Reddit mentions of Contact

I would say that both the book and the movie told the story very well in terms of their respective mediums.

The book goes into more detail of Ellie's youth, the prime numbers and how the message is encoded. It also goes into more depth regarding the philosophical discussions she has with Joss (Matthew McConaughey's character), the international cooperation that occurs in building the machine.

Essentially, it's the story of any book - unbound by the runtime of a movie, and given readers ability to re-read things until they get it, the book goes into a level of detail that many movies can't.

Oh, and the book is written by astronomer Carl Sagan, so it's science is pretty solid (for the real stuff) and convincing (for the fictitious stuff). If you enjoy reading sci-fi, definitely give it a shot. Here's the Amazon link.

I enjoyed both the movie and the book, seeing the same story come to life in two different forms.

Audio Books are your friend, like seriously pick up something to listen to.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman


The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman

"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character


The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene


The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene


The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene


Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration by Michio Kaku

Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time: Great Discoveries by Michio Kaku


The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind (This one I recommend on the highest degree, personally I have read it 3 times)


A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe by Stephen W. Hawking


Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan


Contact by Carl Sagan


Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan

All these books I've listened to or read, and I recommend all of them some more then others, I have tons more about Quantum Mechanics, Physics, Biology, Cosmology, Astronomy, Math etc. But I'm to lazy to list all of them here.