Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestorswas selected bySchool Library Journalas one of nine “best books of the year” out of 40,000 titles: “The enchanting writing style captivates … a clarity that will hold the interest of the most science-phobic reader.”

“A funhouse maze of biology, psychology, evolution, fact, theory, probability, possibility, and awe … Warning Those who regard the human condition as the inviolable perch at the top of the evolutionary heap, the gold watch at the end of the great chain of being, will find much in Shadows that disturbs.”

—Miami Herald

“In this book Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan illuminate some of the most daunting questions of our time, and any time, sometimes explaining them straight out, sometimes challenging the reader to contemplate the truths we hold dear. Shadows is one of those rare books that should be required reading.”

—New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Jam-packed with fascinating anecdotes, a playful wit and humor, a wide-ranging command of relevant scientific data, and (a warning to readers who are easily scandalized), an ‘indecorous explicitness on matters sexual.’ ”

—Nashville Banner

“Superb.”

—Tom Peters

Chicago Tribune

“Their latest literary wonder.”

—New York Times Syndicate

“It has been a long time since I came across a nonfiction book as compelling as this one. At times I found myself impatiently turning pages, as if I were reading a murder mystery and couldn’t wait to discover the ending.”

—Corpus Christi Caller-Times

“An eloquent attempt to place the human species in context … They use the same compelling style that made Cosmos such an international success.… It is a big story. Indeed, it is the biggest story.”

—Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram

“A coherent, moving story … Philosophical, poetic, even witty, [with] a sense of almost religious awe.”

—Book Page

“Excellent … An important book that deserves to be widely read and discussed.”

—Monroe Strickberger

Author of the textbook Evolution,

writing in the San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

“Formidably intelligent and well-informed.”

—Chicago Sun Times

“Hauntingly appealing. Carl Sagan is probably the best literary stylist American science has produced since Loren Eiseley and Lewis Thomas.”

—The Observer (London)

“Informative, enlightening, and refreshingly unacademic.”

—Atlanta Journal & Constitution

“It is easy to hear his familiar voice guiding the reader through time and the early rumblings of the universe through the development of DNA, evolution, and the rise of modern primates.”

—Gannett News Service

“Sagan’s contribution to increasing public understanding of science and making provocative connections between different areas are at the highest level of benefit to our society.”

—John Bahcall

Institute for Advanced Study Princeton, NJ

“It has sex. It has humor. It has drama. It’s what people go to the movies for.”

—Steve Knight

KIEV-AM, Los Angeles

“They go boldly where many scientists have feared to tread … And what a journey it is!”

—Phoenix (Arizona) Gazette

“Eloquent … Visionary … Powerfully imagined.”

—Booklist

“Engaging … Lyrical … Stunning.”

—Publishers Weekly

ALSO BY CARL SAGAN AND ANN DRUYAN

Comet

Murmurs of Earth (with others)

SOME OTHER BOOKS BY CARL SAGAN

Intelligent Life in the Universe (with I. S. Shklovskii)

The Cosmic Connection

The Dragons of Eden

Brocas Brain

Cosmos

Contact

A Path Where No Man Thought (with Richard Turco)

ALSO BY ANN DRUYAN

A Famous Broken Heart

A carving from the Sepik River, central highlands of Papua New Guinea.

A Ballantine Book

Published by The Random House Publishing Group

Copyright © 1992 by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc, New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto

This edition published by arrangement with Random House, Inc

Permissions acknowledgments for previously published

material can be found on this page