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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Somewhat dated in today’s age but still a useful read to help with critical thinking, something that is slowly being lost to the algorithm.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" is far and away the best $4.99 (Kindle) I have spent in an incredibly long time--possibly ever. Not only is it wonderful because of Sagan's signature prose and sober clarity, but it's also eerily and, dare I say, stupidly relevant even 25 years later. His certainly was a spark that was snuffed out far, far too soon.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
One of Sagan’s best works I’ve read. This book perfectly encapsulates the current disinformation environment that we exist today in. The endless conspiracies peddled by politicians and grifters have created a dissonance between science and the general public and Sagan not only had the foresight to predict this but also the tools to dismantle the rhetoric from our modern day charlatans. Highly recommend this book if you are tired of seeing people believe in all kinds of nonsensical conspiracies ranging from flat earth to anti-vaxx. This book shows you that you are not going insane, people’s capabilities to believe in the absurd knows no bounds but that is why keeping a clinical and rational mind is very important in these days.
This book felt like a waste of time. It was essentially 400+ pages of why science and scepticism are useful. There were some fun anecdotes (alien abduction stories, the crop circle hoax, um and others that I can't remember on the top of my head), but overall, it was just a very long winded book that didn't say anything I didn't already know.
That said, it'd be an interesting and informative book for a non-scientist to read. Actually I think a lot of people could benefit from reading this book. But if you come from a science background, then everything this book says is already so deeply ingrained within you that you marvel at the fact that someone thought it necessary to write an entire book on the topic. Isn't this all common sense...?
Also, maybe I'm a child, but I would have loved some pictures/figures. What is this "man in the moon" nonsense? What did these crop circles actually look like? I read the book before bed, so I was much too lazy to go look these things up myself...
That said, it'd be an interesting and informative book for a non-scientist to read. Actually I think a lot of people could benefit from reading this book. But if you come from a science background, then everything this book says is already so deeply ingrained within you that you marvel at the fact that someone thought it necessary to write an entire book on the topic. Isn't this all common sense...?
Also, maybe I'm a child, but I would have loved some pictures/figures. What is this "man in the moon" nonsense? What did these crop circles actually look like? I read the book before bed, so I was much too lazy to go look these things up myself...
informative
medium-paced
A wonderful book about how science and the scientific method can be applied to all aspects of life. The only thing that keeps this from getting 5 stars is that I think Sagan spends a bit too much time dwelling on the debunking of UFOs and alien abductions. Otherwise it's just fantastic.