A review by corymojojojo
Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan

4.0

4.5. I very rarely (and even then, usually unsuccessfully) read non-fiction, so I surprised myself when I devoured this book or, frankly, even started it in the first place. I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised though because of how much I’ve come to admire Car Sagan and his work over the years. Not only did he have a spectacularly scientific and critical mind, but he was one of the best communicators of scientific thoughts and ideas across mediums, but especially through the written word. Broca’s Brain is a bit disjointed—being more of a survey of many different topics presented in relatively short articles, loosely organized, than a unified book—but Sagan’s writing is so engaging and enlightening that I appreciated the variety presented. Some chapters were undoubtedly more engaging than others, but Sagan’s thoughts on religion and the universe from a cosmological perspective I found to be especially profound. I’m sure more of the science-based chapters are somewhat out-of-date at this point (as is the way of science, one of the things that makes it special), but that doesn’t take away from the methods of critical thinking that Sagan unceasingly teaches in his philosophy of being an ever-growing and ever-open mind.