I just finished reading Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. The topic of the book is science, pure and simple. I found the book enjoyable, stirring, enraging, and finally compelling.
Sagan starts the book with chapter after chapter of analysis of the utter stupidity of mankind. UFOs, The Catholic Inquisition, Global Warming Deniers, Evolution Deniers, and any number of other topics are covered. After summing up the mass idiocy that can exist in any human culture with a lack of critical thinking, Sagan dives into the scientific method and how science works. Sagan frames good science as wonder + skepticism. He discusses the error correcting mechanisms built into science: prediction, verification of prediction through experimentation, and peer review. Sagan then drags out his famous Bologna Detection Kit, a useful set of rules to ferret out pseudo-scientific and anti-scientific arguments. This simple set of rules comes in handy; you will be surprised how many fallacious arguments can be easily detected by one or more of these rules.
Sagan ends the book discussing the founding of The United States. Many of the founders were amateur or professional scientists. Sagan equates the good things in science with the good things in democracy. In the end it dovetails well. He makes a convincing argument that a public schooled in basic scientific methodology is also a good democratic public.
The United States now trails many other nations in science, math and reading. People argue against the scientific fact of evolution. In Texas, science textbooks have been stripped of the true age of Earth (around 4.5 billion years, not 6000 years). Arguments are made that global warming isn’t real because, hey, all the scientists are liberals and are controlled by Al Gore. For the price of a single attack helicopter we can fund SETI for 10 years. Well, lets go buy an attack helicopter instead. Sagan makes a devastating argument that much of the American public not only misunderstands the practice of science, but the don’t even grasp the fundamental principles. So much for the hopes of our founders. Yet Sagan encourages scientists and science enthusiasts to use patience, understanding and clear communication to educate the general public.
The Demon-Haunted world was published in 1997, but feels like it was written yesterday. The themes ring true, louder and clearer now than they would have for me if I had read the book 12 years ago. I highly recommend this book. It is a real eye opener.
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