Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
If you persevere to the end of this book you will be awarded. I found "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan a very tedious read for about the first 206 pages and then it finally got interesting and relevant to me. Carl tends to go on and on about alien abduction and witches for the first half of the book before he finally starts talking about science that concerns me.
There will always be people who believe in alien abduction and it is a religion for them and there will be no swaying them with this book, so Carl should have saved himself a few pages, actually a lot of pages by just dedicating one chapter to the subject instead of such a lengthy rant against them. I totally agree with Carl Sagan, but in a briefer sense.
Great words concerning religion, critical thinking, improving our schools and yes we all should encourage and participate in questioning everything. I loved the chapter "No Such Thing as a Dumb Question".
Overall a good read, but it would have been a great read if he had not ranted so much on aliens and witches.
There will always be people who believe in alien abduction and it is a religion for them and there will be no swaying them with this book, so Carl should have saved himself a few pages, actually a lot of pages by just dedicating one chapter to the subject instead of such a lengthy rant against them. I totally agree with Carl Sagan, but in a briefer sense.
Great words concerning religion, critical thinking, improving our schools and yes we all should encourage and participate in questioning everything. I loved the chapter "No Such Thing as a Dumb Question".
Overall a good read, but it would have been a great read if he had not ranted so much on aliens and witches.
Carl Sagan was a masterful spokesperson for science and skepticism. In this book, one of his last is on the irrationality that seemed to be growing in the US. The dimming and diminishing enlightenment with pseudoscience and superstition and fanaticism closing in on the clean well lit world of science and rationality. Carl saw what was coming.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Didn't finish it. Skipped around some chapters, but just couldn't get into it.
A passionate defence of science and the scientific method. Sagan addresses the logical fallacies and minefields littering faith (religious and otherwise) spends a few chapters discussing and debunking the "alien abductions" that have ostensibly been occurring in the US since the 1950s.
He also recognises that scientists are not, by default, "the good guys" and gives examples of how science has been and is used to further military programmes - eg, the development of the hydrogen bomb - actions that definitely are not taken in the spirit of improving humans' wellbeing.
He also recognises that sometimes scientists and sceptics come across as smug and superior - himself included - and seem to belittle those who hold decidedly unscientific beliefs. All in all an excellent book. He could have, IMO, spent some time talking about the pharmaceutical industry and other purely profit-driven organisations employing scientists to fudge test results etc. in the name of greater profit.
If there is one view that I share 100% with Mr Sagan it is that critical thinking classes should be mandatory from kindergarten through to secondary school graduation. (There are actually people who dismiss critical thinking as a trendy and harmful "fad"!) Alas, in the modern education system, where conformity and unquestioning obedience are rewarded and individuality and independent thinking are punished, this is unlikely to happen. But with the Internet available to all, at least in the industrialised world, thinking critically and logically is perhaps easier than it was for previous generations.
He also recognises that scientists are not, by default, "the good guys" and gives examples of how science has been and is used to further military programmes - eg, the development of the hydrogen bomb - actions that definitely are not taken in the spirit of improving humans' wellbeing.
He also recognises that sometimes scientists and sceptics come across as smug and superior - himself included - and seem to belittle those who hold decidedly unscientific beliefs. All in all an excellent book. He could have, IMO, spent some time talking about the pharmaceutical industry and other purely profit-driven organisations employing scientists to fudge test results etc. in the name of greater profit.
If there is one view that I share 100% with Mr Sagan it is that critical thinking classes should be mandatory from kindergarten through to secondary school graduation. (There are actually people who dismiss critical thinking as a trendy and harmful "fad"!) Alas, in the modern education system, where conformity and unquestioning obedience are rewarded and individuality and independent thinking are punished, this is unlikely to happen. But with the Internet available to all, at least in the industrialised world, thinking critically and logically is perhaps easier than it was for previous generations.
I'm convinced that the world would be better in 2023 and beyond if we had listened to the advice of Carl Sagan in this book published in 1997.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I really wanted to like it - the introduction was great, talking about how science has so much magic to offer that we don’t need to lean on pseudoscience for awe-inspiring moments. I was expecting the book to show me all the magic of science, but instead it just tore into pseudoscience to show how silly it is. I don’t need convincing of that, I was hoping for some insight into the wonders of the scientific world from the perspective of an inspiring scientist. He’s well written but the content was disappointing!
The closest thing I have to a Bible, a spectacular overview of rationalism, skepticism, and critical thinking.
I thought the book was good but it just wasn’t good for me. The intro was inspiring but after that Sagan spent chapter after chapter disproving aliens and other pseudoscience. Anyone that chooses to pick up this book doesn’t believe in the pseudoscience he is arguing against so you kinda just sit there as he tries to convince you of something you don’t need to be convinced of. for me, the book accomplished nothing