The demon haunted world- science as a candle in the dark
By Carl Sagan
Audiobook
Rating 4.5/5
Running length over 14hours
Non fiction
Introduction by his wife; and partner of his many adventures and books!
Starts by dedicating his parents and some teachers. How he got into a fight ending up in stitches and a broken glass!
He then talks about the witches and wizards of the modern world
Starts off where cosmos left and is like a continuation or addition to most of the books by Richard Dawkins so much so that they sound familiar and similar! There is a mention of Richard in the book as one of the modern thinkers!
A big section of how UFO were first invented! Yes invented because it is not seen in nature!
Also, how the first flying saucer name came about how the pilot described a completely different thing and how the media reported it
The author was also part of the team for investigation of UFO and its sightings; all which were proved to be false in one way or the other.
He speaks about the crop circles which were a big thing and how it spread all over the world and finally it was a hoax created by two artists!
Then of the very interesting topic of Sleep Paralysis! This is an amazing description of this event and similar to the ones described by Richard Dawkins in his books. But since this was first and I like original; I am siding with this one!
How the UFO and angel or demon stories evolve over time though very similar! The witch hunts and now the UFO hunts! How aliens are territorial and how they are similar to the ones portrayed in the movies! How Christian faith can either believe in aliens or god but not both since that would obviate the need of god!
History is written by the winners and everyone has their own version of history; at some parts he does become emotional especially when he describes the torture by the church of non scientific people or of the so called witches and how most of the time the nerd is treated badly!
This is a specially true, which means that there is no actual accurate history, only opinions or versions of history
An interesting account of the charlatan in an Australian Tv who fooled even the TV show!
He also mentions how Younger scientists always on the lookout for the banking or disproving the work of Older scientists which can make them instantly famous and get all the work attributed to them!
Scientists make mistakes even if it is Newton or Einstein! And then the author list the mistakes made by him! Quite a few of them actually!
Article in parade about state of US education!
Basket ball and science! He concludes how US gives least priority to education which is why there are hardly any intellectuals there! People would rather send the kids to make money rather than do research! How unscientific Stalin crushed his opponent which is why Russia is not so great anymore!
How in the rush for hydrogen bomb so many other true scientists were discredited!
The whole book has so many of such incidents and details which shows how well researched and how well read Carl is!
It’s a pity though he is not there to narrate it himself which is the only thing missing in the book; the emotion connection!
Most importantly the baloney detection kit!
This is the most important part of the book! He talks about a set of things you can do to reveal Baloney!
This is probably one of the best books on the scientific method without being too preachy about Atheism!
ramadocblog 