Carl Sagan muses on the current state of scientific thought, which offers him marvellous opportunities to entertain us with his own childhood experiences, the newspaper morgues, UFO stories and the assorted flotsam and jetsam of pseudoscience. Along the way he debunks alien abduction, faith-healing and channelling, refutes the arguments that science destroys spirituality, and provides a "baloney detection kit" for thinking through political, social, religious and other issues.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
The Gospel According to St Carl. Carl Sagan, the great American space scientist and extraterrestrial investigator. An honest, down-to-earth chap who believed in the classic guiding principles of science - fairness, inclusion of all data no matter where it might lead you and open-mindedness. All good, lofty scientific ideals. And on reading the first few chapters, Sagan carefully constructs the image of scientist as impartial truth seeker and destroyer of charlatans. However, Sagan rapidly falls prey to the very traits he claims to... more info
Sharpen your critical reasoning skills It's hard enough to understand how Sagan could know as much about astronomy as he did, let alone the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. But that his range of knowledge was also as wide as this book demonstrates on pseudo-science and supernaturalisms is stunning, even more that he could write so well on all these topics. I wasn't aware just how evil the treatment of witches was: I'm glad Sagan spared at least some of the details. That chapter alone was worth the book for me. Nor was I aware to what... more info
It changed how I think! This book was given to me when I was 15 and it literally changed how I think! The book covers things like pseudoscience and how we should all consider things rather than accepting what we see/hear/read. It talks about modern situations where hundreds and thousands of people are drawn into a pseudoscience situation and how they simply accept what they are told. This book teaches you to look at a situation in a different way so that you can not fall into the same trap as others. I give this book 5/5... more info
A superb book for the questioning mind Do you like to question things? Well you should like this book. There are two keys aspects to this book:
1. A detailed analysis of unsubstantiated beliefs
2. An exploration of critical thinking 1.
Sagan describes all sorts of unusual beliefs such as demons and witches which were once held with absolute certitude by the masses. He details outrageous claims of alien abductions and all sorts of unusual apparitions. This is all sprinkled with all sorts of interesting facts and... more info
