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

Paul: I read this book probably 20 years ago and I think about it all the time. In a world where at times it's hard to know what to believe, this is an invaluable tool.

United States on Mar 01, 2024

Sophia Diesel: Loved it. Sagan is such a sensible person. He cares so much about us, about the world and the lives on it. Lessons that are never enough in times in which empathy seems scarcer.

Brazil on Feb 14, 2024

L Garcia: Lo recomiendo para regalarlo a personas que viven en el realismo mágico, pensando que las cosas caen del cielo.

Mexico on Jan 05, 2024

misty: It took me a while to finish this but I'm glad I did. The author writes in an engaging style. It could be a fairly dry subject but he tries to keep it entertaining.

He starts off by talking about alien abduction stories - whether we should take them seriously, why people believe them, how we could get to the bottom of what's actually going on. He then moves on gradually to scientific illiteracy in the USA (scary) and briefly discusses the bad uses science has been put to, such as the atom bomb. However the main theme of the book is scepticism and how it is a useful tool to combat deluded beliefs.

United Kingdom on Nov 09, 2023

Sasha Lauren, Author: In a world of ungrounded thought, I feel comforted by Sagan's sagely, skeptical words. "Skepticism doesn't sell newspapers," he explains. He was heavily pro-science and upset about America's scientific illiteracy which fawns over fables and eschews facts. In this book, he takes no prisions from Atlantis and Lemuria, New Age pseudoscience, religious doctrinaire that attempts to validate themselves through prophecy, weeping paintings of the Madonna, Jesus' face on tortillas, fortune tellers (that btw target young women), psychics and channels including Ramtha, amulets, exorcisms, psychic surgery, witches, ghosts, flying saucers, astrology, reliance on prayer and miraculous healing, contradictory platitudes, and spiritual justifications for nearly any action.

"Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlantans," Sagan writes. "When we are self indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition."

Carl Sagan's question for a possible extraterrestrial was, "Please provide a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem."

"How is it, I ask myself, that...

United States on Aug 08, 2023

Shraddha ShirsatShraddha Shirsat: There are very few books that leave a lasting impression on a reader and this is one of them.
This book addresses critical questions about the universe, fallible tabloids, hallucination and so much more. The beauty of carl sagan's mind is that he has always been curious about the things which others feel are ignorant and refuse to research or make efforts to dig deeper. Critical thinking and Skepticism are the mosy essential tools and each every human being should use to live a life with provable facts and theories not the religious books ambiguity.

India on Aug 09, 2021

Dodo: Das Buch habe ich das erste Mal schon vor Jahren gelesen, damals war es für mich ein wahrer "Augenöffner". Sagan erklärt sachlich versiert, was tatsächlich dahinter steckt, wenn Menschen an Dinge glauben, die man freundlich als "paranormal" oder "übersinnlich" beschreiben oder auch einfach weniger euphemistisch Spinnereien nennen kann.
Meistens steht tatsächlich eine Art Selbstbetrug dahinter. Dieser kann ganz traurige Hintergründe haben, wenn ein Mensch z.B. nicht akzeptieren kann oder will, dass er/sie ein psychisches Problem hat, das leider gewisse Wahnvorstellungen hervorruft. Oder wenn man einen geliebten Menschen verloren hat, dessen Verlust so schmerzhaft ist, dass man jedem "Medium" gern Glauben schenkt, das einem vorgaukelt, mit den Toten Kontakt aufnehmen zu können (das gleiche gilt für eigene "Geistersichtungen", die eigentlich Illusionen sind, wie man sie durch verschiedene, rational vorhandene Phänomene wie z.B. Trance durch Autosuggestion in Phasen großer seelischer Anspannung haben kann. Ebenso kann man sich selbst leicht eine falsche Erinnerung einreden, indem man etwas wirklich Erlebtes in der eigenen "Erzählung" entsprechend ausschmückt.
Vor...

Germany on Jan 08, 2021

Daniel Bastian: "We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." (p. 26)

The omen above was put to print in 1995 and echoed throughout Carl Sagan's prolific career as both practitioner and communicator of science. Swathed in a world so joined at the hip to science and technology, Sagan saw denial and ignorance of science as the greatest risks to human well-being and continuity. Is the past here to stay?

In the US at least, conditions are none too sunny. Nearly 7 in 10 believe that angels and demons are active in the world. 61% and 48% believe in ghosts and UFOs of extraterrestrial origin, respectively. More than half doubt the scientific consensus on climate change, while one third of the public still waffles on evolution. And over half believe that God influences the outcome of sporting events. Dr. Sagan passed away just one year after the publication of...

United States on Mar 03, 2014