17 January 2021
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.
Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.
| Title | : | The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark |
| Edition Language | : | English |
| ISBN | : | 9780345409461 |
| Format Type | : |
Readers Also Enjoyed The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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I sit before my computer, typing out a review of what is my favorite book. I’m daunted by the magnitude of this task, having just finished the book for the fourth or maybe fifth time. I wish I could...
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Always insightful, it seems that Sagan just wanted to watch the world learn. I should've read this at 14. Honestly, this should probably be required high school reading for everyone. It illustrates cl...
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I miss Carl Sagan.Ever since I was a kid, Carl Sagan has been the face of science for me. I would watch Cosmos and feel a sense of amazement that the universe was as wonderful as it was. He'd be there...
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Helluva book, comrades. The book which did more grunt work than any other to transform me from a soft headed, uncritical thinker, into a savage, evidence seeking, joy murdering empiricist. So I’m go...
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This is a marvelous book about the consequences of a population being scientifically illiterate. There are numerous consequences, all of them bad. Most notably, the growth of superstitious beliefs can...
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The Demon-Haunted World is the 4th Carl Sagan (1934-1996) book that I've read. There is no doubt this astronomer can write. Sagan with this book has shifted from his usual topic of astronomy and astro...
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Hey, so, guess what? People who read the Weekly World News are stupid, but scientists are awesome! Did you know that?I just put this book down, 175 pages in. It's not that I disagree with the thesis, ...
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Sagan has been a hero of mine since I saw Cosmos years and years ago. Now that was one of the truly great science documentaries and one that, on the subject of physics, has rarely been bettered.This i...
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This is a wonderful, important and scary book that has not aged much at all. I was made aware of its existence in a rather unconventional way: through a video game called The Witness. In The Witness, ...
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Full disclosure here, I did not finish this book; I made the decision to stop reading it after around 100 pages. I kept expecting the science to start at any page, but I got tired of reading accusatio...