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The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of NASA's Interstellar Mixtape
The fascinating story behind the mission, music, and message of NASA's Voyager Golden Record--humanity's message to the stars.
In 1977, a team led by the great Carl Sagan was assembled to create a record that would travel to the stars on NASA’s Voyager probe. The Vinyl Frontier reveals the inside story of how the record was created, from the first phone call to the final launch, when Voyager 1 and 2 left Earth with a playlist that would represent humanity to any future alien races that come into contact with the probe. Each song, sound and picture that made the final cut has a story to tell.
The Golden Record is a 90-minute playlist of music from across the globe, a sound essay of life on Earth, spoken greetings in multiple languages, and more than 100 photographs, all painstakingly chosen by Sagan and his team to create an aliens' guide to Earthlings. The final playlist contains music written and performed by well-known names such as Bach, Beethoven, Chuck Berry and Blind Willie Johnson, as well as music from China, India and more remote cultures, such as a community in Small Malaita in the Solomon Islands.
Through interviews with all of the key players involved with the record, this book pieces together the whole story of the Golden Record. It addresses the myth that the Beatles were left off of the record because of copyright reasons and will include new information about US president Jimmy Carter’s role in the record, as well as many other fascinating insights that have never been reported before. It also tells the love story between Carl Sagan and the project’s creative director Ann Druyan that flourishes as the record is being created.
The Golden Record is more than just a time capsule. It is a unique combination of science and art, and a testament to the genius of its driving force, the great polymath Carl Sagan.
In 1977, a team led by the great Carl Sagan was assembled to create a record that would travel to the stars on NASA’s Voyager probe. The Vinyl Frontier reveals the inside story of how the record was created, from the first phone call to the final launch, when Voyager 1 and 2 left Earth with a playlist that would represent humanity to any future alien races that come into contact with the probe. Each song, sound and picture that made the final cut has a story to tell.
The Golden Record is a 90-minute playlist of music from across the globe, a sound essay of life on Earth, spoken greetings in multiple languages, and more than 100 photographs, all painstakingly chosen by Sagan and his team to create an aliens' guide to Earthlings. The final playlist contains music written and performed by well-known names such as Bach, Beethoven, Chuck Berry and Blind Willie Johnson, as well as music from China, India and more remote cultures, such as a community in Small Malaita in the Solomon Islands.
Through interviews with all of the key players involved with the record, this book pieces together the whole story of the Golden Record. It addresses the myth that the Beatles were left off of the record because of copyright reasons and will include new information about US president Jimmy Carter’s role in the record, as well as many other fascinating insights that have never been reported before. It also tells the love story between Carl Sagan and the project’s creative director Ann Druyan that flourishes as the record is being created.
The Golden Record is more than just a time capsule. It is a unique combination of science and art, and a testament to the genius of its driving force, the great polymath Carl Sagan.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2019
23 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Scott
243 books16 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
For the history professor, see Jonathan^^Scott.
For the history professor, see Jonathan^^Scott.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
December 11, 2019
For the uninitiated, Voyagers 1 and 2, now having truly entered interstellar space over the last couple of years, carry with them LPs that serve as a kind of mixed-tape for Earth. Images, music, and people saying 'Hi' in scores of languages will be what our alien counterparts will find when they lay down our smooth Earth beats.
Scott's book details the origins of the LP and the long, often overly-detailed process of selecting what would go on it. Starting with the Pioneer probe predecessor project, infamous for the furor raised over the image featuring a naked human couple (and the woman's offensive "vulva line", expunged finally to the relief of millions of sex-fearing Americans), Scott digs deep into the story of how Carl Sagan and others built up the content for the Voyager LP, no easy task considering that this record will basically last billions of years and perhaps be the last physical remnant of human civilization. A daunting prospect. The content project is funny and informative and highlights nicely both the genius of our planet and its stupidity (American congressmen insisting their images be placed on the record).
Perhaps a little too deep at times, but informative on what is likely to be our final testament to the universe. Without vulvas.
Scott's book details the origins of the LP and the long, often overly-detailed process of selecting what would go on it. Starting with the Pioneer probe predecessor project, infamous for the furor raised over the image featuring a naked human couple (and the woman's offensive "vulva line", expunged finally to the relief of millions of sex-fearing Americans), Scott digs deep into the story of how Carl Sagan and others built up the content for the Voyager LP, no easy task considering that this record will basically last billions of years and perhaps be the last physical remnant of human civilization. A daunting prospect. The content project is funny and informative and highlights nicely both the genius of our planet and its stupidity (American congressmen insisting their images be placed on the record).
Perhaps a little too deep at times, but informative on what is likely to be our final testament to the universe. Without vulvas.
April 15, 2019
In 1977, NASA approved a team led by Carl Sagan to create a message representing Earth and humanity that would travel into deep space on the Voyager probe. The message would contain a playlist of music, sounds, and pictures; essentially it would be a mixtape introduction to Earth for any extraterrestrials that may discover the probe at some point in time.
"When a group of scientists, artists and writers gathered in Ithaca, New York, to begin work on the Voyager Golden Record, they were attempting to capture the soul of humanity in 90 minutes of music." *
One of the first decisions to be made was how the message would be delivered as it needed to be preserved for a long period of time in the harsh elements of space. A record would allow a great deal of information to be preserved in a compact space and the groove could carry not just sound but also encoded photographs.
Next, there needed to be some basic criteria for selecting music and images. An important early decision was to avoid politics and religion (which would confuse extraterrestrials) and to skip artwork entirely; the music would be the art and the photographs would be the facts. Concerned that images of war and violence could be seen as a threat, the group decided to leave this part of history out of an introduction to extraterrestrials and instead promote Earth as seen "on a good day".
The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record is a fascinating look at the group who created the record with insight into the music and photographs that were selected. The author conducted interviews with those directly involved in selecting the content on the Golden Record and compiled many facts from the testimony of the Voyager team found in Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, written in 1978, just months after the probe launch.
There is some "info-dumping" with scientific explanations that are at times overwhelming and/or confusing for readers with little-to-no background in the field (*ahem* that would be me!), Scott does an excellent job of discussing the facts in an entertaining and conversational way.
While The Vinyl Frontier focuses primarily on the music, it also gives readers a brief look into NASA's opinion of the record and its message (and the one thing they didn't want to send to ETs that could offend the American people... *spoiler alert: it was the female anatomy*) and what the U.S. government added at the last minute (*spoiler alert: it was a list of names of officials ...because ETs will totally understand and appreciate four pages of names!*)
The Voyagers 1 and 2 both contain a copy of the Golden Record; a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk with an aluminum cover electroplated in uranium-238, which has a half life of almost 4.5 billions years.
I like to imagine extraterrestials finding the record sometime in the next billion years, understanding the mathematical instructions to play it, and hearing Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode for the first time in deep space.
Both Voyagers have served us well, gathering data from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune throughout the 1980's. Now, they're cruising in deep space, carrying a message that may someday be heard by intelligent life we cannot even begin to fathom.
"Both spacecraft are still beaming back information about their surrounding through the Deep Space Network. We are still receiving readings from these amazing machines, almost half a century after their launch, with instruments aboard enabling technicians and astronomers on Earth to study magnetic fields, investigate low-energy charged particles, cosmic rays, plasma, and plasmas waves. Both Voyagers are expected to keep at least one of their functioning instruments going into the mid-2020s." *
If you'd like to see a list of all the images, music, sounds, and greetings on The Golden Record, along with photographs of its manufacturing, visit the link here.
Thanks to Bloomsbury Sigma and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record is scheduled for release on May 21, 2019.
*Quotes included are from a digital advance reader's copy and are subject to change upon final publication.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
"When a group of scientists, artists and writers gathered in Ithaca, New York, to begin work on the Voyager Golden Record, they were attempting to capture the soul of humanity in 90 minutes of music." *
One of the first decisions to be made was how the message would be delivered as it needed to be preserved for a long period of time in the harsh elements of space. A record would allow a great deal of information to be preserved in a compact space and the groove could carry not just sound but also encoded photographs.
Next, there needed to be some basic criteria for selecting music and images. An important early decision was to avoid politics and religion (which would confuse extraterrestrials) and to skip artwork entirely; the music would be the art and the photographs would be the facts. Concerned that images of war and violence could be seen as a threat, the group decided to leave this part of history out of an introduction to extraterrestrials and instead promote Earth as seen "on a good day".
The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record is a fascinating look at the group who created the record with insight into the music and photographs that were selected. The author conducted interviews with those directly involved in selecting the content on the Golden Record and compiled many facts from the testimony of the Voyager team found in Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record, written in 1978, just months after the probe launch.
There is some "info-dumping" with scientific explanations that are at times overwhelming and/or confusing for readers with little-to-no background in the field (*ahem* that would be me!), Scott does an excellent job of discussing the facts in an entertaining and conversational way.
While The Vinyl Frontier focuses primarily on the music, it also gives readers a brief look into NASA's opinion of the record and its message (and the one thing they didn't want to send to ETs that could offend the American people... *spoiler alert: it was the female anatomy*) and what the U.S. government added at the last minute (*spoiler alert: it was a list of names of officials ...because ETs will totally understand and appreciate four pages of names!*)
The Voyagers 1 and 2 both contain a copy of the Golden Record; a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk with an aluminum cover electroplated in uranium-238, which has a half life of almost 4.5 billions years.
I like to imagine extraterrestials finding the record sometime in the next billion years, understanding the mathematical instructions to play it, and hearing Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode for the first time in deep space.
Both Voyagers have served us well, gathering data from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune throughout the 1980's. Now, they're cruising in deep space, carrying a message that may someday be heard by intelligent life we cannot even begin to fathom.
"Both spacecraft are still beaming back information about their surrounding through the Deep Space Network. We are still receiving readings from these amazing machines, almost half a century after their launch, with instruments aboard enabling technicians and astronomers on Earth to study magnetic fields, investigate low-energy charged particles, cosmic rays, plasma, and plasmas waves. Both Voyagers are expected to keep at least one of their functioning instruments going into the mid-2020s." *
If you'd like to see a list of all the images, music, sounds, and greetings on The Golden Record, along with photographs of its manufacturing, visit the link here.
Thanks to Bloomsbury Sigma and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record is scheduled for release on May 21, 2019.
*Quotes included are from a digital advance reader's copy and are subject to change upon final publication.
For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com
April 9, 2019
The voyager’s golden record
The contents of this record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by cosmologist Carl Sagan. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals, including the songs of birds and whales. The record also carries an hour-long recording of the brainwaves of writer and producer Ann Druyan. This is a kind of time capsule for the extraterrestrial species, should these spacecrafts land on an alien planet or intercepted by intelligent beings. They may be able to determine that there are intelligent species in this universe.
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts have left the solar system and journeying in interstellar space. The message recorded on the disc, from President Jimmy Carter, says that this is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings.
Music includes that of Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky; Indian classical music of Hindustani vocalist Kesarbai Kerkar, music of Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Johnson, and rocker Chuck Berry. The inclusion of Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was most controversial and highly debated.
The record is constructed of gold-plated copper and is 12 inches in diameter. The record's cover is aluminum and electroplated upon it is an ultra-pure sample of the isotope uranium-238. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.468 billion years. It is possible that an alien civilization would be able to determine the age of the record.
The author narrates the story of how the record was created from an historical perspective but does not go into the Voyager missions. This book is not for an average reader but may be interesting to readers of Voyager spacecrafts and the work of Carl Sagan.
The contents of this record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by cosmologist Carl Sagan. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, thunder and animals, including the songs of birds and whales. The record also carries an hour-long recording of the brainwaves of writer and producer Ann Druyan. This is a kind of time capsule for the extraterrestrial species, should these spacecrafts land on an alien planet or intercepted by intelligent beings. They may be able to determine that there are intelligent species in this universe.
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts have left the solar system and journeying in interstellar space. The message recorded on the disc, from President Jimmy Carter, says that this is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings.
Music includes that of Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky; Indian classical music of Hindustani vocalist Kesarbai Kerkar, music of Guan Pinghu, Blind Willie Johnson, and rocker Chuck Berry. The inclusion of Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was most controversial and highly debated.
The record is constructed of gold-plated copper and is 12 inches in diameter. The record's cover is aluminum and electroplated upon it is an ultra-pure sample of the isotope uranium-238. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.468 billion years. It is possible that an alien civilization would be able to determine the age of the record.
The author narrates the story of how the record was created from an historical perspective but does not go into the Voyager missions. This book is not for an average reader but may be interesting to readers of Voyager spacecrafts and the work of Carl Sagan.
July 15, 2019
Originally posted on The Nerd Daily | Review by Marla Warren
Jonathan Scott is clearly a fan of music history, as well as the history of the space program. If you also enjoy either or both of those interests, you will undoubtedly enjoy this thoroughly researched book. The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record recounts the entire process of how the idea of the record came to be, how decisions were made to determine what would go on it, and just how massive of an endeavor this really was, particularly due to the technological restraints of the time.
But let’s back up, what is the Voyager Golden Record? In the late 1970’s NASA was sending Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to a tour of the outer planets, after which they would continues on into uncharted outer space. With the idea that maybe, just maybe, there might be life somewhere that would find these space probes, famous astronomer Carl Sagan was commissioned to create a record. This record would be fixed to the side of the Voyager crafts and has been considered the most important compilation ever made. Think of it as a mixtape, from Earth to the Cosmos.
Scott details how Sagan chose who would be working on this project, what their guidelines and limitations were, and how they worked through all of these to create 90 minutes of sounds, music, pictures, and even a message from then-President Jimmy Carter that they all hoped would one day inform other beings in the universe about humans on Earth.
Scott personally interviewed many of the major players in the project and relied on other interviews and published works of others. He shares interesting details, behind-the-scenes insights, and addresses myths, such as why the Beatles music was left off completely.
In 1977, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched and have been on their grand tour of outer space since then, and as of 2013 they were 9 to 11 billion miles away from the Earth. As of 2017, their 40th anniversary in space, NASA reports that both probes are still healthy and continuing their travels into deep space. So those golden records are still out there, still travelling, and may one day reach an audience.
More than a time capsule, Jonathan Scott describes in this book a brilliant combination of science and art, which together created a weird but wonderful artefact compiled by an amazing group of people. Created from a strange marriage of politics, bureaucracy, budget, ambition, innovation, and beauty, Scott describes a portrait of humanity that is still travelling out among the stars.
Jonathan Scott is clearly a fan of music history, as well as the history of the space program. If you also enjoy either or both of those interests, you will undoubtedly enjoy this thoroughly researched book. The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record recounts the entire process of how the idea of the record came to be, how decisions were made to determine what would go on it, and just how massive of an endeavor this really was, particularly due to the technological restraints of the time.
But let’s back up, what is the Voyager Golden Record? In the late 1970’s NASA was sending Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to a tour of the outer planets, after which they would continues on into uncharted outer space. With the idea that maybe, just maybe, there might be life somewhere that would find these space probes, famous astronomer Carl Sagan was commissioned to create a record. This record would be fixed to the side of the Voyager crafts and has been considered the most important compilation ever made. Think of it as a mixtape, from Earth to the Cosmos.
Scott details how Sagan chose who would be working on this project, what their guidelines and limitations were, and how they worked through all of these to create 90 minutes of sounds, music, pictures, and even a message from then-President Jimmy Carter that they all hoped would one day inform other beings in the universe about humans on Earth.
Scott personally interviewed many of the major players in the project and relied on other interviews and published works of others. He shares interesting details, behind-the-scenes insights, and addresses myths, such as why the Beatles music was left off completely.
In 1977, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched and have been on their grand tour of outer space since then, and as of 2013 they were 9 to 11 billion miles away from the Earth. As of 2017, their 40th anniversary in space, NASA reports that both probes are still healthy and continuing their travels into deep space. So those golden records are still out there, still travelling, and may one day reach an audience.
More than a time capsule, Jonathan Scott describes in this book a brilliant combination of science and art, which together created a weird but wonderful artefact compiled by an amazing group of people. Created from a strange marriage of politics, bureaucracy, budget, ambition, innovation, and beauty, Scott describes a portrait of humanity that is still travelling out among the stars.
January 6, 2020
Bloomsbury Sigma and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of the Voyager Golden Record. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.
40 years ago, a group of scientists, artists, and writers gathered together to work on a special project for the cosmos. The result was the Voyager Golden Record, a playlist of audio recordings from around the world. Famed astronomer Carl Sagan and the rest of the team developed this mix-tape as a message of peace and a glimpse into the American psyche.
Author Jonathan Scott did not do this historical event justice in The Vinyl Frontier, choosing to inject too much of his own personal story, which had no relevance to the book as a whole. The long footnotes went off on tangents and the attempt at humor throughout the book fell on deaf ears. Had The Vinyl Frontier been just about the science, instead of the personal lives and choices of the participants, this would have been a much better book. The narrative did not hold my interest and I found myself wanting to skip over whole sections of the book. For these reasons, I would not recommend The Vinyl Frontier to other readers.
40 years ago, a group of scientists, artists, and writers gathered together to work on a special project for the cosmos. The result was the Voyager Golden Record, a playlist of audio recordings from around the world. Famed astronomer Carl Sagan and the rest of the team developed this mix-tape as a message of peace and a glimpse into the American psyche.
Author Jonathan Scott did not do this historical event justice in The Vinyl Frontier, choosing to inject too much of his own personal story, which had no relevance to the book as a whole. The long footnotes went off on tangents and the attempt at humor throughout the book fell on deaf ears. Had The Vinyl Frontier been just about the science, instead of the personal lives and choices of the participants, this would have been a much better book. The narrative did not hold my interest and I found myself wanting to skip over whole sections of the book. For these reasons, I would not recommend The Vinyl Frontier to other readers.
September 11, 2023
Far too little time spent on the diagrams included with the record, and further, no actual photos or drawings of the record and its contents! I know what it looks like by looking it up online, but this book should be a standalone object that provides the reader with all the pertinent information. I think the author, as a writer on popular music and culture, wanted to focus on the music included with the album. However, much should have been said about the entire process and thought behind the whole endeavour, more than the tight focus on the music itself.
September 16, 2020
This book hooked me with a punny title and the rest did not disappoint. A captivating story about the legendary intergalactic mix tape that I have always been fascinated by. Written with humor and love by an author who is obviously passionate and knowledgeable about music, art and the little quirks of humanity.
December 27, 2019
A good book with lots of interesting information, but the author's tone was too snarky for me. The footnotes having that same snark also drove me a bit batty. It was very well researched and I wanted to like it a lot more, but the writing style really knocked it down for me.
June 21, 2022
People who really liked each other worked on and completed a project they were excited about. Such a pleasure to read.
January 10, 2021
A wonderful story with a fantastic set of real life characters. Reading about Sagan et al.’s passion is intoxicating and the details about the music included are fascinating.
January 9, 2022
XXXXX
Dear intelligent E.T.: a gift to you from the citizens of planet Earth
XXXXX
“This is the story of the summer of 1977—when science rubbed up against art to create a monument that will, in all probability, outlive us all.
When we are dust, when the Sun dies, these two golden analogue discs, with their…accompanying stylus and instructions, will be speeding off further into the cosmos. And alongside their music, photographs, and data, the discs will have etched into their fabric the sound of one woman’s brainwaves…
This book isn’t about your golden record, or my golden record, it’s about THE Golden Record.”
The above quote (in italics) comes from this book by Jonathan Scott. Scott is a writer, record collector, and astronomy geek.
The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, to study the outer Solar System. The probes were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Although their original mission was to study only the planetary systems of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune. The Voyagers continue to transmit useful scientific data. Neither Uranus nor Neptune has been visited by a probe other than Voyager 2.
In August 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space. In November 2018, Voyager 2 entered interstellar space. (Interstellar space is the physical space within a galaxy beyond the influence of each star in that galaxy. Thus the Voyager probes are no longer influenced by our solar system’s Sun.)
The Voyager Golden Record is a two-sided phonograph record that was included aboard both Voyager probes. (A photograph of it is on this book’s front cover, shown above, by Good Reads.) The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. The records are a sort of time capsule.
This book, in a nutshell, is an extraordinary account of the Voyager space probe’s passenger, the Golden Record, and the group of dreamers who made it happen. This group of dreamers was headed by astrophysicist, astronomer, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science commentator, Carl Sagan (1934 to 1996).
It is Scott’s entertaining, well-written, and sometimes humorous (but excessively wordy) backstory which brings a new appreciation to this somewhat simple but important object. I found the history and biographies presented to be both interesting and fascinating.
Finally, the only problem I had with this book was that there are no photos, diagrams, illustrations, sketches… nothing! Why? Yes, there is a picture of the record as I mentioned above and a picture of its cover on the book's back cover but these are not really part of this book’s main narrative. Adding photos, etc. would have significantly reduced this book’s wordiness. And what is the significance of this book’s title? The record is metal not vinyl.
In conclusion, for those who want a thorough account of the Golden Record’s creation, this is the book to get!!
(2019; prologue; 12 chapters; main narrative 260 pages; bibliography; appendices; acknowledgements; index)
XXXXX
Dear intelligent E.T.: a gift to you from the citizens of planet Earth
XXXXX
“This is the story of the summer of 1977—when science rubbed up against art to create a monument that will, in all probability, outlive us all.
When we are dust, when the Sun dies, these two golden analogue discs, with their…accompanying stylus and instructions, will be speeding off further into the cosmos. And alongside their music, photographs, and data, the discs will have etched into their fabric the sound of one woman’s brainwaves…
This book isn’t about your golden record, or my golden record, it’s about THE Golden Record.”
The above quote (in italics) comes from this book by Jonathan Scott. Scott is a writer, record collector, and astronomy geek.
The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, to study the outer Solar System. The probes were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Although their original mission was to study only the planetary systems of Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune. The Voyagers continue to transmit useful scientific data. Neither Uranus nor Neptune has been visited by a probe other than Voyager 2.
In August 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to leave our solar system and enter interstellar space. In November 2018, Voyager 2 entered interstellar space. (Interstellar space is the physical space within a galaxy beyond the influence of each star in that galaxy. Thus the Voyager probes are no longer influenced by our solar system’s Sun.)
The Voyager Golden Record is a two-sided phonograph record that was included aboard both Voyager probes. (A photograph of it is on this book’s front cover, shown above, by Good Reads.) The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. The records are a sort of time capsule.
This book, in a nutshell, is an extraordinary account of the Voyager space probe’s passenger, the Golden Record, and the group of dreamers who made it happen. This group of dreamers was headed by astrophysicist, astronomer, cosmologist, author, science popularizer, and science commentator, Carl Sagan (1934 to 1996).
It is Scott’s entertaining, well-written, and sometimes humorous (but excessively wordy) backstory which brings a new appreciation to this somewhat simple but important object. I found the history and biographies presented to be both interesting and fascinating.
Finally, the only problem I had with this book was that there are no photos, diagrams, illustrations, sketches… nothing! Why? Yes, there is a picture of the record as I mentioned above and a picture of its cover on the book's back cover but these are not really part of this book’s main narrative. Adding photos, etc. would have significantly reduced this book’s wordiness. And what is the significance of this book’s title? The record is metal not vinyl.
In conclusion, for those who want a thorough account of the Golden Record’s creation, this is the book to get!!
(2019; prologue; 12 chapters; main narrative 260 pages; bibliography; appendices; acknowledgements; index)
XXXXX
May 22, 2019
Scott interjects himself a little much for my taste, but nonetheless I devoured this book. It's a fascinating story, and Scott totally nerds out on all the details. I reviewed The Vinyl Frontier for The Current.
June 28, 2019
The best part of the book is the list of recordings selected for the Golden Record.
There is the ever-growing TBR list and now the TBH(to be Heard) list.
There is the ever-growing TBR list and now the TBH(to be Heard) list.
July 21, 2019
I first remember hearing of this record on an episode of “The West Wing,” so of course I had to read this book. I’m glad I did.
March 14, 2024
I purchased my copy of this book used in hardback at a local antique mall in May 2023. I really liked this book. I was in high school when the Voyager probes were launched in 1977, in college when they made their Jupiter and Saturn flybys (1980-81), and early in my post-college career when Voyager 2 flew by Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989). So I remember the probes well, and the Golden Records they both carried. Both of the spacecraft are now in their 45th year of flight. They have left the confines of our solar system and are flying through interstellar space. I suppose it was timely to read this book now, because starting late last year (2023) the Voyager 1 probe developed some kind of problem with its onboard computer and it appears that its science mission has finally come to an end. Voyager 2 continues to chug along, and might do so for another decade before its power source fails. Both of these probes carry a Golden Record, and it is the story of the creation of these records that is the subject of this book. And what a story it is. None other than Carl Sagan was the driving force in the creation of the records, which were intended to provide a cosmic greeting card from Earth to whatever cosmic intelligences may someday stumble across these probes in the depths of space. Given the fame of the Golden Records, I had always assumed they were a part of the Voyager mission plan from the get-go, and were created by some committee within NASA. But no - these records were an afterthought, essentially bootlegs that were created under the radar by a small team pulled together by Sagan. When the team got started there was little time (they started work just a few months before launch), and the budget was miniscule. I was surprised to learn that a key member of the team was astronomer Frank Drake, a SETI pioneer and creator of the famous "Drake equation." The author weaves the story of this small team deciding what music and pictures should be included on the disks, and how to communicate to an alien intelligence how to "play" the records. It was all very ingenious, all very forward-leaning, all very starry-eyed and innocent-seeming when viewed from our jaded internet age. The author writes with a light, wry style. Some reviewers have called his tone snarky, but I didn't find this to be the case. I enjoyed the injections of humor. If you are interested in the Voyager mission, then this is a tale well worth reading. At the end of the book, the author makes a sobering observation about how bleakly we in the 21st century regard the future versus those in the 1970's. The New Horizons probe, launched in 2006 for its Pluto flyby in 2015, is now on its way out of the solar system, and it will eventually reach interstellar space like the Voyager probes. But it doesn't carry any message from humanity like the Voyager Golden Records. Makes you think. My only quibble with the book is that it could have used some illustrations and photos. Five out of five stars.
September 9, 2022
This is a breezy but fascinating look at the development of the Voyager record. I find this book incredibly hard to rate—the content is incredible, but I found Scott’s writing style frustrating and distracting. The jokey conversational “scenes” were particularly annoying, especially when they continued an already-executed metaphor. Sometimes the narrative clung to film techniques, asking the reader to imagine a documentary or montage instead of trying to create a reminiscent effect through words or paragraph structure. I wanted to be engaged by this amazing story, but the writing style kept on getting in the way. As a writer, this book was a good reminder not create playful sentences just to sound “clever”—they need to serve a larger purpose as well as comedic effect.
Still, THE VINYL FRONTIER manages to present a compelling history of the Voyager probes and the Golden Record accompanying them through interstellar space. I loved the reflections from the Golden Record team—especially less-heralded ones like Amahl Shakhashiri—on the selection processes for the photographs, sounds, and music. I loved the details of the creative arguments that fueled the project and the bureaucratic buffoonery that almost derailed it. I even loved the notes on what we’ve learned about the record’s contents long after 1977 (like the mislabeled percussion from Senegal, which actually hails from Benin).
I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend this book. It’s given me so much to ponder, but I also skimmed/actively considered skipping whole paragraphs of text because I found them a waste of time . If you’d like a quick-but-intriguing read about space exploration and human history, please do go ahead and pick this up. But you may also want to stock up on your patience at the same time.
Still, THE VINYL FRONTIER manages to present a compelling history of the Voyager probes and the Golden Record accompanying them through interstellar space. I loved the reflections from the Golden Record team—especially less-heralded ones like Amahl Shakhashiri—on the selection processes for the photographs, sounds, and music. I loved the details of the creative arguments that fueled the project and the bureaucratic buffoonery that almost derailed it. I even loved the notes on what we’ve learned about the record’s contents long after 1977 (like the mislabeled percussion from Senegal, which actually hails from Benin).
I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend this book. It’s given me so much to ponder, but I also skimmed/actively considered skipping whole paragraphs of text because I found them a waste of time . If you’d like a quick-but-intriguing read about space exploration and human history, please do go ahead and pick this up. But you may also want to stock up on your patience at the same time.
July 8, 2021
Jonathan Scott has previously written articles for Record Collector magazine, as well as other music and science books. 'The Vinyl Frontier', (great title), published in 2019, chronicles in great detail the story behind Carl Sagan's team of scientists, artists and writers who put together the 'Golden Record' that was fixed to Voyager 1 & 2 in 1977.
More than forty years later these two probes are now in interstellar space, taking these golden discs to the cosmos as an introduction to earth and earthlings, boldly going, for any alien intelligence to find. Scott has documented the full story, interviewing the surviving members of the team and following the process from initial concept to launch.
A fascinating read of the multi-media compilation of selected music, spoken word, animal sounds, photographs, scientific diagrams along with a message of peace from president Carter.
I doubt very much we will receive a reply of "we hear you earth man" after E.T. has rocked out to Chuck Berry.
The author also encourages the reader to make their own record that represents humanity in 90 minutes of music or in a 12 minute essay or 120 images. I'm certainly apprehensive of what any little green being would make of Dylan's 'Tombstone Blues', or Cpt Beefheart's 'The Blimp'.
More than forty years later these two probes are now in interstellar space, taking these golden discs to the cosmos as an introduction to earth and earthlings, boldly going, for any alien intelligence to find. Scott has documented the full story, interviewing the surviving members of the team and following the process from initial concept to launch.
A fascinating read of the multi-media compilation of selected music, spoken word, animal sounds, photographs, scientific diagrams along with a message of peace from president Carter.
I doubt very much we will receive a reply of "we hear you earth man" after E.T. has rocked out to Chuck Berry.
The author also encourages the reader to make their own record that represents humanity in 90 minutes of music or in a 12 minute essay or 120 images. I'm certainly apprehensive of what any little green being would make of Dylan's 'Tombstone Blues', or Cpt Beefheart's 'The Blimp'.
September 7, 2023
History Is Often In The Details, Especially Exploration History
I’ve always loved the space program as an example of human accomplishment beyond just money, greed and national arrogance. Exploration at its root strikes me as noble. The messages we sent into the cosmos with the Pioneer and Voyager missions may never reach another living thing, but sending them did something for US, that is all humans as well as the Americans who built the spacecraft.
In an era less jaundiced than now, humans led by Americans sent a wishful, meaningful, non-hostile greeting and primer about us to possible kindred beings we’ll never know, at least not in several lifetimes, if ever.
A lot of great science was done by the spacecraft along the way, but this mission side-project was the most hopeful. Perhaps hope is in the details.
This book is a fascinating read. Space devotees like me will love it, but others will benefit from the message as well.
I’ve always loved the space program as an example of human accomplishment beyond just money, greed and national arrogance. Exploration at its root strikes me as noble. The messages we sent into the cosmos with the Pioneer and Voyager missions may never reach another living thing, but sending them did something for US, that is all humans as well as the Americans who built the spacecraft.
In an era less jaundiced than now, humans led by Americans sent a wishful, meaningful, non-hostile greeting and primer about us to possible kindred beings we’ll never know, at least not in several lifetimes, if ever.
A lot of great science was done by the spacecraft along the way, but this mission side-project was the most hopeful. Perhaps hope is in the details.
This book is a fascinating read. Space devotees like me will love it, but others will benefit from the message as well.
November 20, 2024
My only points of complaint were that the author primarily discusses his subjects on a first-name basis (i.e. saying "John," "Tim," "Tom," "Jon," "Frank," etc. instead of last names), and he puts too many of his own opinions and experiences in the text, which is completely irrelevant since he's just some guy who likes punk music and not a scientist. He also doesn't really understand the science he's explaining (admittedly so), so I had to ask colleagues or Ye Olde Google in order to figure out some of the old 1970s tech stuff and the math I was unfamiliar with. Jonathan Scott also clearly as a massive crush on Carl Sagan, which is all well and good, but it was bizarre to have descriptions of other scientists interrupted with quotes about how hot and charismatic Carl Sagan was. What did that have to do with anything? Overall, though, this book was a fun read, and a good summary of the events surrounding the making of the Voyager Golden Record.
Read
November 12, 2019Запишите диск, представляющий человечество с лучшей стороны. Вы включите туда 90 минут музыки, 12 минут речи, 120 изображений и диаграмм. У вас есть шесть недель. Да, и прежде чем начнете: не пользоваться компьютером, смартфоном, интернетом. Никаких мейлов, PDF, Google, цифровых файлов. Без Word’а. Разрешается писать бумажные письма, звонить по телефону, посещать библиотеки и книжные магазины. Допускаются слайды и курьеры. У вас шесть недель.
С этим вызовом столкнулись американские ученые, решившие в 1977 году послать «золотую пластинку» с двумя аппаратами «Вояджер», отправлявшимися за границы Солнечной системы. Что отобрать из тысячелетий цивилизации? Какие звуки и изображения живой и неживой природы? А что с копирайтом? Споры об их выборе не утихают уже полвека.
С этим вызовом столкнулись американские ученые, решившие в 1977 году послать «золотую пластинку» с двумя аппаратами «Вояджер», отправлявшимися за границы Солнечной системы. Что отобрать из тысячелетий цивилизации? Какие звуки и изображения живой и неживой природы? А что с копирайтом? Споры об их выборе не утихают уже полвека.
September 10, 2019
This is a fantastic book for those who appreciate art and science.
One ding against the book is that I wish there would have been photos of the pictures the author spent a good deal of time describing. Of course these can be found on the internet, but sometimes it is nice to go full-on low tech. That's why we read paper books, after all.
The writing was fun and clever. I learned a lot about Carl Sagan the person and some of his life decisions, one of which was a bit shocking. I am now inspired to read the books the author mentioned as well as watch the documentaries on the Golden Record.
One ding against the book is that I wish there would have been photos of the pictures the author spent a good deal of time describing. Of course these can be found on the internet, but sometimes it is nice to go full-on low tech. That's why we read paper books, after all.
The writing was fun and clever. I learned a lot about Carl Sagan the person and some of his life decisions, one of which was a bit shocking. I am now inspired to read the books the author mentioned as well as watch the documentaries on the Golden Record.
November 25, 2019
Interesting read! I knew about the records, but never realized the short time frame available, the lack of any significant backing by NASA, or the realization that all this material was gathered without the use of the Internet! This book is not a science journal, but a lot of science is given. The author is well versed in a great deal of subjects, but mostly he is a music person. Seen from his perspective this project is all the more interesting. Sometimes the book gets bogged down on technology and a substantial list of characters involved. The book even touches on the personal lives of the participants. Even the bibliography and appendix are of interest.
September 26, 2024
A funny, insightful account of the variety of contributors to the Golden Record, from its early days of ideation and development to the final production and blastoff. I loved the author's sense of humor and storytelling capabilities, which turned something that could have turned out as a biography of Carl Sagan or bland nonfiction about a NASA artifact into a lively adventure full of twists, turns, and an ending that will leave you in shock (if you don't know much about the story of the Golden Record's creators).
If you're into aerospace and science and enjoyed books like Rise of the Rocket Girls or other such NASA- and JPL-type stories, you'll love this. Highly recommend!
If you're into aerospace and science and enjoyed books like Rise of the Rocket Girls or other such NASA- and JPL-type stories, you'll love this. Highly recommend!
March 15, 2021
Interesting book, and I enjoyed the view points and anecdotes of the author, unfortunately I do not think that there was enough of a story to the Disc to warrant an entire book - especially because the author frequently quotes parts of the book that the team who created the Disc wrote called Murmers of Earth . I mean no ill will to Scott, he seems like a cool guy, but I think if you're interested in this story maybe just read Murmers instead (as that even includes the photos that are only described in this book).
May 27, 2022
This book gets stronger towards the end, so keep on slogging through if you can. The author did a ton of research and the details and copious footnotes can make for slow-going at times. But what a ride! I was very interested in the Voyager space probes growing up, and I had no idea these records existed—let alone they contained additional data besides just music. This book has inspired me to purchase the 2017 Ozma vinyl set.
July 6, 2019
Interesting and informative, though two things irritate me: (1) the author's personal voice seems to come and go very suddenly, throwing of the rhythm of the reading; (2) the story has an occasional tendency to venture into too-much-information territory -- not all minutiae needs to be dissected.
March 11, 2021
I worked my way through this in fits and starts. Some days plowed through pages, and others just a handful. The premise and content was solid, just at times perhaps it may have been found searching for content to fill those pages? Still, I did enjoy it, even more so when it was referencing or quoting Carl Sagan and I'd supplant my voice with his, in my inner monologue!
April 15, 2025
A fascinating history of the men and women who worked to create the Golden Record, a message from Earth to the Cosmos, chronicling the process of deciding what music and messages to put on the record, how it was physically done, and the fight against bias and politics involved to get it out there.
A book of hope and optimism that is a much needed read these days.
April 7, 2019
A fantastic book telling the fascinating story of how Carl Sagan and a small group put together two golden records containing pictures and sounds that would represent the earth to aliens in only a few weeks.
Loved it!
Loved it!
February 4, 2020
"The whole idea of a record in space was a fairly strange one to communicate..."
Overall, the book was more than I was interested in. The experience of the record itself speaks for itself.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-r...
Overall, the book was more than I was interested in. The experience of the record itself speaks for itself.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-r...
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