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The Demon-Haunted World
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The Demon-Haunted World (1995) (edit title/settings)

Science as a Candle in the Dark

by Carl Sagan (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

"A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought."  *Los Angeles Times "POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing."  *The Washington... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - Woo woo deconstruction manual.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “But, tellingly, when he tires to describe them, he reaches for physics and mathematics. He wants it both ways - the language and credibility of science, but without being bound by its method and rules. He seems not to realize that the credibility is a consequence of the method.”
  • “In science we may start with experimental results, data, observations, measurements, "facts". We invent, if we can, a rich array of possible explanations and systematically confront each explanation with the facts. In the course of their meaning, scientists are equipped with a baloney detection kit. The kit is brought out as a matter of course whenever new ideas are offered for consideration. If the new idea survives examination by the tools in our kit, we grant it warm, although tentative, acceptance.”
  • “By making pronouncements that are, even if only in principle, testable, religions, however unwillingly, enter the arena of science. Religions can no longer make unchallenged assertions about reality - so long as they do not seize secular power, provided the cannot coerce belief.”
  • “When we are asked to swear in America courts law - that we will tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" - we are being asked the impossible. It is simply beyond our powers.”
  • “I'd love to see such a domestic felicity portrayed in the media, television especially: a community of people really working the mix - full of wonder, generously open to every notion, dismissing nothiing except for good reason, but at the same time, and as second nature, demanding stringent standards of evidence - and these standards applied with at leas much rigor to what they hold dear as to what they are tempted to reject with impunity.”
  • “(...) why aren't we using sports to teach science?”
  • “The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congresspeople I've talked to, of "nerds gone wild" - which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it.
    Highlighted by 80 Kindle customers
  • For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
    Highlighted by 77 Kindle customers
  • When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition.
    Highlighted by 61 Kindle customers
  • Hippocrates wrote: “Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. But if they called everything divine which they do not understand, why, there would be no end of divine things.”
    Highlighted by 57 Kindle customers
  • Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder.
    Highlighted by 54 Kindle customers
  • How We Know What Isn’t So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life, by Thomas Gilovich,
    Highlighted by 53 Kindle customers
  • This is one of the reasons that the organized religions do not inspire me with confidence. Which leaders of the major faiths acknowledge that their beliefs might be incomplete or erroneous and establish institutes to uncover possible doctrinal deficiencies?
    Highlighted by 51 Kindle customers
  • The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.
    Highlighted by 45 Kindle customers
  • If we resolutely refuse to acknowledge where we are liable to fall into error, then we can confidently expect that error—even serious error, profound mistakes—will be our companion forever. But if we are capable of a little courageous self-assessment, whatever rueful reflections they may engender, our chances improve enormously.
    Highlighted by 34 Kindle customers
  • Christianity may be good and Satanism evil. Under the Constitution, however, both are neutral. This is an important, but difficult, concept for many law enforcement officers to accept. They are paid to uphold the penal code, not the Ten Commandments … The fact is that far more crime and child abuse has been committed by zealots in the name of God, Jesus and Mohammed than has ever been committed in the name of Satan. Many people don’t like that statement, but few can argue with it.
    Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers
Show all 17 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

As I got off the plane, he was waiting for me, holding up a scrap of cardboard with my name scribbled on it.

Table of Contents edit see section history

The Most Precious Thing
Science and Hope
The Man in the Moon and the Face on Mars
Aliens
Spoofing and Secrecy
Hallucinations
The Demon-Haunted World
On the Distinction Between True and False Visions
Therapy
The Dragon in My Garage
The City of Grief
The Fine Art of Baloney Detection
Obsessed with Reality
Antiscience
Newton's Sleep
When Scientists Know Sin
The Marriage of Skepticism and Wonder
The Wind Makes Dust
No Such Thing as a Dumb Question
House on Fire
The Path to Freedom
Significance Junkies
Maxwell and the Nerds
Science and Witchcraft
Real Patriots Ask Questions

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Carl Sagan (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Ann Druyan (Contributor)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: 0345409469
Page Count: 480

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: Q175 .S215
  • Dewey: 001.9

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Science Ink

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