The Demon Haunted World

Science as a Candle in the Dark

de

459 pages

Langue : English

Publié 21 décembre 1997

ISBN :
978-0-345-40946-1
ISBN copié !
Goodreads:
17349

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(2 critiques)

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.

Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.

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a publié une critique de The Demon Haunted World par Carl Sagan

Haunted still

When I first read this book, maybe 20 years ago, I found it invigorating and inspiring, a defense of science and skepticism unlike anything I had read before. Reading it again now it seems a bit more unfocused than I remember, and I didn't really appreciate the long lists of comments he had received on various topics, some chapters being little more than that, and far more than necessary to get the point across. But mostly I just found it depressing, not for any fault in the text, but that it was a timely warning about the consequences of devaluing science and rationality in the mass media and public discourse, which as we can see all around us, was not heeded.

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