The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

4.29 AVERAGE

putperest's review against another edition

2.0
quite disappointing as i expected more than an index of low-hanging debunks and tons of off-the-mark social commentary. might have been more valuable if i read this when i was younger but even then i would have definitely preferred the superior book by richard dawkins "magic of reality" to this. maybe not that comparable but still much better.
i guess i should conclude i dont like carl sagan very much and move on.

blue_hour's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

inniss's review against another edition

3.0
I feel a little dumb for not really enjoying this book. I'm not sure how it is 400 pages long. The premise is simple: people are credulous and science is the only way to counter ignorance. North Americans seem to prefer fatuous fairy tales and pseudo science to any process of rigorous inquiry. There that's the whole book! He writes very well and it's entertaining but not necessarily enlightening unless you are very concerned with alien abduction and UFOs.

gimlisfavoritereader's review against another edition

3.5
challenging informative reflective slow-paced
I love Carl Sagan but this book was a very long winded way of saying to question everything and skepticism is necessary in our daily lives. There’s a ton of  great information in here and he builds his argument well, but I found myself skipping through chapters because I got what he was saying but he just continued with example after example. 

coyote_trickster_goddess's review against another edition

2.0
I read this book about 20 years too late. The topics the Mr. Sagan focuses on in this book were not relevant and too narrow/specific to the time the book was published. I guess I was looking for something on scientific thinking and a method to apply it to my day to day and in the face of the current challenges to science and progress.
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kennyrae89's review against another edition

4.0
informative reflective slow-paced

06thbi_'s review against another edition

3.5
informative reflective medium-paced

eaten_by_a_tree's review against another edition

5.0
informative medium-paced

jongary's review against another edition

4.0
Published in 1996, but more relevant today.

With our world flooded with misinformation, and people “researching” by swallowing any YouTube video that confirms their already held beliefs, critical thinking, the central theme of this book, is more important than ever.

gildaytm's review against another edition

4.75
challenging informative slow-paced