died, I sure do I miss that man.
