About this title: Scientist Dr Carl Sagan argues that modern tales of the paranormal, such as alien abduction stories, are in fact simply a modern version of fairy tales and only exist in the mind, and asserts that these accounts come from a potentially hazardous lack of scientific thought and knowledge, a situation which he feels should be remedied.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. trade pb, 14b4, minor shelf/edge wear, name inside cover. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 480 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1997-02-25
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Good. Spine tight and intact with bumping top and bottom. Covers with moderate shelf wear, slight overall bend, and corner creases. Pages intact with smudging along outside edges. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1997-02-25
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Good. Corner curls and edge bends on covers, light blue smudges on page edgesClean pages with general wear from reading and storage. Cover may have slight curl or bend from reading. Some books have a bookstore stamp inside cover. Quick response! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1997-02-25
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Good. Paperback. General paperback wear, bends in spine, possible bends from reading on the cover, and may have a bookstore stamp inside cover. Quick response! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Lightly used, minor shelf wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 480 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780747277453ISBN:0747277451
Description: Good. Our aim is to create value for our customers through the provision of low cost, affordable products and an overall satisfying buying experience. read more
Edition: Reprint.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780345409461ISBN:0345409469
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 480 p. Audience: General/trade. Excellent copy. Clean and unmarked. Corners sharp. Only subtle signs of wear. read more
Description: Good. Used-Good. May contain highlighting/underlining/notes/etc. May have used stickers on cover. Ships same or next day. Expedited shipping takes 2-3 business days; standard shipping takes 4-14 business days. read more
"One of the very few books I would like everyone to read. It's not perfect, but it is very, very good, and about very important things.
Sagan gives great concrete examples of people going intellectually awry, and offers a prescription for accurately understanding the world, along with ample motivation to do so. One thing I've noticed is that people will read this book and not understand how it applies to them. "I don't believe in alien spacecraft or witches, so what does this have to do with me?" This is generally a failure of the readers, however, rather than the book. It's pretty clear on how the prescription for clear thinking applies to everyone (some more than others, of course), in such diverse areas as "alternative" medicine, religion, the supernatural, superstitions, etc. Sagan could have discussed things only in very general terms, but the specific examples are what makes the book so compelling, so interesting, and so widely read.
This is my third time reading the book (the first time years ago in high school), and I'm still noticing new things in it."
"I read this book, believe it or not, because it was recommended on the atheist subreddit. I was simultaneously emboldened and depressed by it.
Sagan discussed two main thesis in this book, that skepticism and science are integral to an informed electorate and a competitive, modern nation, and that much of the superstitions, paranormal activity and even religion are outside the realm of modern post-enlightenment thought and should be treated as such. He also took umbrage with the culture of proud stupidity that seems to permeate our country that even our elected officials can't escape. He wanted very much for us to embrace science literacy and recapture that post-enlightenment curiosity that inspired our founding fathers to ask questions not only of our fledgling government but also of nature.
I was really impressed with the way that he discussed religion and people of faith; as I explore atheism I'm often appalled at how quickly people devolve to religion-bashing or criticizing their Christian brothers and sisters as intellectual inferiors. Sagan was very good at offering a convincing yet respectful debate.
Based on his advocacy for science in our public system, this should be required reading for every American. Unfortunately, because of it's size, (457 pags) he undoubtedly turned off the very people who should read it.
My two favorite quotes:
"The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas."
"Books, purchasable at low cost, permit us to interrogate the past with high accuracy; to tap the wisdom of our species; to understand the point of view of others, and not just those in power; to contemplate--with the best teachers--the insights, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history. They allow people long dead to talk inside our heads. Books can accompany us everywhere. Books are patient where we are slow to understand, allow us to go over the hard parts as many times as we wish, and are never critical of our lapses. Books are key to understanding the world and participating in a democratic society.""
"For a while now, I've been saying that I need to start reading some non-fiction. For all the time I spend reading, some of that time should be spent learning about things that are new to me. But then I'd groan and say that I'm not yet far enough removed from being a student to be able to do that for fun.
A GoodReads friend recommended this one during a discussion of sleep paralysis and aliens, and I decided that I should approach this like ripping off a band-aid - I grabbed it off the library shelf and started reading it before my brain could realize what I was doing to it.
Luckily, Carl Sagan is wonderfully readable, and his excitement about science shines through every page. I love his balance of skepticism and wonder and his high regard for his field of study. He had me getting a bit sad when he discussed how American schools (mis)handle teaching math and science, and he made a comment that especially struck me: in history, in English, students are constantly exposed to the voices of the masters of the fields. But we're never given anything written by the people who love math and science. We learn numbers and formulas, but we don't learn to love them from the people who discovered those numbers and formulas. This rang especially true for me.
My only complaint is that the first 3/4 of the book is structured so that each chapter transitions into the next one quite smoothly, but the last quarter of the book jumps around a lot and doesn't seem to have as much focus as the first three quarters."
"Carl Sagan's death was a great loss, not only to the world of science, but to society as a whole. His popular science books were accessible to the intelligent but untrained mind, yet they did not lack in intellectual rigor. This book discusses the importance of approaching matters of science and pseudo-science with that same intellectual rigor.
Sagan addresses here a number of commonly-held, but false, beliefs -- alien abduction stories, crop circles, faith-healing, and the like -- and shows where these fall down in the face of examination. It really is surprising how many people continue to believe in such things, even when fraud is admitted! You can analyze such stories yourself. You don't need Sagan to do it for you, but, in one very valuable section, he provides the tools you'll need, what you need to do, to look for, to develop the ability to think skeptically. They bear repeating, so I will summarize:
1. There should be independent confirmation of the "facts".
2. Substantive debate by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view should be encouraged.
3. Spin more than one hypothesis, and test them.
4. Don't get too enamored of your hypothesis.
5. If what you are explaining as some measure or numerical quality, it's easier to discriminate among competing hypotheses.
6. Every link in the chain of argument, including the premise, must work. If you are going from A to G, and there's a hole between B and C, you can't get there.
7. Remember Occam's Razor (if two explanations fit the data equally well, the simpler is probably the true one).
8. Ask whether the hypothesis can be falsified. You have to be able to check things out., using carefully designed and controlled experiments.
Much of what you need in what Sagan calls your "baloney detection kit" can be learned in any basic logic course. Unfortunately, logic isn't taught in the schools anymore.
Sagan also addresses the disturbing trend in the U.S. (one that hasn't changed since the book was published nearly fifteen years ago) of attacking science, of making policy decisions relating to science based on political considerations rather than the facts. He points out that our founding fathers had a strong belief in science, that Thomas Jefferson, in fact, described himself as a scientist, not as a planter or a politician. These men read, they studied, they argued, they delved into the world of science. That has not been the case in recent decades (there may be some hope, though, in the appointment of a Nobel laureate in physics as President Obama's Secretary of Energy!).
It is, however, in discussing politics that this book is weakest. Sagan's attacks on Edward Teller, while perhaps warranted, seem a bit over the top, and so one naturally questions the objectivity of some of his other political statements. This is, however, a minor part of an otherwise excellent book.
The pity is that the people who ought to read it, won't."
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