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unsponsoredbookreviews 's review for:
Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by Carl Sagan
3-stars feels a bit harsh to give to Carl Sagan but I couldn't convince myself to raise it to 4-stars. The Demon-Haunted World is a righteous diatribe attempting to save modern society from all of the woes the masses have fallen into due to a general lack of critical thinking and often failing to apply the scientific method. According to Sagan, we find ourselves ensconced in a world that is all too willing to deceive ourselves with pseudo-science and flim-flam. This ranges from UFOs, to Christian Science, to Astrology, and witchcraft. Sagan and his wife often seem quite prescient while diagnosing the ills affecting us in the 2020s but equally often they can give off very dated mid-1990s views and conclusions that rubbed me the wrong way. There was an instance where it very much seemed like they were conflating the very real issue of sexual abuse of children coming out through therapy with claims of "demonic" abuse or possession that come from hardline religious communities.
Beyond the content, I think the structure of the book was tiresome. They spent quite a deal of time belabouring points in the first half of the book, often taking multiple chapters to hit the same subject; only to come back later in the second half of the book and provide more succinct and penetrating thoughts on those same subjects. That isn't to say there were no interesting tidbits thrown in the whole way, but the recursive nature of the book made it feel like there could have been something less muddled if they had an editor with a heavier stroke.
Beyond the content, I think the structure of the book was tiresome. They spent quite a deal of time belabouring points in the first half of the book, often taking multiple chapters to hit the same subject; only to come back later in the second half of the book and provide more succinct and penetrating thoughts on those same subjects. That isn't to say there were no interesting tidbits thrown in the whole way, but the recursive nature of the book made it feel like there could have been something less muddled if they had an editor with a heavier stroke.