Skip to main content

Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World- A Review

 


THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD

Science as a Candle in the Dark

By  Carl Sagan

 

Reviewed by

  Geoffrey W. Sutton

Carl Sagan injects readers with two treatments followed by booster shots throughout the 25 chapters of The Demon-Haunted World. In the end, enlightened readers will see science, not as a mere candle, but as a brilliant search light in the murky world of opinions, conspiracies, and myths. The first repeated treatment is a healthy dose of skepticism aimed at beliefs that led so many of our ancestors astray or worse, led to horrendous unnecessary deaths. The second treatment is the inspiring and hope-filled vial of scientific discovery catalyzed by curiosity and wonderment and guided by the light of the scientific method.

For the most part, Sagan moves us quickly from one topic to another but there were times when I wished he’d cut some of the UFO stories. I get it. People are gullible and believe all sorts of things about aliens. Of course there’s more. People seek magical cures at great expense. Some still deny the scientific findings about the age and evolution of the universe and life on earth.

It's not just fanciful thinking and denial of evidence that’s been a problem for humankind. We can live with people doing their own thing. But the failure to think critically about beliefs can be incredibly painful and ultimately lethal when religious people seek to purge their territory of those alleged to be witches. Stories of excruciating torture abound. Lives were literally at stake. Fear covered the era in darkness.

Sadly, since the book was published in 1996, we still learn that many people deny the sage advice of scientists regarding the spread of disease and the value of experimentally validated vaccines and treatments. Some Christians still teach students that the universe is only a few thousand years old and deny the evidence supporting evolution. Some religious people continue to deny themselves and their children access to psychological assessments and interventions in favor of spiritual leaders who aim to relieve mental anguish by delivering troubled congregants from demons.

As scientists emerged in an atmosphere of freedom of speech and freedom from oppressive anti-science religions, astounding discoveries came in waves. I’m pretty sure even 62-year old Carl Sagan would be amazed at what we’ve learned since he left the planet the year my copy of the book was published. And we still need the skeptical tools found in his Baloney Detection kit.

 

References

Sagan, C. (1996). The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark. New York: Ballantine Books. Available on AMAZON

-cite this post-

Sutton, G. W. (2023, January 14). Sagan’s Demon-Haunted World- A Review. Interdisciplinary Journal of Book Reviews. Retrieved from https://suttonreviews.suttong.com/2023/01/sagans-demon-haunted-world-review.html



Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is  www.suttong.com

 

See Geoffrey Sutton’s books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Follow on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Denial of Death and the Meaningful Life- Book Review

  The Denial of Death   by Ernest Becker A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton The prospect of death, Dr. Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.  — Ernest Becker, xvii I completed a recent reading of this old classic yesterday (13 December, 2015) because I was interested in Becker’s contribution to Terror Management Theory, which I find so helpful in understanding the ways U.S. leaders are publicly responding to terrorist activities. Becker’s ideas are more than forty years old and many have not withstood the test of time. However, his basic premise that we deny the reality of death in many ways remains valid
3 comments
Read more

A Christmas Carol offers lessons in Psychology and Faith A Book Review

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton My copy of A Christmas Carol was a gift on Christmas day, 1963. Two Christmases before I had walked the cold, fog-laden, smog drenched streets of Old London with my dad whilst my mother visited with her family. It was a grey day and a grey week. We took turns warming parts of our body by fireplaces here and there. After five years in the U.S. we had returned home to London on the occasion of my maternal grandmother’s death.  Dickens’ story paints a familiar tale textured by my early memories and enriched today by having watched my favourite rendition of A Christmas Carol ( 1984 ) with my wife on Christmas eve. My interest in reviewing the book is not just for a pleasant walk about the old streets of London but I'm motivated by a sense of appreciation for the poetic and colourful artistry with which Dickens plumbs the hopes and fears of humanity. So, follow
Post a Comment
Read more

WILLPOWER Setting & Reaching Goals- Book Review by Sutton

WILLPOWER Rediscovering the Greatest    Human Strength By Roy Baumeister & John Tierney Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton I go to a gym, which is crowded in January. Regulars know the early Happy-New-Year commitments to fitness will weaken sometime in February. Roy Baumeister has spent a good part of his career studying self-control. His book, Willpower   written with Tierney,  entertains and informs us with an organized set of findings explaining factors that influence self-control. Two critical factors weaken our judgments: food and sleep. We need glucose and sleep to be at our best when it comes to making wise decisions and marking progress toward our goals. A pretty woman can loosen a man’s grip on his career--we hear these news stories from time to time as one political group takes aim at each other's leaders--men who failed at sexual self-control and sadly blame women for their lack of self-control. Fat shaming happens. T
Post a Comment
Read more