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janey's review against another edition
3.0
I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. While everything that Sagan writes is true,I found his examples to be of an earlier, more innocent time, when we were faced with people who believed in ghosts or alien abduction rather than people who have been tricked into believing in a worldwide conspiracy specifically aimed at harming them. He's probably right in the respect that more science in school would help (although I do think that our current danger primarily comprises people who were home schooled by parents who were not at all prepared for it), but I think his criticism of Star Trek was a bridge too far. It seems that he missed the part about distant planets being an allegory for Earth while he was too busy lecturing us on why Spock could not exist.
murraybymoonlight's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
space_troll's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
_sal_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.75
I think that Carl Sagan was at the frontline of teaching that science is a virtue, and should be unburdened by governments and religions.
This book exemplifies that and is pretty much the bread and butter of the whole thing. I think that after analyzing and debunking a lot of what the world decides to be skeptical about (UFOS, witches, Religious bigots) can be otherwise used to question everything around us.
I think that Sagan is right that for example when a child asks why the grass is green many of our elders chuck it off as a silly question, perhaps aware that they also don’t know the answer and therefore this inquiry leads to a suppressed view of the world as a whole. This child grows to be the same and never questions anything else in life.
Ultimately it leads to what many people are today. Willful ignorants when it comes to questioning authority (trump).
Overall I think that this book was an intriguing analysis into the future that Carl Sagan envisioned (present day) where many of his predictions and observations are true if not worse than they were when he wrote this book.
One of the examples that shocked me was that of smoking and how (despite my thoughts that less people smoke today than anytime before) like Carl Sagan predicted nearly 10 million people died recently of tobacco related illnesses. A fact that shocked me as I thought that more than any period in our history some people today were not idiotic enough to realize that tobacco still kills…
I think that Sagan can appeal to any reader whether Religious or not and i think it’s necessary for those on both sides to read this. I’ve always been impartial to religion, despising everything having to do with it but earlier discoveries and the affirmations of scientists like Sagan make me realize that there is a way to work together. Where kids in a religious household are taught how the world works instead of simply chucking it off to “gods plan”.
"Every question is a cry to understand the world"
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
"If we resolutely refuse to acknowledge where we are liable to fall into error, then we can confidently expect that error - even serious error, profound mistakes - will be our companion forever. But if we are capable of a little courageous self assessment, whatever rueful reflections they may engender, our chances improve enormously."
This book exemplifies that and is pretty much the bread and butter of the whole thing. I think that after analyzing and debunking a lot of what the world decides to be skeptical about (UFOS, witches, Religious bigots) can be otherwise used to question everything around us.
I think that Sagan is right that for example when a child asks why the grass is green many of our elders chuck it off as a silly question, perhaps aware that they also don’t know the answer and therefore this inquiry leads to a suppressed view of the world as a whole. This child grows to be the same and never questions anything else in life.
Ultimately it leads to what many people are today. Willful ignorants when it comes to questioning authority (trump).
Overall I think that this book was an intriguing analysis into the future that Carl Sagan envisioned (present day) where many of his predictions and observations are true if not worse than they were when he wrote this book.
One of the examples that shocked me was that of smoking and how (despite my thoughts that less people smoke today than anytime before) like Carl Sagan predicted nearly 10 million people died recently of tobacco related illnesses. A fact that shocked me as I thought that more than any period in our history some people today were not idiotic enough to realize that tobacco still kills…
I think that Sagan can appeal to any reader whether Religious or not and i think it’s necessary for those on both sides to read this. I’ve always been impartial to religion, despising everything having to do with it but earlier discoveries and the affirmations of scientists like Sagan make me realize that there is a way to work together. Where kids in a religious household are taught how the world works instead of simply chucking it off to “gods plan”.
"Every question is a cry to understand the world"
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
"If we resolutely refuse to acknowledge where we are liable to fall into error, then we can confidently expect that error - even serious error, profound mistakes - will be our companion forever. But if we are capable of a little courageous self assessment, whatever rueful reflections they may engender, our chances improve enormously."
"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time - when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness."
"Every age has its peculiar folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on either by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation. Failing in these, it has some madness, to which it is goaded by political or religious causes, or both combined."
"Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which every one in himself calleth religion."
--Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)
danludl's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
A must-read book, in my opinion. Very easy to read, very informative, written in a way that makes you eager for more. This is a book for everyone, but mostly for those who need to develop critical thinking.
jerushalynnx's review against another edition
5.0
Carl’s entreaty to us all to exercise critical thinking and scientific methods in our day to day. He analyzes many pseudo-scientific theories (crop circles/astrology/ghosts) against the backdrop of scientific method. This book is deeply eye-opening, especially about how pseudo-scientific thought-leaders manipulate the vulnerable populace creating dangerous situations, from the witch hunts (property theft and murder of women) of the 17th century to modern-day charlatans like Graham Hancock. After reading this book I didn’t mention astrology for a whole month! Alas, astrology is a hard one to kick but I truly enjoy Carl Sagan washing my brain for a while.
erinlcrane's review against another edition
2.0
Oof. I did not have a good time with this one. It's a collection of essays, all of which seem to have been previously published elsewhere. I'm not sure why this book doesn't indicate that it's actually a collection of Sagan's writings, all somewhat on a similar theme.
Fully half of this book (the front half) is about aliens and alien abductions. The second half provides a bit more variety, but is largely about how the US doesn't respect science enough or needs to protect the scientific method.
I think his main point is valid (science matters?), but wow, I did not need 400 pages on it. It felt so repetitive. The book reminds me a little of another book I read called Capitalism & Disability, which is also a collection of essays. *However* the editor of that book actually cut sections from different essays where the same point would have been repeated. I wish this collection had used a similar approach instead of choosing to be exhaustive.
Sagan is a big fan of the scientific method, and I am a fan as well, but I don't think he offers enough criticism of it. Especially after reading essay after essay of praise. There is one essay (I don't remember the name) that nods to the knowledge that other people come to without using the "scientific method" as such. For example, there are peoples in the past who have learned things about plants through trial and error that are passed down. But besides that, he doesn't ever acknowledge that the scientific method is still a human-created thing that is our best effort. It's not infallible, and the world of science is not without it's problems with biases. At one point he says how scientific fields used to exclude women, and he implies that it's no longer a problem... and this book is from the 90s. Also, oddly in the same book in which he praises the scientific method, he brings up a remarkable amount of anecdotes to defend his positions.
I'm not at all sure who the audience for this was. If you agree with him, it's boring because he's trying to convince you of things you already think rather than really adding any new insights (or so I felt). If you don't agree with him, I don't think you're picking this up, and I don't think his arguments will win you over.
Fully half of this book (the front half) is about aliens and alien abductions. The second half provides a bit more variety, but is largely about how the US doesn't respect science enough or needs to protect the scientific method.
I think his main point is valid (science matters?), but wow, I did not need 400 pages on it. It felt so repetitive. The book reminds me a little of another book I read called Capitalism & Disability, which is also a collection of essays. *However* the editor of that book actually cut sections from different essays where the same point would have been repeated. I wish this collection had used a similar approach instead of choosing to be exhaustive.
Sagan is a big fan of the scientific method, and I am a fan as well, but I don't think he offers enough criticism of it. Especially after reading essay after essay of praise. There is one essay (I don't remember the name) that nods to the knowledge that other people come to without using the "scientific method" as such. For example, there are peoples in the past who have learned things about plants through trial and error that are passed down. But besides that, he doesn't ever acknowledge that the scientific method is still a human-created thing that is our best effort. It's not infallible, and the world of science is not without it's problems with biases. At one point he says how scientific fields used to exclude women, and he implies that it's no longer a problem... and this book is from the 90s. Also, oddly in the same book in which he praises the scientific method, he brings up a remarkable amount of anecdotes to defend his positions.
I'm not at all sure who the audience for this was. If you agree with him, it's boring because he's trying to convince you of things you already think rather than really adding any new insights (or so I felt). If you don't agree with him, I don't think you're picking this up, and I don't think his arguments will win you over.