The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
1996 • 457 pages
Ratings51
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings51
Average rating4.3
A prescient warning of a future we now inhabit, where fake news stories and Internet conspiracy theories play to a disaffected American populace
“A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought.”—Los Angeles Times
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
Sagan made an awesome good case for embracing scientific skepticism, while pointing out its short-comings when deciding moral values over scientific data that might be used to advance unethical practices. The only thing that bothered me, personally, was the overtly acceptance of religion as a complementary way of advancing our spirituality (whatever that means).
500 pages about how alien abductions aren't real. This should have been a Snopes page instead. This book hasn't aged well.
(before anyone comments: Snopes was created in 1994, 2 years before this book was written).
Apesar de ser um livro de mais de 25 anos, as inquietações de Sagan relacionadas ao obscurantismos, superstições e credulidade são mais relevantes do que nunca. Imagino que ciente das maravilhas comunicativas do mundo moderno, sobretudo a internet, esperar-se-ia maior alfabetismo científico e o fim de crenças despropositadas, contudo isso não se manifestou.
O livro exibe uma sucessão de evidências dos demônios que assolam o mundo, alguns mais assustadores do que outros, mas todos eles tão reais quanto o éter.
Essa é uma leitura imprescindível para um primeiro contato com o pensamento e método científico.
Very quotable and, in the final chapters, extremely apropos the current political situation in America.
