Contact

Very well written, a love story about science. However, I like a good plot, and this book is just about what it says: the events leading up to mankind first contact with an alien race.

The story is told through the main character, a woman who overcomes the prejudices of a men dominated field of astronomy and becomes the leader of the SETI program. With the help of a new kind of radioscope she helped to develop, in the imminence of the cancellation of her work, she peaks up a signal, that turned out to be a message coming from a far away galaxy in space.

There is a lot of praise for science and scientific achievements through the story.