Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant commentaries on delusional and muddy thinking
Review: Carl Sagan is a national treasure! In this easy to read,
no-nonsense book, he provides the lay reader with the tools
of clear thinking, while also giving many examples of poor thinking.
Never one to bemoan the darkness rather than light a candle, another take on the title of his book, Sagan helps the reader
think through some of the more popular myths (UFOs, alien abductions, recovered
memory syndrome, religion), and leaves the reader with
a "baloney detection kit" to help think through the myths
yet in the making. One of the main ideas I came away with
from reading this book is that we need more Carl Sagans.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding intuition of all things science.
Review: Dr. Sagan is one of the best, if not the best, at making extremely complicated scientific subjects accessible for the lay person. This book, once again, sheds light
on issues that we as general public should know. In other words, is it fact or fiction?
I have to admit that I am biased. I grew up with 'Comos' the series and subsequently
read almost every book written by Dr. Sagan. This and 'Broca's Brain' are now my two favorite books on science. Thanks,
Scott Harris
Rating:
Summary: Cool, but funny?
Review: Sure, science is all well and good. But does science
explain laughter? What is laughter and why do you like
it? :-)
Rating:
Summary: Astronomer or Sociologist?
Review: Although Carl Sagan made a prominent name for himself as an Astronomer in the 1970's, his final contribution to the academic world was a piece that was very Sociological in nature. The thesis of the book is that America's obsession with science fiction and popular myth has curtailed the growth of the United States as a scientifically literate society. As such, Sagan's final work is laudable as one of the most poignant and effective commentaries on the Zeitgeist of American society at the turn of the 21st century.At the beginning of "Demon-haunted", Sagan comes across as a "killjoy", who is bitter about the seemingly innocuous pleasures that many Americans indulge themselves in (Star Trek, Atlantis, Crystal Power, etc.). He points out that at the time of the book's release, "Dumb and Dumber" was the number one movie in the box office. He also spins a wonderful anecdote about his cab driver who, upon finding out that Sagan is an Astronomer, tries to demonstrate upon Sagan his scientific "fluency" through his knowledge of "Atlantis". It all seems quite funny, until Sagan points out that the cab driver got quite frustrated when Sagan challenged his belief systems about the mythical island continent. With this wonderfully concrete example, Sagan renders the reader aware of how dangerous popular myths about science can be. As the book progresses, Sagan continually points out that a little diversion can be a dangerous thing. He points out that Americans in the 1990's would rather spend a day watching the X-files than studying real stellar constellations; or reading tripe about Atlantis, as opposed to reading scientific books about continnetal plate shift. Eventually, the "candle in the dark" analogy is revealed as an analogy for science in America, where beliefs in the supernatural often publically usurp real scientific fact. I think the thing that shocked me the most about this book was the fact that it wakes the reader up to the "dumbing down" of the American educational system, which Sagan implies, is a factor of the general American's willingness to believe just about anything that's entertaining. Of the more forboding points that Sagan makes, there is one that he is rightfully salient about. This is that "pure science" (that is science in its abstract form) is becoming replaced by "profit-oriented" science. To back his argument, he points out that almost none of the technology that we enjoy today would have been discovered if it were not for the pursuit of pure science. For example, he points out that without abstract study of magnetism and electricity, things such as radio and television would not be here. Like any good social theorist, Sagan ends this book with a series of solutions that could be enacted to further the pursuit of true science. First, he calls for a return to funding initiative for non-profit oriented scientific study. Second, he comments in passing that several opportunities are being missed by the educational system to teach children the priniples of true science by using the world around them as examples. For instance, at one point, he shows the applicability of basketball to physics. In sum, Sagan proves to be a brilliant Social Theorist.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Spent $14.95 In My Life
Review: Ok. To keep this as short and simple as I can:
My buddy kept ranting and raving about this book almost in the same way that I am about to convey in this brief recommendation. For months he told me I should pick it up. He's been pedaling it to everyone he considereds close to him, or merely to those who have even a vague interest in science or comprehension of the world around them.
I'm 20 years old. A sophmore in college. In a reflection to how much I THINK I know, or knew rather, I have come to discover just how insignificant my "knowledge" is.
To be blunt: This book is as much an exceptionally incredible gift as it is a curse to self reflection, rational thought, and sketicism.
I've been tortured by the countless internal monologues, views, and arguements spawning from numerous points the author presents in this text. You can't help but think about how it pertains to YOU. What do you think? What do I think?
I think where I am now, or where I was more specifically, is nowhere near where I want to be.
I'm not even into science. I'm a history major. It doesn't matter.You cannot read this book from cover to cover, without getting caught up in Sagan's passion. It's not just about science. It's not just about philosophy. Or knowledge. Or history.
His opinion may vary from yours. In fact, it probably will. He may present views or arguments you choose not to agknowledge or agree with. Once again, it doesn't matter. It is precisely these elements that continually compell me to learn more about who I am and what I think of the world around me.
If I had to choose one book for any of my friends to read from start to finish, this would be the one. So I guess now it's my turn to start pedaling this book to others who might want to enlighten themselves.
And I guess this is my way of doing it.
You're already here. What more do you need to know?
Rating:
Summary: A guide to thinking critically about science and the world
Review: This has been my favorite work of non-fiction since I first read it in 1996. Upon re-reading it recently, I was struck by how important Sagan's treatise on critical thinking and "baloney detection" is in today's world. Though the book mostly deals with pseudoscience, antiscience and religion, the tools it presents for critical analysis of evidence and argument should be read by all Americans, particularly those who still believe that we found WMDs in Iraq or that Iraq was involved in 9/11.
We are never systematically taught critical analysis in school (even in graduate study in the sciences at prestigious universities), so it is no wonder that Madison Avenue and, increasingly, our elected officials are able to convince us to purchase products and support policies that are based on logical fallacies and repitition of untrue or distorted "facts". Imagine if the voting public and the press consistently applied Sagan's Baloney-Detection tools to statements made by advertisers and our government, tools such as:
"Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the 'facts'
Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
Arguments from authority carry little weight -'authorities' have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorites; at most, there are experts.
If there's a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) - not just most of them."
This is how and why science works as well as it does. We all have the ability to be skeptical and use these techniques when shopping for a used car, Sagan points out. The key is to apply those abilities consistently to all of life's decisions.
Rating:
Summary: Passion and Science
Review: Nowadays we have a polarized world. Nowadays means: since the middle age at least... In this book we learn the importance of skeptical thinking as the base for science and how to avoid this maniqueism, but, incredible!, its not turn science into a boring thing! Science, in fact, is more intriguing than most fiction books, and is the best way to the truth: this noble and never reached thing. Thanks to the Dr Sagan's passion many other people around the world are inspired by science. People like Dr Sagan should live forever: and, in a certain way, they do. Read the book and fall in love.
Rating: 
Summary: A masterful plea for rationality
Review: In the first chapter of "Demon-Haunted World," Carl Sagan poses a thought-provoking rhetorical question: "Whose interest does ignorance serve?" An apt reply would be "No one we want to help." Charlatans, irrational ideologues, terrorists and dictators invariably benefit from a credulous and superficial public, but the results endanger everything valued by the rest of us, including our freedom. While his tone is sympathetic and humane, the author's case for critical thinking is urgent, firm and uncompromising.
Early on, Sagan addresses the seemingly paradoxical relationship between critical thinking and certainty. He points out that science, the discipline most strongly dependent on critical thought, nevertheless thrives on doubt, error and revision. Even mathematics, the scientific branch most likely to produce "eternal" truths, has to deal with controversy and uncertainty at its frontiers. The strength of science is rooted in its error detection mechanisms and a willingness to revise its views if warranted by experimental results. The net outcome is a structure that is messy at the edges ( the hubbub of today's findings) but solid at the core (a summation of results verified by feedback over time).
From many different angles, Sagan argues that pseudoscience and religion fall short for very clear and simple reasons: Pseudoscience either cannot produce enough data to allow proper judgments, or fails to evaluate critically the data it has. Religion sets up arbitrary principles, declares them sacred, and enters a state of ideological paralysis about their veracity. This pattern persists even when the "sacred" principles become readily testable (e.g. the configuration of the solar system, the origin and evolution of planet Earth, and the developmental history of living things). Thus religions tend to converge on a structure which is the inverse of science. At their outer edges, religions are strong in the sense that they provide social support and humanitarian services. The closer one approaches core values, however, the weaker religions become because of their adamant refusal to test and verify claims which intersect with observable reality.
Chapter 7, bearing the title of the book, traces the history of demonic phenomena from antiquity to the present-day exorcisms sanctioned by Rome. In a rather startling quote, Plato blithely describes demons as something like divine city councilmen sent by Jehovah to watch over mortals. The pathetic specter of demonology morphing into witch hunting still shocks with descriptions of persecution and execution via catch-22 rules that damn the accused no matter how they respond to charges. The Taliban would have loved it.
The only criticism I would make is that the book, written over nearly a decade, suffers a bit from sprawl and repetitiveness. But this detracts only a little from readability, and not at all from the value of Sagan's message. He really did see science as a candle in the dark that can help us learn to be skeptical, think critically, and use the priceless gift of intelligence wisely for the benefit of everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to skeptical thinking...
Review: This is a great introduction to skeptical thinking which is written in layman's terms. The book covers on a wide range of topics but tends to focus more on witch burnings, alien abductions and UFOs, and New Age Spiritualism. I would recommend this book to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, powerful, but disorganized
Review: I read a lot of criticizm of this book saying it doesn't debunk anything thouroughly. But I don't think it was ever intended to; this is not a UFO-theory-debunking book. It is a book about logic, thought, and scientific process in general. This is an excellent book for what it's intended. My only complaint is that it is somewhat disorganized. Rambling, you could say. The author begins treating a topic, wanders off in a series of tangents, and abrutply comes back to the original topic dozens of pages later. If the author was submitting this book for a college writing class, he'd probably get a C. Yet despite this, this book manages to deliver it's message powerfully and clearly, and I highly recommend it.
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