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Summary: Sagan Strikes
Review: As always, Carl Sagan writes clearly, concisely, and in such a manner that the lay person can understand a brilliant scientific mind. I found this book entertaining, and certainly well worth the time and money. If I were an alien, I think Sagan would have been one of the ones on my abduction list; he was certainly much more able to tell the aliens the way our world works than the many supposed victims. If you are gullible, perhaps you should pick up this book before you find yourself falling for supermarket tabloid headlines, and let Sagan help you exorcise your own demons.
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Summary: I'll keep it simple
Review: Just finished reading the book for the fourth time. Third physical copy of the book, I keep giving them away.
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Summary: An excellent book
Review: Carl Sagan's swan song is a real winner. He really shows his passion, and explains, clearly and gently, just WHY the study of the natural world and the scientific method are humanity's best hope for securing a better world for ourselves.Highly recommended.
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Summary: biased but valuable
Review: Carl Sagan is both extremely readable and convincing. This book is a page turner and contains many, many interesting facts which do indeed help one better evaluate the various half-truths in the world. I particularly enjoyed the chapters debunking alien abductions. However, being Canadian, I could have done without the American politics in the final chapters (science is the basis of our great nation, etc etc). Also, while I agree with Sagan that people need to develop better critical thinking skills, heseems to believe that science has a monopoly on critical thinking, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the humanities (philosophy, etc.) can be just as valuable (if not more so) in teaching critical thinking skills. Sagan also seems to believe that mythical thinking is a sign of ignorance, rather than an important aspect of human thought and experience, a point of view which both myself and people such as Ernst Cassirer, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell etc. would disagree with. That said, this book is both an excellent and valuable read, and I recommend it if you are at all interested in science or the way we think about our world. (And if you think Atlantis is the source of mystical crystal power which you can use to better your life I BEG you to read it).
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Summary: Treatise for healthy skepticism
Review: There are points in this book where it seems a bit repetitive, but since Sagan intended it for a public seriously ignorant about hard science (not to say I'm an exception) and suffering from attention deficit disorder, it's probably appropriate. Sagan was prompted to write this book by what he saw as an alarming ignorance of science and the easy acceptance of pseudoscience among most Americans - although this is not necessarily an exercise in intellectual hand-wringing about how Americans need to study science more. What is most lamentable in Sagan's view, and it's hard to disagree with him, is the lack of knowledge of the scientific method and the critical thinking which makes people both inquisitive and skeptical. It is the absence of discerning skepticism among so many peopele which is most disturbing. In this context, much of the book is devoted to a critique of the 'alien abductions' which seem to have become quite commonplace over the last few decades (mainly in North America). Sagan is at his best when he pointed out the striking similarities between abduction accounts and the visitations by demons, incubi or gods of earlier eras - and this is where the book is most interesting and convincing. He took a similar stance when discussing New Age beliefs and parapsychology. Perhaps one of the main drawbacks of the book is that Sagan tried to cover too much ground, even though he tied together the principal themes quite well. His final chapter also provides an eloquent argument for the meaning of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, although this airing of his political views is perhaps what turned off a number of more conservative readers. "Demon-Haunted World" is a very informative, useful and well-argued book, and very enjoyable to read, despite certain limitations (and I'm still puzzling over his characterization on p. 108 of Gary Larson as a "cartoonist ... who draws in the horror genre...")
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Summary: Mr. Sagan thinks we're all buffoons
Review: I can certainly believe that some people would call this their Bible, since it's just as dogmatic as your everyday King James version. But with this book Sagan preaches Capitalism, Atheism, and the New World Order. Basically, everyone will be a cog in the machine of scientific "progress." UFO's, bigfoot, and crop circles are all hallucinations and hoaxes according to Dr. Sagan. The one thing he decides to neglect, though, are the findings of the Air Force's Project Blue Book, which catalogued 701 cases of unidentified flying objects up to 1968. How convenient that he left that little fact out of his book. He also overlooks a plethora of information collected by agencies such as MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena), and CUFOS (Center for UFO Studies). For some reason he doesn't mention any of this in his book. He must take us all to be dumb, inbred, crud breeders. To him we must be too dumb to tell a UFO from swamp gas or bigfoot from a guy in a costume. The list of bad claims made in this book is too long for me to go into, but I would like to say that I still dearly admire Carl Sagan. I really liked his book Cosmos, in which he stuck to the facts and didn't try to debunk everything. Overall I just found this book to be hypocritical hogwash. HE IGNORED SOME OF THE FACTS, THUS HE BROKE HIS OWN RULES!
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Summary: Great book from Carl Sagan
Review: There is a great biography on Carl Sagan by Keay Davidson. In chapter 10 it states: "One must not talk to the people as if they are children babbling about Santa Claus; rather, they must be educated, patiently and respectfully so. And for that educational mission, Carl Sagan was ideally suited." Carl Sagan's DHW not only lives up to this expectation, it goes further. He gives insightful views on a variety of topics including history, philosophy, politics, education, child rearing and religion. His reasoning is eloquent and his style of writing brilliant. Some topics are covered in detail, such as the Face on Mars, Aliens, UFO's and repressed memories. While other subjects are just mentioned in passing: the Bermuda Triangle, Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, unlucky number 13, the prophecies of Nostradamus, Ouija boards, the remains of Noah's Ark, the Amityville Horror and carrying the severed foot of a rabbit for good luck. There are some chapters that cover in detail, topics relating to demons, witches, and visions of saints. Although in modern times these subjects are no longer taken seriously, I feel he has covered them for two reasons. Firstly, to show the connection between mass hysteria of medieval times with that of modern times (eg. alien-abductions). Secondly, to point out, from a historical perspective, the stupidity of human belief systems. The book also contains quite a bit of humour and wit. In chapter 23 there is a description of a nerd that is so funny and vivid that you'll swear you have just sat through the movie "Revenge of the Nerds". Here are some examples: 1) Have you ever wondered about the sheer terror an alien-abductee may be experiencing as in a letter to Sagan in chapter 11: "My friend Frankie wants me to bring back an ashtray or a matchbook, but I think these visitors are probably much too intelligent to smoke." 2) Would you like to know how a student laments over declining levels of science education in their high-schools as quoted in chapter 20: "Maybe that's good that we are not as smart as the other countries. So then we can just import all of our products and then we don't have to spend all of our money on the parts for the goods." 3) How about the liberal thinking of an abortion clinic bomber serving time in jail as quoted in chapter 25: "I'm a very narrow-minded, intolerant, reactionary, Bible-thumping fundamentalist... a zealot and fanatic...The reason the United States was once a great nation, besides being blessed by God, is because she was founded on truth, justice, and narrow-mindedness." Ah Carl, it's gems like these that will be sorely missed. Thoughtful comments are also made with regard to contemporary and historical issues such as slavery, torture, racism, women's equality, religious fundamentalism, 'war on drugs', education and the glorification of ignorance through the media (eg. movies such as Dumb and Dumber and MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head); or the vilification of students who want to learn as 'nerds'. Some will be surprised though, since not only does he debunk pseudoscience, he also successfully debunks established religions. This may be a bit hard to swallow for some, especially if one doesn't understand how science works as an explanation of reality, or how logical thinking works with regard to valid knowledge. Even though Sagan is dismissive of religion's claim to knowledge of God or an after-life, he nonetheless feels religion has an important role to play in society as he mentions in chapter 15: "... many religions, devoted to reverence, awe, ethics, ritual, community, family, charity, and political and economic justice, are in no way challenged, but rather uplifted, by the findings of science. There is no necessary conflict between science and religion. On one level, they share similar and consonant roles, and each needs the other."
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Summary: My bible.
Review: When picking up Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World" I didn't really know what to expect. I knew that the book was about science and I thought it was just going to tell us how far science has taken us with some clever tests and statistics. I had know idea that Carl Sagan was so passionate with science and his writings. Actually, every scientist has that same way of thinking on the passionate level, however society doesn't know there is a certain code, and un-written rules, hense the passion. The book explains not in detail about this, but clearly it's appearent. Sagan teaches us that scientific evidence is something you can't dispute with. If you think about it, what can be your argument? What tests the limits and credibility of science? He shows us that Scientific Fact is the last word. He also explains that these psuedo-sciences are out there and popping up all over the world. These are merely "new-age" scineces. I'm sorry if I offend anyone reading this but, anything "New-Age" is just a fad or what ever is popular in that current time, whatever it is it will die out sooner then later. I beleive the Boloney Detection Kit chapter is the most stimulating and the Hallucinations chapter is just as good. Sagan writes about evolution, religion, God, and all sorts subjects. UFO's even made it on the list. The only problem I have with this book is that the first 2-3 chapters is a drag, but after that enjoy the education while you can get it. This book is a classic and it will be looked over and studied till science finally has a day where it will be properly recognized and excepted in society.But I'm not expecting that any time soon, I beleive as long as we have religion out there then we will not except it. One other thing... where's the scientific evicdence on God, is there any, do we have any, where is it, who has it, have we seen any, any finger prints, DNA, blood samples, hair samples? Oh, I forgot, we're pretty little snowflakes.
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Summary: STUNNING and TRAGIC
Review: Carl Sagan was a genius, and his book is nothing short of brilliant. Nevertheless, he has wasted his time. Most humans are addicted to ignorance and superstition. Witness the undying popularity of institutionalized religion, secular religion (aka psychotherapy), and the public's adoration of the talking head/talk show circuit. I fear that if we are lucky, we may come to our senses many generations from now. Despite the advances of technology since the dawn of recorded history, most humans share the mind set of their cave dwelling ancestors. Read and weep.
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Summary: Truly insightful.
Review: When historians, hundred of years from now, look back to our time and wonder whether there were real scientists, people that understood the true purpose of science, amidst all the stupidity in the 20th century, they'll find Sagan, which is not only a real scientist, but a gifted writer. This book exposes his thoughts regarding pseudoscience (the very word he uses throughout the book), religion, mysticism and other topics that conflict with real science. While most people would react to subjects they dislike (Sagan clearly isn't comfortable with alien abductions, demons and such) with flamish thoughts, he exposes the subject clearly, in the same spirit of science that he praises so often on the book, highlighting the evidence (or the lack of it) and coldly analyzing it. Unlike writers sympathetic to those subjects, Sagan won't convince you to share his opinions based on testimonials and dubious evidence; he'll present evidence, real evidence, until you convince yourself about it. Where possible, he'll throw statistics to support his side of the story. Sagan never tells you to believe in *him*, only in the facts he shows. While referring to the Middle Ages as an era of darkness is cliche nowadays, Sagan shows we're immersed in about as much mysticism and disinformation as the Middle Ages were. After reading this book, you'll realize that, despite living in the Modern Age, we're still pretty much science analphabets.
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