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I was surprised by how similar the original story was to the movie, as I had heard they butchered it. Not so. The only changes of any weight were in Ellie's relationships to the other major characters, and the removal of dated material relating to the Soviet Union.

Sagan's forte is definitely in non-fiction science popularization, and it is on display even in this work of fiction, where I'm sorry to say, it doesn't make for particularly good storytelling.

I was not surprised by the book's greatest virtue, the preponderance of wonder, a deep and abiding respect for nature and humility before that which science has not (yet) elucidated. That and myriad ruminations on the nature and likelyhood of far more advanced civilizations than our own inhabiting the universe. This is very well done, and I was gratified that Sagan's original writing expounded on these topics far more than the movie could convey.