sagansense:

I stumbled upon this book while Melissa and I were wandering through an antique/vintage store in South Philadelphia called Philly AIDS Thrift. Intrigued by the title visible to me by the spine, this quick glimpse spurred nostalgia as I immediately could hear Carl’s voice from Episode 7 of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, “The Backbone of Night”, where he passed on some memories of his own…

“Even with an early bedtime, in the winter, you could occasionally see the stars. I would look up at them and wonder what they were. I’d ask other kids and adults and they would answer, ”they’re lights in the sky, kid.“ I could tell they were lights in the sky, but what were they? There had to be some deeper answer.

I remember I was issued my first library card…and I asked the librarian for a book on stars. She gave me a funny kind of picture book with portraits of men and women with names like Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd. I explained that wasn’t what I wanted, at all. And for some reason then obscured to me, she smiled, and got me another book — the right kind of book.

I was so excited to know the answer that I opened the book breathlessly right there in the library, and the book said something astonishing. A very big thought. Stars, it said, were suns, but very far away. The sun was a star, but close up.”

Thanks for the memories (and yours), Carl.