The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

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The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan

4.34 · rating details · 6,947 ratings · 549 reviews

"A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought."

*Los Angeles Times

"POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing."

*The Washington Post Book World

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technolog...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published July 6th 2011 by Ballantine Books (first published 1995)

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Aug 14, 2011

Dan rated it

· review of another edition

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 remember when I bought this book, likely close to a decade ago, but I’m sure that I must have been awestruck to discover a book written by a man who has influenced my life and my interests to such a great extent.

One of the great memories of my early life was that of waiting to plop down i...moreI 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 remember when I bought this book, likely close to a decade ago, but I’m sure that I must have been awestruck to discover a book written by a man who has influenced my life and my interests to such a great extent.

One of the great memories of my early life was that of waiting to plop down in front of the TV set for a few Sunday nights in 1980, as our PBS station aired a thirteen part series called Cosmos. Accompanied at the TV by my mom and grandmother, Cosmos captured my imagination in ways that will last my whole life. It was a series not merely discussing outer space, but in fact, it addressed the history of humanity’s understanding of our place in the world, the universe, and in life. Why is the memory of a TV show so incredibly dear to me? I could say that the show opened my mind to concepts and philosophies and possibilities that I never imagined, and that’d be a fair and true statement. What really makes the series so pivotal in my life, though, is that I shared such a formative experience with my mom and my grandmother; two people to whom I owe my life, my intelligence, and, hopefully without too much hyperbole, my essential spirit. At the age of nine, it’s not very likely to imagine that I would have planted myself in front of a television tuned to PBS on a Sunday evening, but the patient guidance and love of my mom and grandmother gave me the gift of knowledge and wonder.

Needless to say, I’ve always been partial to the works of Dr. Carl Sagan. Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is the first work of Dr. Sagan’s that I’ve read as an adult and in the many years I’ve owned this book, I’ve read it at least five times. Why re-read a book so often? The answer is found in my reverence of the book’s message, it’s point, and it’s passion. Not only have I read it often, but I have made an irregularly observed tradition to start each new year with a fresh reading. At least three times, I’ve picked the book up within hours of watching the ball drop in Times Square, heralding in the new year.

Many who know me, already know this is my favorite book, but I’m deeply challenged when I’m asked what the book is about, and several paragraphs into my review, I’m probably overdue in attempting to answer this exact question. In this book, Dr. Carl Sagan tackles one of the key problems facing our time, as well as repeated throughout the history of our civilization, and that is the propensity for humanity to delve into our darkest superstitions and most bleak behaviors when our knowledge or ego is challenged. It seems that throughout the history of our species, we’ve turned our backs on critical thought and skepticism at times when those with claims to power and zealotry and wealth have found it advantageous and profitable to subvert the masses.

Why discuss witch burnings and crop circles and claims of government coverups of alien abductions from 50 years ago? The answer lies in the here and now. At a time when every facet of our daily lives revolves around technology; when each and every human being lives under the threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons; when communications are global but subject to being monitored in violation of the founding documents of our nation (granted this is a problem that would occur years after Sagan’s death, yet it’s exactly the type of behavior Sagan speaks of), we find that critical thought wanes in the population of our own nation, not to mention that of the entire world. Credulity and old habits creep into our consciousness. Our world, our freedoms, and our lives come under attack.

Go to the movies and watch ghosts haunt a house or watch the undead torment campers in the woods. Turn on the TV, and you’re likely to find tales of alien spacecraft being hidden by the government. You’re equally likely to channel surf past a shopping network selling new age crystals. But where on broadcast television are you likely to find a substantive debate on issues of education or technology? Where do you see education programming talking about the technology that engulfs our very lives? As Sagan points out, imagine the irony that kids can watch a cartoon about a prehistoric family with a dinosaur for a pet (I actually protest... I enjoyed the Flintstones!), but may never have the opportunity to watch a show about the invention or technology of television, itself!

At what cost to our freedoms, will we accept great claims without great proof? What decisions do we as a world culture need to make to grow and prosper and what can we learn from our history, replete with credulity and domination and fear mongering?

Should we shrink from the challenges of education and critical thinking, what price will we pay? Will it be our personal or national economic stability? Will we see our freedoms curtailed (as if we haven’t witnessed that already)? Or will we pay with the extinction of our species?

 The thesis as I understand it, of this book is that we, as a culture and society, may be repeating a common mistake of our history: accepting a diminution of our critical thinking skills at our own distinct. Because of the threats we face though, this time we stand at these crossroads at possibly the least opportune of times. Throughout history, those in power or those who seek it, have abused our fears and used them to control the masses to their own advantage or profit. This book begs to serve as a wake up call to anyone willing to accept the challenge not only to read it, but to deeply ponder each of its points and positions. It offers the methods of critical thought as the grand lighthouse by which we can safely steer our course through the treacherous times and malevolent forces we face. Dr. Sagan, true to the book’s title, offers the methods of science as a candle in the darkness in men’s souls.

This book occupies a special place in my life, as I’ve stated. I believe that this is a book of such enormous importance, that it should be required reading in every senior level high school class in the country. It may not be comfortable reading, and Dr. Sagan wrote on an astronomically high reading level (forgive the pun, as Dr. Sagan was of course a world renown astronomer) that it may take weeks or months to fully drink in the material, but the discussion that Dr. Sagan presented are vital. The arguments he presents are vital to our intellect, our freedom, and to our humanity.

For making me think and contemplate, reading after reading, this book scores five stars.(less)

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Sep 19, 2008

Chris rated it

Shelves: science, society

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 in his turtleneck and his blazer, smiling as though he'd just heard the coolest secret and he wanted to share it with you. And he did, except that it wasn't his secret. Hell, it wasn't a secret at all - it was the combined results of thousands of years of thoughts, deductions, mista...more

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Dec 08, 2007

Trevor rated it

Shelves: philosophy, psychology, science, religion, social-theory

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 is a supurb book. Many people say things like, "I've no idea how people without a belief in the supernatural can bare to live in this world". Well, Sagan gives a powerful answer here.

Sagan understood the infinite joy that comes from understanding something about the...more

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Jan 13, 2009

Lightreads rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

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, because I actually don't at all. Sagan uses the widespread belief in alien abductions to talk about the need for more critical thinking in this world. And I'm totally there -- yes, for the love of God, teach people to distinguish between fact and what they want to be fact. But Sagan goes...more

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Jan 08, 2009

David rated it

Recommends it for: The choir that he is already preaching to

Full disclosure here, I did not finish this book; I made the decision to stop reading it about 100 pages in. I expected this book to be something different than what it turned out to be--at least as far as I got into it. I was expecting alternate scientific explorations of many supernatural and superstitious beliefs but got condescending ranting instead. Basically, the beginning of the book is full of finger-pointing at the Weekly World News and Beavis and Butt-Head as sources of ignorance and m

...more

The last time I bought into a WWN article on Sasquatch and his wife (she's human too I might add) or Aliens visiting the White House I was maybe 11 (although I did buy their Saddam and Bin Laden wedding spectacular issue probably 5 years ago) and I turned out a-ok. If an adult thinks that the paper is real well then I highly doubt that it was WWN's fault that they didn't attend Harvard, master particle physics and come up with a grand unification theory. They were probably doomed from the start. If he had harped on the Discovery Channel--a supposed knowledge and science repository--for their UFO coverage well then I think he'd have a point.

And as for Beavis and Butt-Head, sure it is stupid humor, but just because it does not make Sagan laugh and viewings of it have not inspired Pulitzer Prize winning novels does not mean that it sucks the intelligence out of one's head (Mike Judge's subsequent works have been quite clever. Sagan would have probably viewed Idiocracy as a shrewd criticism of modern society and where it is headed). But Sagan admits that he has never even watched the show. Nay, he proudly states this and yet has the audacity to judge it and justify his statements without even showing any studies showing lab studies of children who watch Beavis and Butt-Head having shown direct and long-term brain damage--then he might have had a case. Maybe, just maybe if Carl had sat down watched the show while high (and he was a well known pot head, something I saw absent from criticism) he might have even laughed at the show. I can only imagine the horror of the revoking of all of his scientific achievements for having laughed at something juvenile.

But alas, if Carl had wrote this book with a cool head and said "hey here are some alternate explanations for this phenomenon" from the beginning maybe I would have read further into it.

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Apr 19, 2008

Tyler rated it

Recommends it for: _People who want to think straight

Recommended to Tyler by: _A book review

Shelves: non-fiction

Sagan shows why learning to think in a contingent universe is ... well ... absolutely necessary. My reaction first reading the book was, "I've known for a long time that something's wrong. Now I know what." The discussions the author engages in in the book are eye-openers.

I cannot recommend this book to those who are highly sensitive about their credos, but on other hand, I don't think more open-minded religious people will at all see this as the scathing attack many opi...more

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Feb 21, 2008

Arthur rated it

Shelves: science

I wish I could give 6 stars to this book (but I guess that just indicates that I give 5 stars too easily). Carl Sagan covers a lot of ground in this book. One of his most important themes is that the scientific method is the best tool we have for separating fact from fantasy. He laments that a general lack of skepticism leads many people to believe in superstitions that can be easily explained. He devotes several chapters to the widespread belief in UFOs and a government conspiracy to hide the "...moreI wish I could give 6 stars to this book (but I guess that just indicates that I give 5 stars too easily). Carl Sagan covers a lot of ground in this book. One of his most important themes is that the scientific method is the best tool we have for separating fact from fantasy. He laments that a general lack of skepticism leads many people to believe in superstitions that can be easily explained. He devotes several chapters to the widespread belief in UFOs and a government conspiracy to hide the "truth" that we are being visited by aliens in flying saucers. He explains the history of the crop circle hoax that began in the United Kingdom and was quickly copied by hoaxers in other parts of the world. He explains how Europeans in the middle ages frequently believed they were visited by demons (a succubus coming to seduce a man and an incubus coming to seduce a woman). Nowadays, however, the demons don't visit us anymore. Instead we are visited by aliens. He explains how both of these common beliefs can be explained in terms of complex psychological factors. He also talks about how memories can be altered, and how unreliable eyewitness accounts can be, in particular if they seek therapy with hypnotherapists who help them remember the alien abduction.

Sagan devotes an excellent chapter in the middle of his book to the basic toolkit that one should use to analyze an argument for intellectual integrity, describing the most common fallacies that can sidestep the basic requirements of argument and cause an argument to seem much more convincing than it actually is.

He discusses the modern trend to distrust science, and he discusses some of its causes. For example, he talks about how many people today view scientists as "nerds" and don't see why governments should support "curiosity-based research", thinking that they should focus on specific technological research rather than purely scientific matters. To argue against this idea, he discusses how a specific discovery by a physicist named Maxwell (the idea of electromagnetic radiation, i.e. light, and a few related ideas) allowed later scientists to discover radio waves, one of the single most important discoveries in history. But Maxwell had no idea where his discovery would lead. Rather, he was pursuing a purely scientific question.

In addition to the UFO myth, he discusses the televangelist faith healers and other people who take advantage of a general lack of skepticism for their own gain.

One of the parts of the book I appreciated most was Sagan's conclusion that since today's technology has so much potential for either disastrous or wonderful consequences, it is necessary for scientists today to have much higher ethical standards than ever before. He talks about some scientists who have been influential activists for social change, and other scientists who have been ruthlessly unethical, in particular the scientist whose pet project was the invention of the hydrogen bomb, which Sagan calls the single most odious invention in the history of the world.

I highly recommend this book, especially to people who think that science is overrated or want to get a glimpse into the mind of a scientist.(less)

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Jan 23, 2008

John rated it

Recommends it for: Terry

My first Sagan book was Cosmos, which led me to this one. While Cosmos was good, this was great. It really opened my eyes to how important science is, and the underlying principles of science, and simultaneously how organized religion is virtually 100% philosophically opposed to science.

Religion: Don't think, don't reason, don't use logic. We'll (religious leaders) tell you what to think, what our god(s) wants you to think/do. Our holy book written centuries ago by primitiv...more

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deleted user Carl Sagan represented the candle of light in a world covered by pseudo-science, superstition, and intolerance, which in essence is the same. He adopt...moreCarl Sagan represented the candle of light in a world covered by pseudo-science, superstition, and intolerance, which in essence is the same. He adopted the universe like his hometown, He was fascinated by the variety of cultures, civilizations, languages, and lifestyles. He was in love about history, Anthropology, Biology, and Physics. Science was not longer a tool of few privileged intellectual people. He popularized Science, making it easy, dynamic, and more democratic. Science is the spiritualization of the Universe, it’s the soul in itself.
We are made by the cosmos, we are created by universe’s stuff. Sagan encouraged until the last day his love for the scientific method, and to think in a critical way. He might be giving a lecture about the Greek civilization or explaining the wonders of the roman civilization, and the same time he might be fascinated about biology and physics. He showed a deep fascination about the classical civilization and it’s achievement. The glory of the classical civilization, in Sagan’s words was the library of Alexandria, and his heart was it’s collection of books. We can see his sadness about the destruction of the library of Alexandria, produced with the rise of superstition and intolerance. We can notice his deep fascination about genius like: Aristarchus of Samos, Eratosthenes, or Hypathia, the last woman whose intelligence was the glory and the light of wisdom and knowledge of the classical civilization, her martyrdom along with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria represented a terrible tragedy for the humankind with terrible consequences. The destruction of the library of Alexandria was end of a culture of reason, tolerance and science, and the rising of the superstition which it will last near 1000 years. People stopped to think with critical thinking for adopting any kind of fallacies as way of thought. People stopped to think in a critical and skeptical way, with hypothesis and analysis, as a valuable tools for creating science, and objective knowledge. Sagan used to say if we would have avoided the destruction of the classical civilization, today, we might have been visiting another galaxies… it sounds prophetic, but there’s a sadness in his words.

“The Demon-Haunted World” is one of the most moving and passionate books ever written in the last century. Dictatorships, and authoritarian regimes dislike any kind of critical thinking, recognized as dangerous. Science is a precious instrument of knowledge. Mistrust the argument of any pseudo-science, verify your information, bring hypothesis, any theory or new knowledge must be verified, analyzed with the light of the science. The scientific knowledge constantly interrogate and ask questions to nature, and to our reality. There’s a long process of verification of information, before of adopting any kind of “truth”, that’s the reason because pseudo-science is so dangerous. We’ve seen through human history that human are fallible, and make serious mistakes, bringing tragedy, and death.
Finally, I recommend the reading of this book, it’s an intelligent work, with elegant writing and honesty
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Jun 17, 2008 02:28pm

Jul 01, 2008

Krishan rated it

Recommends it for: Skeptics, believers

Magnificent. Carl Sagan takes us on a mind-expanding tour of the landscape of scientific knowledge and the oceans of human ignorance. This deeply skeptical look at our ideas is more than expose of superstition, but an exercise in constructive criticism.
Sagan shows us that science and reason are our greatest tools for understanding and moral judgment.

An excellent companion to the recent 'new atheism' books by Harris, Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennet etc...

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Aug 13, 2009

Brooke rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2009

For a while now, I've been saying that I need to start reading some non-fiction. For all the time I spend reading, some of that time should be spent learning about things that are new to me. But then I'd groan and say that I'm not yet far enough removed from being a student to be able to do that for fun.

A GoodReads friend recommended this one during a discussion of sleep paralysis and aliens, and I decided that I should approach this like ripping off a band-aid - I grabbed it off the...more

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Sep 06, 2007

Lou rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: religion

If you think you're open minded, you are not, until you've read this book. Give it a try. I dare you.

--Wag--

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Feb 17, 2008

Erin rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 14, 2008

melydia rated it

· review of another edition

Have you ever read something that filled you with such furvor that you wanted to write your own thoughts along those same lines, but whenever you tried you found you did nothing but repeat the original article?

That's been me all over the place with The Demon-Haunted World. I want to ramble about the wonder of science, the importance of skepticism, the fact that school all but completely robbed me of any desire to learn, the dangers of pseudoscience, the intrinsic value of basic resea...more

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Mar 04, 2008

Mark rated it

Sagan's book is a predecessor to Sam Harris' "The End of Faith". However, I feel that Sagan is a much more literary writer. This book is a nice-drive-down-a-country-road read while Harris' book is more of a get-on-down-the-road read. I really enjoyed this book because it was so comfortable.
Many of the points and arguments in this book are not new, in fact few of them are, but Sagan's style and interesting approach (the world is demon-haunted?!)to the points refresh them and as...more

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Jul 08, 2007

Sean rated it

Recommends it for: Sketpics

Carl Sagan's polemic against pseudoscience and apologia for scientific skepticism and post-Enlightenment values. Much of the book is devoted to a fascinating description of the intimate similarities among UFO abductions, recovered memories, fairy myths, and the European witch hunts. Along the way he touches on on a range of other fringe ideas, including crop circles, Roswell, faith healing, and ESP.

While the debunkings are literate and interesting, I couldn't help feeling the boo...more

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Nov 23, 2008

Chris rated it

Fantastically well-written. Sagan has the gift of explanations that illuminate in terms perfectly appropriate for his audience. I believe this is because he has never lost the childish sense of wonder over science. Any work he does, he is convinced it is fantastically interesting, not just good science.

In this brief book, Sagan explains several aspects of how science influences everyday life, calling us all to become more involved... including a call to his fellow scientists to get ...more

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Feb 17, 2008

Graham rated it

Shelves: non-computer-books

This book revealed to me the main reason why I find religion to be unbelievable: religion is not falsifiable. Granted lacking falsifiability does not logically make it false, however for me it puts it in the realm of Descarte's powerful deceiver, i.e. mental masturbation. Everything else in life is falsifiable, including the oft-referenced love and complex relationships with other humans. They ascribe to the senses, there is feedback. Religious apologetics are constructed to be untestable an...more

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Sep 29, 2011

Mark rated it

Every human should read this book.

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Jan 02, 2012

Urban Crow rated it

Shelves: science, non-fiction, skepticism

this book sets out to debunk a lot of the crop-circle, ufo, faith-healer mythology that is out there in the world, and i picked it up for precisely this reason. it’s not that i don’t want to believe on some level, but i also am interested in all explanations for phenomena, particularly about some things. sagan spends most of his time in this book examining ufo claims, but also ventures into other subjects, and ends the book by criticizing the lack for solid education (and specifically science ed...more

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Mar 17, 2009

Darrell rated it

Shelves: reviewed

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is the perfect book to start with for anyone interested in skepticism. He explains the difference between science and psuedoscience and why science is a good thing. While some may point out that science brings unprecedented destruction in the form of ever more powerful weapons, Sagan reminds us that “advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.” (11)

He brings up an interesting c...moreThe Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is the perfect book to start with for anyone interested in skepticism. He explains the difference between science and psuedoscience and why science is a good thing. While some may point out that science brings unprecedented destruction in the form of ever more powerful weapons, Sagan reminds us that “advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history.” (11)

He brings up an interesting concept I’ve never heard of before called psuedo-religion. I never thought there could be a difference between religion and psuedo-religion, since the concept of religion is often so vague. However, there is as much reason for religion to be skeptical of extremism perpetrated in its name as there is for science to be skeptical of psuedoscience.

People shouldn’t just blindly believe what scientists tell them anymore than they should believe what psuedoscientists tell them. Sagan tells us “The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.” (22) It is more important to teach children to use the scientific method of experimentation, observation, and providing evidence, than it is to simply make them memorize facts. Knowing how to think critically and question everything helps them more in their day to day life than a list of facts.

Unlike psuedoscience and psuedo-relgion, science encourages debate and opposing opinions. ”Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy.” (38) Like democracy, science requires an educated populace to work best. When science gets something wrong, the “question everything” attitude of science helps correct it.

Sagan spends the first half of the book explaining why aliens aren’t coming to Earth. He points out that there are many more reasonable alternate explanations for strange lights in the sky and abduction reports. In a chapter on hallucinations, he says, “Another analogy might be that dreams, like the stars, are shining all the time. Though the stars are not often seen by day, since the sun shines too brightly, if, during the day, there is an eclipse [...:], then the stars, like dreams, though often forgotten, may always be seen.” (106)

The second half of the book deals with science and skepticism in general. Skeptics will want to dog ear page 212, where Carl Sagan lists some common logical fallacies. Knowing the fallacies that many people fall prey to will help a good skeptic sniff out flaws in their arguments. To use Carl Sagan’s example, if someone claims that We must institute the death penalty to discourage violent crime, they are committing the logical fallacy of begging the question, also called assuming the answer. We can’t just assume the death penalty will lower crime rates without evidence to back up the claim.

Another common fallacy is observational selection. This is when you only remember the times your idea was right and ignore the times it wasn’t. For example, emergency room nurses claim it is busier during a full moon because they don’t count the times it’s busy when there isn’t a full moon or the times there is a full moon and it isn’t busy.

“A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places and cultures. It has been the means for our survival.” (317) Knowing which plants are poisonous and knowing the migration patterns of animals helped our hunter-gatherer ancestors survive. Without this knowledge, gained through careful observation, and proved true time and time again, humans wouldn’t have survived.

Everyone has some knowledge of how the world works, we are all scientists in some ways. If the television doesn’t turn on, we form a hypothesis about why this is so. Perhaps the batteries in the remote are dead. We test the hypothesis by putting in fresh batteries and trying again. It’s absurd for anyone to be anti-science when each of us instinctively uses science in our own lives everyday. Science isn’t just one of several different explanations for how the world works, it’s the only explanation backed up with evidence.(less)

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Dec 22, 2011

Al rated it

When I was sixteen or seventeen, two events occurred in my life that opened up my mind to an entirely different way of thinking. The first; I was exposed to the ideas of evolution for the first time. These ideas have enriched my life and my understanding of the scientific process beyond belief (no cheesy pun intended). The second; I became friends with a beautiful young woman. It wasn't the beauty of this young woman that changed my life, it was a number of conversations that I was fortunate eno...more

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Sep 19, 2011

Христо Блажев rated it

Светът е населен с демоните на псевдонауките според Карл Сейгън: http://www.knigolandia.info/2009/11/blog...

“Науката е нещо повече от натрупани знания. Тя е начин на мислене… Научният начин на мислене е едновременно творчески и дисциплиниран… Науката ни подканя да изложим фактите, дори и те да не отговарят на собствените ни превзети разбирания… Науката изгради цивилизацията, а псевдонауката ще го разруши.”

Това са малки откъси от прекрасната книга “Свят, населен с де...more

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Apr 11, 2011

Patrick Gibson rated it

Shelves: truth_sort-of

I have been on a Sagan jag these past few days re-reading some of my favorites.

This is one of his best.

Brace yourself for an engrossing discussion on the subject of science in relation to our modern world.

Go back in history to the beginning of time and trace the development of scientific, and not so scientific, thought leading up to the present day. Delve into the relationships between science, religion, magic, alien life forms, and many more fascinating int...more

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Mar 23, 2011

Mitch Stricker rated it

Shelves: nonfiction

I was very disappointed in this book. I serously don't understand why people consistantly rated this book so highly. I'm really out of synch on this one...and here's why:

Carl obviously had an ongoing religious relationship with science and boy, is he ever tiresome about it. What a reckless evangelist! He condemns everything that does not stand up to science's demonstrable standards (whether such application is appropriate or not) and then....he violates the same standards time an...more

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Sep 13, 2010

Shaun rated it

I was on a Sagan bender after reading Cosmos for the 3rd time and loving it. I started Contact but didn't finish it. This book left me similar sort of feeling. It is an excellent dissertation and defense of the scientific method. It presents science as a tool, that while imperfect is always improving in its discovery of the truth. Compared to other routes to knowledge, mainly philosophy and religion, it offers empirical data and refuses arguments from authority, which gives it a leg up over ...moreI was on a Sagan bender after reading Cosmos for the 3rd time and loving it. I started Contact but didn't finish it. This book left me similar sort of feeling. It is an excellent dissertation and defense of the scientific method. It presents science as a tool, that while imperfect is always improving in its discovery of the truth. Compared to other routes to knowledge, mainly philosophy and religion, it offers empirical data and refuses arguments from authority, which gives it a leg up over many other routes towards the truth. Science lets the imagination soar, and is fueled by bold new ideas, but these ideas are then subsequently researched. It also gives the smack down pretty heavily to many so called miracles and con artists over the ages, from religious people to UFO hoax folk. If you’re not a big believer in science, this is an important book to read. If you put too much faith in the human mind, and do not properly understand the complexity of delusions and hallucinations, you should read this book. If you are interested in myths that a psychologist and patient can create together, you should read this book. If you already think science kicks ass, and you understand its basic structure (propose theory, collect data, invite others to critique your argument, evolve) you don’t really need to read this book.

Quotes
All science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike – and yet it is the most precious thing we have. – Einstein
Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which every one in himself calleth religion. – Thomas Hobbes
When you’re in love, you want to tell the world. This book is a personal statement, reflecting my lifelong love affair with science. 25
Science is more than a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking. ..it is far from a perfect instrument of knowledge. It’s just the best we have. In this respect, as in many others, it’s like democracy. 27
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light-years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. 29
The whole idea of a democratic application of skepticism is that everyone should have the essential tools to effectively and constructively evaluate claims to knowledge. 76
Talking about the period when “witches” were rounded up and killed by the thousands in the late 1400s “Legions of women were burnt to death. And the most horrendous tortures were routinely applied to every defendant, young or old, after the instruments of torture were first blessed by the priests. Innocent himself died in 1942, following unsuccessful attempts to keep him alive by transfusion (which resulted in the death of three boys) and by suckling at the breast of a nursing mother. He was mourned by his mistress and their children. 120
Keeping an open mind is a virtue – but, as the space engineer James Oberg once said, not so open that your brains fall out. Of course we must be willing to change our minds when warranted by new evidence. But the evidence must be strong. 187
The odds of a miraculous cure at Lourdes, then, are about one in a million you are roughly as likely to recover after visiting Lourdes as you are to win the lottery, or die in the crash of a regularly scheduled airplane flight – including the one you take to Lourdes. 233
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Apr 02, 2010

Steven E rated it

While TDHW remains an eloquent exhortation to embrace skeptical thinking, the 17 years since its original publication has imbued it with a slightly melancholic air.

Sagan emphatically (though never overbearingly) argues for science as a sort of cultural panacea, but I fear these are lessons few will take to heart--you only have to look at the nutballery associated with the global warming deniers and evolutionists in Kansas to see just where on the cultural hierarchy science still sta...more

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Dec 24, 2009

Daniel Solera rated it

Shelves: science

Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World is more than just a passionate pro-science polemic with a clunky title. It is a treatise on the proper acquisition, use, distribution and revision of knowledge. This authoritative attitude permeates the twenty-five chapters of his book, which focus on the nature of scientific inquiry, the identification and impact of pseudosciences and how they affect society.

Put plainly, Sagan’s book is kryptonite for anyone who devoutly believes or wants to be...moreCarl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World is more than just a passionate pro-science polemic with a clunky title. It is a treatise on the proper acquisition, use, distribution and revision of knowledge. This authoritative attitude permeates the twenty-five chapters of his book, which focus on the nature of scientific inquiry, the identification and impact of pseudosciences and how they affect society.

Put plainly, Sagan’s book is kryptonite for anyone who devoutly believes or wants to believe in the legitimacy of UFO sightings and abductions, cryptozoology, astrology, faith healing and whatever new age fad du jour may be popular at the time. Wielding the swift sword of the scientific method, Sagan cuts down myths and pseudosciences, leaving only faulty information, dubious anecdotes and scientific explanations for the original fraud. For example, he notes that the abduction phenomenon isn’t new, but rather an extension of demon possession from earlier centuries. Citing Thomas Bullard, he notes that “science [has:] evicted ghosts and witches from our beliefs, but it just as quickly filled the vacancy with aliens having the same functions” (130).

The themes that receive Sagan’s intense scrutiny range from psychotherapy, the inaccuracy of repressed memories, the dangers of religious doctrines, the decline of scientific curiosity in the United States, healing through prayer, mediums that can communicate with ghosts, magicians – it basically feels like reading an extended episode of Penn and Teller’s “Bullshit” without the profanity. Instead, we get wonderful sentences like “If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us” (241).

To avoid sounding dry or dull, Sagan debunks the idea that science and spirituality are mutually exclusive. He notes that the miraculous daily occurrences that nature offers us, coupled with the remarkable subtlety with which the universe is governed is more than enough to cause a spiritual epiphany in a scientist. In doing so, he not only continues to revere the discipline, but attempts to desterilize it. The book, however, is about thirteen years old and though the themes are relatively timeless, it feels outdated, especially given the exponential advancement of science (a fine example is how nanotechnology was written as two words and in quotation marks).

The pacing was also a bit curious. Each chapter almost stands alone as its own dissertation, but all of them together don’t seem to have a tangible flow. Secondly, Sagan is at his best when he is dealing with a specific subject. There are entire chapters, however, on the very notion of knowledge, which is as general as one can get when writing about anything. In these cases, the writing slows down considerably and takes a few chapters to speed back up. (less)

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Nov 08, 2009

Nicholas rated it

It's hard to write about this book, because it contains so much. Part scepticism, part politics, and part popular science, Sagan (and, in some chapters, his wife Ann Druyan) moves nimbly from the dubious claims of psychics and fortune tellers in one chapter, to James "The Amazing" Randi's hilarious exposé of the credulity of news networks and the public at large, to the sheer beauty of the natural world.

Sagan is considerate of everybody's views to an extent that seemed firs...more

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Oct 29, 2009

Kurt rated it

Recommends it for: EVERYONE

Shelves: non-fiction, science, history

I really miss Carl Sagan. He was such an interesting and eloquent spokesman for the importance of science and education in our country and in the world. We desperately need another Carl Sagan (or better yet, 100 of him) today as science is being attacked by persuasive ideologues who prefer comfortable delusions over inconvenient truths.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is this: "Part of the duty of citizenship is not to be intimidated into conformity."

The Demon Haunted World ...more

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Jul 10, 2011

Jorge rated it

Shelves: science

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
"The Demon-Haunted World" is a fabulous book that praises science, its methodology and why it's so important to embrace it and understand it for the sake of democracy. Dr. Sagan illustrates the power of critical thinking through science to debunk superstitions and pseudoscience. This enlightening 480-page book is composed of the following twenty-five chapters: 1. The Most Precious Thing, 2. Science and Hope, ...more

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About Carl Sagan

An American Astronomer, author, and renowned promoter of sciences, Carl Edward Sagan was the co-writer and presenter of the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, seen by more than 500 million people in over 60 countries.

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“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” — 97 people liked it

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