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368 reviews for:
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sasha Sagan
4.12 AVERAGE
368 reviews for:
For Small Creatures Such as We: Rituals for Finding Meaning in Our Unlikely World
Sasha Sagan
4.12 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Really helped me as I navigate rituals and holidays without religion. Useful for everyone, regardless of religious feeling.
Absolutely adored this. Here’s one portion that made me tear up a bit:
“No matter what the universe has in store, it cannot take away from the fact that you were born. You’ll have some joy and some pain, and all the experiences that make up what it’s like to be a tiny part in a grand cosmos. No matter what happens next, you were here. And even when any record of our individual lives is lost to the ages, that won’t detract from the fact that we were. We lived. We were part of the enormity. All the great and terrible parts of being alive, the shocking sublime beauty and heartbreak, the monotony, the interior thoughts, the shared pain and pleasure. It really happened. All of it. On this little world that orbits a yellow star out in the great vastness. And that alone is cause for celebration.”
“No matter what the universe has in store, it cannot take away from the fact that you were born. You’ll have some joy and some pain, and all the experiences that make up what it’s like to be a tiny part in a grand cosmos. No matter what happens next, you were here. And even when any record of our individual lives is lost to the ages, that won’t detract from the fact that we were. We lived. We were part of the enormity. All the great and terrible parts of being alive, the shocking sublime beauty and heartbreak, the monotony, the interior thoughts, the shared pain and pleasure. It really happened. All of it. On this little world that orbits a yellow star out in the great vastness. And that alone is cause for celebration.”
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A profound exploration of finding meaning and purpose in life, one that boldly asserts that religion is not a prerequisite for a life of depth and significance. With vulnerability and lyrical prose, the author weaves together personal narrative, philosophy, and culture to reveal the intricate web of connections that give our lives meaning.
A poignant and introspective odyssey, this book invites us to reexamine our assumptions about the nature of existence and our place within it. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the human experience, particularly those interested in exploring the intersection of science, philosophy, and spirituality.
A poignant and introspective odyssey, this book invites us to reexamine our assumptions about the nature of existence and our place within it. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the human experience, particularly those interested in exploring the intersection of science, philosophy, and spirituality.
Well I can finally say that I've read a book wholly endorsed by Bill Nye the science guy. And I hate to start with that line for this review because it actually does a massive disservice too the author and tone of this book. I was so captivated by the quiet, amusing, somber and heartfelt narrative of this book. The daughter of Carl Sagan, Sasha Sagan has written a book that I didn't know I was looking for. I've never been religious myself and have always felt that the reliance on faith was a crutch. And that's fine, we all have crutches. I have plenty, but I never felt like believing in something just purely because was a good enough crutch. If I needed something to support me in times of hardship and reasoning...I needed it to be more sound. So I never involved myself with religion, my parents never pushed it, so it was happy medium. As I did age and mature past my twenties I did begin to take solace in the idea of giving thanks, and being thankful. Small quiet moments that I would love to revel in.
In the book, Mrs. Sagan gives us a very antedotal series of stories and imparting wisdom from not only herself but from her own parents and grandparents. Being Jewish, she includes her own personal dealings with Faith, and the blurred cultural and racial lines that she dealt with and still does. What I love is that she provides this very common and relatable awkward moments that she encountered in her life when people expect her to be religious or in conversation with people who ask her about things like Astrology etc, and her way of not dealing with it the best at first. Mostly though she relates to us these small things she does in her life that are repetitive and not ostentatious like going to church, participating in elaborate rituals, and what not, but the small quick things done with her husband. She gives us this sort of approval that it's okay cherish our own personal moments. As someone who went from a very serious relationship, to now living by myself with only my work and small subset of hobbies to keep me company, I have come to very much appreciate my daily routines. She describes getting up with her husband, their daily ritual of coffee, daily chatter, weekly singing together, etc...
They don't go to church or temple or pray together or devout time to things like this, instead they show their love, inner faith and love of the biological and science based world with appreciating the same things that secular folks do, but just from a different perspective.
The book also has some darker turns as she describes a trip she took with mushrooms, and it ending up being a very nightmarish scene. She describes seeing red lightening and this feeling of empty, aloneness in a vast galactic small scale. The thoughts of palpable sadness, depression and suicide confronting her. She goes at length to discuss the religious customs and ceremonies of various religions and their antiquated and often odd customs. From marriage ceremonies to puberty and girls getting their period, she doesn't blantantly critisize them for their more archaic and often harsh penalities, but questions them. Many tribes and cultures look down and shun the idea of sex and shame those who partake. And Sasha here turns this viewpoint on it's head and relates to us that we should not only accept it, but revel in and appreciate the scientific beauty of it.
The book takes these heavy dives into the somber and she describes her relationship with death, the burial, cremation, or other cultural rituals. While she definitely takes a pragmatic approach to it, I get the feeling that she probably will go a traditional burial route, but also describes that when she visits the cemetary, she gathers 5 rocks for people she's lost in life. What I love about her writing is that she always describes a situation and then how she and her husband have developed their own small little ritual around it.
All in all this was a very surprising book, that I really found enjoyable. It turned into a peek into Sasha Sagan's borderline spiritual borderline scientific outlook on her life and habits. She delves into how she wants to let her child (which is a very central theme in her life) make her own decisions. Not presenting God, and religion as a fact, but let her grow up, learn about the religious groups and basically have her decide. She celebrates knowledge, choice, and dealing with that path. She talks about death and dealing with it, and it comes off as if she almost wishes that she was in some small aspect religious, to help her ease the pain of loss. So in this way, she admits that religion does have some value to people in that it gives a very comforting way to deal with death. She has her own ways that don't involve prayer, or blessings, or other funeralistic rituals.
The book is a short glimpse into how we all can adopt our own methods for this. It's not a checklist of things to do, or idea's that you should adopt, but rather her specific ways of coping with everyday life's challenges. Teaching us how our small daily habits can give us just as much comfort, perhaps as much as or more so than many rituals passed on for generations...
In the book, Mrs. Sagan gives us a very antedotal series of stories and imparting wisdom from not only herself but from her own parents and grandparents. Being Jewish, she includes her own personal dealings with Faith, and the blurred cultural and racial lines that she dealt with and still does. What I love is that she provides this very common and relatable awkward moments that she encountered in her life when people expect her to be religious or in conversation with people who ask her about things like Astrology etc, and her way of not dealing with it the best at first. Mostly though she relates to us these small things she does in her life that are repetitive and not ostentatious like going to church, participating in elaborate rituals, and what not, but the small quick things done with her husband. She gives us this sort of approval that it's okay cherish our own personal moments. As someone who went from a very serious relationship, to now living by myself with only my work and small subset of hobbies to keep me company, I have come to very much appreciate my daily routines. She describes getting up with her husband, their daily ritual of coffee, daily chatter, weekly singing together, etc...
They don't go to church or temple or pray together or devout time to things like this, instead they show their love, inner faith and love of the biological and science based world with appreciating the same things that secular folks do, but just from a different perspective.
The book also has some darker turns as she describes a trip she took with mushrooms, and it ending up being a very nightmarish scene. She describes seeing red lightening and this feeling of empty, aloneness in a vast galactic small scale. The thoughts of palpable sadness, depression and suicide confronting her. She goes at length to discuss the religious customs and ceremonies of various religions and their antiquated and often odd customs. From marriage ceremonies to puberty and girls getting their period, she doesn't blantantly critisize them for their more archaic and often harsh penalities, but questions them. Many tribes and cultures look down and shun the idea of sex and shame those who partake. And Sasha here turns this viewpoint on it's head and relates to us that we should not only accept it, but revel in and appreciate the scientific beauty of it.
The book takes these heavy dives into the somber and she describes her relationship with death, the burial, cremation, or other cultural rituals. While she definitely takes a pragmatic approach to it, I get the feeling that she probably will go a traditional burial route, but also describes that when she visits the cemetary, she gathers 5 rocks for people she's lost in life. What I love about her writing is that she always describes a situation and then how she and her husband have developed their own small little ritual around it.
All in all this was a very surprising book, that I really found enjoyable. It turned into a peek into Sasha Sagan's borderline spiritual borderline scientific outlook on her life and habits. She delves into how she wants to let her child (which is a very central theme in her life) make her own decisions. Not presenting God, and religion as a fact, but let her grow up, learn about the religious groups and basically have her decide. She celebrates knowledge, choice, and dealing with that path. She talks about death and dealing with it, and it comes off as if she almost wishes that she was in some small aspect religious, to help her ease the pain of loss. So in this way, she admits that religion does have some value to people in that it gives a very comforting way to deal with death. She has her own ways that don't involve prayer, or blessings, or other funeralistic rituals.
The book is a short glimpse into how we all can adopt our own methods for this. It's not a checklist of things to do, or idea's that you should adopt, but rather her specific ways of coping with everyday life's challenges. Teaching us how our small daily habits can give us just as much comfort, perhaps as much as or more so than many rituals passed on for generations...
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
I only recently discovered the work of Sasha Sagan’s parents, and I still have a lot of it left to read. I wish I had been alive when Carl Sagan was alive, but I was born two years after he passed.
Nevertheless, he and Ann Druyan have changed my life. They completely altered the way I view the world and the universe, and I think they made me a slightly better person. I genuinely think that their books are some of the best ever written.
I fully admit that I only read For Small Creatures Such As We because its author is the daughter of her parents. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have even known about it, otherwise.
But this book is excellent in its own right.
It’s thoughtful, it’s moving, it’s beautifully written. It fits right in with her parents’ work, yet still manages to be its own thing.
I am thrilled that I have found another author who manages to so authentically capture the spirit of Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot and The Demon-Haunted World and the rest.
I loved this book, and I look forward to reading everything else she writes in the future.
Nevertheless, he and Ann Druyan have changed my life. They completely altered the way I view the world and the universe, and I think they made me a slightly better person. I genuinely think that their books are some of the best ever written.
I fully admit that I only read For Small Creatures Such As We because its author is the daughter of her parents. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have even known about it, otherwise.
But this book is excellent in its own right.
It’s thoughtful, it’s moving, it’s beautifully written. It fits right in with her parents’ work, yet still manages to be its own thing.
I am thrilled that I have found another author who manages to so authentically capture the spirit of Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot and The Demon-Haunted World and the rest.
I loved this book, and I look forward to reading everything else she writes in the future.