| Nostalgic |
| I know where I was when the Space Age began. In early October 1957, I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, working toward a doctorate in planetary astronomy. The previous year, when Mars was the closest it ever gets to Earth, I had been at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, peering through the telescope and trying to understand something of what our neighboring world is like. But there had been dust storms on both planets, and Mars was 40 million miles away. When you're stuck on the surface of Earth, those other worlds, however tantalizing, are inaccessible. |
| Carl Sagan, an esteemed astronomer and former president of the Planetary Society, wrote �Dreams Are Maps�� in order to give the reader an important memory of his regarding astronomy. He establishes this purpose through a nostalgic tone, in which he longingly recalls the first day he recognized his love for astronomy. Using words such as �tantalizing� and �inaccessible,� Sagan attempts to establish in the reader the same love for astronomy he has himself. The fact that he �remember[s] where [he] was when the Space Age began� shows just how deeply interested he is in astronomy, and his nostalgic tone gives the reader a reason to want to pursue a career in astrology as well. |
| Analysis |
| Dreams Are Maps: Exploration and Human Purpose Carl Sagan |
| Sagan, Carl. Planetary Society. 1987. 15 Nov. 2003. <http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/1996/headln- 122196.html>. |
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