Cosmos is a 1980 popular science book by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning

author Carl Sagan. Its 13 illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of

the Cosmos TV series, which the book was co-developed with and intended to
complement, explore the mutual development of science and civilization. One of
Sagan's main purposes for the book and television series was to explain complex
scientific ideas to anyone interested in learning. Sagan also believed the
television was one of the greatest teaching tools ever invented, so he wished to
capitalize on his chance to educate the world.[1] Spurred in part by the popularity
of the TV series, Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-sellers list
and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list to become the best-selling
science book ever published at the time. In 1981, it received the Hugo Award for
Best Non-Fiction Book. The book's unprecedented success ushered in a dramatic
increase in visibility for science-themed literature. The success of the book also
jumpstarted Sagan's literary career. The sequel to Cosmos is Pale Blue Dot: A
Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994).[2]

In 2013, Cosmos was published in a new edition, with a foreword by Ann Druyan and
an essay by Neil deGrasse Tyson.[3]