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The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Paperback – February 25, 1997

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 7,023 ratings

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the renowned astronomer and author of Cosmos comes a “powerful [and] stirring defense of informed rationality” (The Washington Post Book World) in a world where fake news stories and Internet conspiracy theories play to a disaffected American populace.

LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER • “Glorious . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought.”—Los Angeles Times

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience, New Age thinking, and fundamentalist zealotry and the testable hypotheses of science?
 
Casting a wide net through history and culture, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions. He examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies as witchcraft, faith healings, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today’s so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning, with stories of alien abduction, “channeling” past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. 
 
As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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 Post Book World

“Compelling.”
USA Today

“A clear vision of what good science means and why it makes a difference. . . . A testimonial to the power of science and a warning of the dangers of unrestrained credulity.”
The Sciences

“Passionate.”
San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

From the Back Cover

ious 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 Post Book World



How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.



Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, di

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (February 25, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 457 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345409469
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345409461
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.15 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 7,023 ratings

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4.7 out of 5 stars
7,023 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book informative and well-written. They appreciate the clear and engaging prose, describing it as readable and worth reading. The writing style is described as fluid and pleasant. Readers enjoy the intellectual integrity and passion of Carl Sagan. The book opens their eyes to concepts they had never considered. Customers feel the book is poignant and profound, with a high sense of passion and sincerity.

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334 customers mention "Insight"311 positive23 negative

Customers find the book informative and helpful for understanding science. They appreciate the author's clear explanations and practical insights on various subjects. The scientific method has helped solve mysteries that mystified our ancestors for generations. Readers also mention the book provides a convincing argument that science is a critical way of thinking.

"...history of the founding father's of the U.S. who were "realistic and practical, wrote their own speeches, and were motivated by high principles."..." Read more

"...far more than cold collection of data and interpretation; it is a way of thinking, an approach to the world that values the questions as much as the..." Read more

"Carl Sagan is a brilliant science educator and he uses this gift to help others become healthy skeptics and critical thinkers...." Read more

"this book did an excellent job in explaining the importance of science literacy and education, describing how science in itself is democratic and..." Read more

310 customers mention "Readability"303 positive7 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They say it explains many misconceptions about science in an accessible way. The prose is brilliant and engaging, weaving a clear and convincing narrative. Readers appreciate the wide range of topics covered in the book and consider it one of the most important books ever written in modern times.

"...Overall, a very worthy read that I give a strong five stars." Read more

"...important, I highly recommend this interesting, thoughtful and entertaining book." Read more

"Sagan is wonderfully literate and entertaining." Read more

"Another brilliant book by the late, great Carl Sagan...." Read more

169 customers mention "Writing style"157 positive12 negative

Customers find the writing style engaging and readable. They describe it as logical, sensible, and humane. The book is well-researched and presented with interesting information.

"...father's of the U.S. who were "realistic and practical, wrote their own speeches, and were motivated by high principles."..." Read more

"...The Demon-Haunted World, Sagan continued this saga, with his inimitable style intact and with a dire focus on communicating how science undergirds..." Read more

"The book is intriguing and well-written. Sagan explains many issues that are wrong ith this world." Read more

"Not boring to read." Read more

61 customers mention "Pacing"61 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing. They find it insightful and value Carl Sagan's intellectual integrity. Readers appreciate his level-headedness and logical approach. The book explores unusual beliefs with well-thought-out arguments that show humans are susceptible to illusions.

"...He gave me a voice. A man of great passion and fierce intellect, he had the uncanny ability to ambush the heart with an equal measure of poetry and..." Read more

"Another brilliant book by the late, great Carl Sagan...." Read more

"...by far the most promising, powerful, and comprehensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)...." Read more

"...this is a very honorable endeavor, populated by learned and honorable men, whose talents and insights are both educational and entertaining...." Read more

57 customers mention "Interest"57 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They appreciate the curiosity-driven exploration and insights into new concepts. The book is described as an inspiring and hope-filled journey of scientific discovery, with interesting anecdotes.

"...His words spoke for me. He gave me a voice. A man of great passion and fierce intellect, he had the uncanny ability to ambush the heart with an..." Read more

"...skeptic and why this is so important, I highly recommend this interesting, thoughtful and entertaining book." Read more

"Sagan is wonderfully literate and entertaining." Read more

"The book is intriguing and well-written. Sagan explains many issues that are wrong ith this world." Read more

29 customers mention "Compassion"26 positive3 negative

Customers find the book profound and emotional. They appreciate the author's passion and sincerity. The information is interesting and relatable. Readers describe the book as uplifting, level-headed, objective, and loving.

"...A man of great passion and fierce intellect, he had the uncanny ability to ambush the heart with an equal measure of poetry and humble curiosity...." Read more

"...- but I found this to be very pleasant, informative, and relatable in an odd way." Read more

"...He focuses more on pseudo-science rather than religion. The book is largely apolitical but the concluding two chapters are, he acknowledges,..." Read more

"...Poignant and profound, this is an introduction in critical thinking and skepticism, and a warning about its absence in public life and discourse...." Read more

12 customers mention "Value for money"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book offers good value for money. They say it's worth every penny, with a compelling and reasonable case for applying the rationale.

"It cost me $5 for the E-book. It's worth every penny...." Read more

"...if you have little or no interest in science, you will find immense value in this text." Read more

"...Well written, still timely, and well worth it." Read more

"...Get it anyway--there are still over 300 pages at good price." Read more

14 customers mention "Length"0 positive14 negative

Customers find the book repetitive and boring in some parts. They feel it could be shorter, with redundancies and mixed-up chapters.

"...about x, he often ends talking about z. This gets annoying over several hundred pages, and leads to an unfocused approach...." Read more

"...and the Nerds" and "The Demon Haunted world" but most are long and repetitive. This book is hard to get through, it is kind of like a rant...." Read more

"...I agree with Dr. Sagan, the book was a little repetitive." Read more

"A bit long-winded. But it is still interesting" Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2023
    In a world of ungrounded thought, I feel comforted by Sagan's sagely, skeptical words. "Skepticism doesn't sell newspapers," he explains. He was heavily pro-science and upset about America's scientific illiteracy which fawns over fables and eschews facts. In this book, he takes no prisions from Atlantis and Lemuria, New Age pseudoscience, religious doctrinaire that attempts to validate themselves through prophecy, weeping paintings of the Madonna, Jesus' face on tortillas, fortune tellers (that btw target young women), psychics and channels including Ramtha, amulets, exorcisms, psychic surgery, witches, ghosts, flying saucers, astrology, reliance on prayer and miraculous healing, contradictory platitudes, and spiritual justifications for nearly any action.

    "Some portion of the decision-making that influences the future of our civilization is plainly in the hands of charlantans," Sagan writes. "When we are self indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition."

    Carl Sagan's question for a possible extraterrestrial was, "Please provide a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem."

    "How is it, I ask myself, that UFO occupants are so bound to fashionable or urgent concerns on this planet? Why not even an incidental warning about CFCs and oxone depletion in the 1950s, or about the AHIV virus in the 1979s, when it might have really done some good?"

    Sagan thoroughly elucidates the most common strategies used to defend perilous fallacies of logic and rhetoric.

    In this book, he includes some history of the founding father's of the U.S. who were "realistic and practical, wrote their own speeches, and were motivated by high principles." He also uses examples of leaders and events in Europe, Russia, and China, and how they thought in ways that were superior to the dreck we have spiraled down to. He admires Jefferson's response to the Sedition Act and Linus Pauling's stance against nuclear weapons and involvement in the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Sagan himself took an anti-nuclear stance.

    Carl Sagan wisely implores us to question everything our leaders tell us.

    "One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back."

    As far as Sagan's brief mention of drugs used for certain DSM diagnosis, the expert I defer to in that realm is Robert Whitaker and his book "Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill."

    I read portions of Sagan's book over again, and skimmed a few parts that seemed a bit repetitive. Overall, a very worthy read that I give a strong five stars.
    27 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2014
    "We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces." (p. 26)

    The omen above was put to print in 1995 and echoed throughout Carl Sagan's prolific career as both practitioner and communicator of science. Swathed in a world so joined at the hip to science and technology, Sagan saw denial and ignorance of science as the greatest risks to human well-being and continuity. Is the past here to stay?

    In the US at least, conditions are none too sunny. Nearly 7 in 10 believe that angels and demons are active in the world. 61% and 48% believe in ghosts and UFOs of extraterrestrial origin, respectively. More than half doubt the scientific consensus on climate change, while one third of the public still waffles on evolution. And over half believe that God influences the outcome of sporting events. Dr. Sagan passed away just one year after the publication of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, and in the decades that have come and gone since his oracular swan song, the American electorate seems as awash as ever in pseudoscience and superstition. As momentous, relevant, and urgent though Sagan's message was, its infiltration remains woefully incomplete.

    The venerated astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist regularly popularized his lifelong passion for replacing delusion with fact-sensitive grandeur. His 1980 docuseries Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was such a groundbreaking moment in broadcasting because it showcased the degree to which science, presented properly, could warm hearts and inspire minds. In The Demon-Haunted World, Sagan continued this saga, with his inimitable style intact and with a dire focus on communicating how science undergirds the modern world, its co-dependent relationship with democracy, and, amid the tenured struggle for progress and survival, how it's so often overshadowed by uncritical thinking and politicized agenda.

    The Method

    The uninitiated often maintain a warped view of science, that of an arcane discipline requiring superheroic intellect out to devour devout beliefs. But as Sagan spent a lifetime making clear, science isn't just for scientists. Every one of us can revel in its fruits, be won over by its infectious appetite for discovery. Most important, we can all benefit from applying the philosophical principles on which it rests to our everyday life.

    What are those principles? The twinship of skepticism and trained observation fueled by an overarching preference for the truth, however inconvenient, over the psychologically comfortable. Science is far more than cold collection of data and interpretation; it is a way of thinking, an approach to the world that values the questions as much as the answers and has built-in tools for prioritizing both.

    "Some may consider this an overbroad characterization, but to me every time we exercise self-criticism, every time we test our ideas against the outside world, we are doing science. When we are self-indulgent and uncritical, when we confuse hopes and facts, we slide into pseudoscience and superstition." (p. 27)

    Donning this intellectual apparatus full-tilt may occasion us to revisit ideas we once accepted without any skeptical filter. It may require that we discard some beliefs long held dear. But in taking the plunge, Sagan reassures us, we often find that nature is far more clever, subtle, and adept at inspiring wonder than our fallible pattern-seeking devices can imagine. "Better the hard truth than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy...There are wonders enough out there without our inventing any." (pp. 59, 204) While this may be new cognitive territory for some of us, the benefits are too vast to pass up. A sharp mind keeps the charlatans at bay.

    Key to how science delivers the goods has been its unmasking of natural processes to arrive at natural explanation. We may recall how our ancestors ascribed various features and bugs of our existence to supernatural causality: witches inflicted sickness with their spells; rain was a divine reward, drought a divine punishment; earthquakes were just the local god(s) stomping around in fits of rage; the "rising" and "setting" of the sun was controlled by the whims of the neighborhood deity; short-period comets presaged the fall of state empires.

    The advent of science severed this agency-focused paradigm. We learned that the ebbs and flows of celestial bodies mind predictable, calculable patterns. We discovered that weather events are beholden to entirely terrestrial phenomena. We found that transmissible disease is carried by microbes and other agents in our environment. We learned that the right medicine can cure an illness.

    The implications were radical, for if an illness was caused by the spell of a witch there is no reason to think we should find a natural cause for it, nor is there any reason to think we should find a natural cure. But in fact, it turned out that the right remedy could always overcome the power of “magic spells.” Per a unidirectional phase shift, super- and non-natural explanations were gradually rendered obsolete, buoyed by an acute awareness of our propensity to overinterpret reality.

    "For much of our history, we were so fearful of the outside world, with its unpredictable dangers, that we gladly embraced anything that promised to soften or explain away the terror. Science is an attempt largely successful, to understand the world, to get a grip on things, to get hold of ourselves, to steer a safe course. Microbiology and meteorology now explain what only a few centuries ago was considered sufficient cause to burn women to death." (p. 26)

    Irrationalia

    Respect for this approach has not been universal, as a handful of minutes with mainstream media will avouch. In a world overflowing with pseudoscientific madness, Sagan divides his time between conveying the method and blitzing specific manifestations of the irrational. He casts his gaze on a whole armamentarium of woo, including creationism, crop circles, faith healing, astrology, psychics, UFOs, and alien encounters. Is there anything at all behind these claims to connect them to reality? Not if skeptical inquiry has anything to say; such notions find a vacuum of support inside, as Sagan wittily remarks, "any universe burdened by rules of evidence." (p. 58)

    We learn of how two enterprising hoaxsters from Southampton fooled millions of credulants into believing that patterns in cornfields were cryptic messages from off-world. We listen in on the exploits of James Randi, who once outfoxed Australian media with video documentation of a "channeler." Our talent for deceiving ourselves is on full display as Sagan recounts the initial frisson of seeing "faces" on Mars and assesses the merits of UFO claims from perhaps every conceivable angle. (As a pioneer of exobiological research, it's no surprise Sagan devoted such sizable chunks to debunking UFO conspiracy tales, but he could have toggled it down a notch or two.)

    In turn, astrology and biblical creationism sport the same empirical garb as alchemy and witchcraft. (Quickly! Someone get Answers in Genesis on the phone.) From séance mediumship to `spirit photography', the counterfeit carousel requires similar ingredients to survive: "what they need is darkness and gullibility." (p. 241)

    Democracy and the Future

    Why haven't the contrails of science seeped into the inner recesses of society and taken hold of our discourse and policy, Sagan asks? A look to the past tells us that commitment to these ideals has waxed and waned over time, surfacing first and most clearly in ancient Greece in the form of natural philosophy. Greek antiquity's mental preoccupation with nature was distinguished by an express concern with natural cause and effect explanation, checked against their homegrown rules of logic and deduction.

    This marriage of reasoning and observation nourished some extraordinarily precocious activities. Sagan charts the achievements of early polymaths like Eratosthenes—who measured the circumference of the earth, its axial tilt, as well as its distance from both the sun and the moon all with peculiar accuracy in the 2nd century BCE, Aristarchus—who presented the first known model of a sun-centered cosmos, and Democritus—who was the first to offer an atomic theory of the universe and often considered the "father of modern science."

    Later societies yielded intermittent deviation from the systematic acme of Athens as triumphs gave way to enshrined overindulgence of superstition, and nationalistic fervor billowed to abnormally toxic levels. Beyond our undersized prefrontal cortex and the diversiform predispositions underwritten by our evolutionary heritage, at the heart of these setbacks lay the institution and its doctrinaire approach to knowledge. Both religious and secular governance can boast of choking free inquiry, stamping out critical investigation of the cosmos, and cultivating an infrastructural incapacity for nurturing the open exchange of ideas. Whenever and wherever this happens, humanity falters, the mind capsized under the crushing weight of tyranny. And like a derailed traincar, we inevitably throw ourselves headlong into state-sanctioned superstition and unreason.

    Science cannot prosper under these conditions. It stultifies and stagnates. Democracy ensures the efficacy of science insofar as it ensures all voices are heard. Science and democracy reinforce one another in this way: science depends on democratic values to function, while democracy depends sensitively on science to maintain its selected way of life—in everything from informing policy to keeping infrastructure in motion.

    After spending ample time surveying the overwhelming science illiteracy and innumeracy in the States, again and again Sagan returns to the point that democracy is unworkable in this environment. Uninformed citizens cannot cast informed votes. The shrieks of the ignorant become the shrieks of the next generation, who often adhere to the ideological persuasions impressed by their sheltered upbringing. Those who would charge that beliefs in pseudoscience are harmless should consider the extent to which they can be emblematic of a larger infirmity. We need open-minded, critically thinking, intellectually equipped individuals exercising their constitutional duty and voting on the policies that will give shape to the parameters under which future generations may thrive or fall.

    "A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places and cultures. It has been the means for our survival. It is our birthright. When, through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science, we are disenfranchising them, taking from them the tools needed to manage their future." (p. 317)

    Closing Thoughts

    Sagan’s penultimate work is packed with diverse subject matter. Much more than an impassioned defense of science, The Demon-Haunted World meanders through philosophy, history, politics, religion, and grin-inducing exposés on claims to reality that just aren’t so. While acknowledging the imperfections of science that come with all human endeavors, Sagan urges that when it comes to understanding how the world works and why nature is the way that it is, science seizes the epistemological crown. It is also a siren call to the coming generations: that we stifle its advance and deflect its discoveries at our own peril. With mounting concerns over a warming planet, overpopulation, and sustainability, and the most forward-focused way to preserve our pale blue dot, we cannot afford to treat with insouciance its revelations. Every human should read this book.

    On a more personal note, Sagan holds a special place in my own intellectual journey, reviving a pulse which continues to reverberate throughout my life. His books unshackled my imagination. His words spoke for me. He gave me a voice. A man of great passion and fierce intellect, he had the uncanny ability to ambush the heart with an equal measure of poetry and humble curiosity. His words can be understood by anyone who takes the time to read them. Carl synthesized my deepest thoughts and pointed me toward new horizons. He opened my eyes to a post-religious ethos and, more than anyone else, inspired me to abandon the intellectual celibacy of my youth and secure a personal relationship with reality and the cosmos. If Sagan communicated anything, it's that science is a unification measure, something in which all of us can partake. Together with reason it is among the greatest tools in our survival kit. Let's keep them burning brightly.

    "I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is bubbling up around us - then, habits of thought familiar from ages past reach for the controls.

    The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir."
    121 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2024
    Carl Sagan is a brilliant science educator and he uses this gift to help others become healthy skeptics and critical thinkers. If you are interested in learning how to be a healthy skeptic and why this is so important, I highly recommend this interesting, thoughtful and entertaining book.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2025
    Sagan is wonderfully literate and entertaining.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2025
    this book did an excellent job in explaining the importance of science literacy and education, describing how science in itself is democratic and providing examples in history of disasters mainly occurring from the lack of knowledge
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2024
    The book is intriguing and well-written. Sagan explains many issues that are wrong ith this world.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2024
    Another brilliant book by the late, great Carl Sagan. This should be required reading in schools to teach kids how to think critically and avoid being indoctrinated.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2024
    This book includes the most accurate and detailed prophecy in the history of prognostication. You'll know it immediately when you get there. Portions of this text should be required reading for every human.

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Avenir
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Super Read!
    Reviewed in Canada on December 1, 2024
    This is beautifully written and very informative. I have recommended it my 'reading' friends.
  • Sophia Diesel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Sagan at his best
    Reviewed in Brazil on February 14, 2024
    Loved it. Sagan is such a sensible person. He cares so much about us, about the world and the lives on it. Lessons that are never enough in times in which empathy seems scarcer.
  • L Garcia
    5.0 out of 5 stars Lo mejor de Carl Saganlectira
    Reviewed in Mexico on January 5, 2024
    Lo recomiendo para regalarlo a personas que viven en el realismo mágico, pensando que las cosas caen del cielo.
  • Mi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
    Reviewed in Germany on December 5, 2024
    One of the best book I have read! Carl Sagan was a great scientist. This book is a must in a house library and a great gift and recommendation. Explained why science is important and at the same time how people so easily trust to some myths and stories without proper fact checking. He was the first who suggests interdisciplinary approach to the complex issues in science. This lead to a great accomplishment and discoveries in science.
  • mahesh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good arguments for Science
    Reviewed in India on September 28, 2024
    A good read for person who wants to understand how science works...not by miracles and not by claiming to have answers for everything.