The Demon-Haunted World
Reviewed by: Henry E. Neufeld
Sagan, Carl The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York, Ballantine Books,
1997.
Purchase
this book from Amazon.com
Go to the Energion.com Detail Page
This book is an antidote for much of the loose thinking in the
world of today. Sagan carefully draws a line between real science
and pseudo-science, again and again pointing out the weaknesses
of common reasoning on subjects as diverse as crop circles, UFOs,
and recovered memories.
Sagan firmly and clearly supports serious critical study which
is as objective as possible in order to separate valid and
testable ideas from those we would just wish were so. He points
out clearly how easy it is to deceive ourselves. Some chapter
titles include: Aliens (4), The Fine Art
of Baloney Detection (12), When Scientists Know
Sin (16), and Science and Witchcraft
(24). I would especially recommend chapter 17, The
Marriage of Skepticism and Wonder as a fine read.
This is one of two books on thinking that I am recommending to
Energion Bookshelf readers on thinking right now. The other is How to Lie with Statistics.
Energion.com Author Page on Carl Sagan
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