The Art of Baloney DetectionMarch 29, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Carl Sagan is a baloney detective. When asked his opinion on intelligent life elsewhere in the universe he answers that he tends not to think with his gut. In other words its ok not to know the answer to all our questions; its better to wait patiently for further evidence.
Sagan touchingly reveals that sometimes he fancies hearing the voices of his deceased parents, but although he'd like to believe they still live on, he is all too aware how such feelings make us vulnerable to charlatens or prey to people convinced of their own psychic powers.
The book draws parellels between various seemingly unrelated phenomena: alien abductions, childhood satanic abuse, the european witch craze and the face on Mars.
New Age channelling and evangelical religion may seem harmless enough but look where thinking with "your gut" got our ancestors. The european witch craze was a scam by the catholic church for robbing those it falsely accused of witchcraft. And when priests bless the instruments of torture there is no role for evidence. Testimony under torture takes the place of evidence, vision takes the place of reason.
Science may be an imperfect guide to truth but its superior to all other forms of knowledge. Science unlike wishful thinking or divine revelation is based on sceptical habits of thought. You'd be sceptical when buying a used car so why not be just as sceptical when examining extraordinary claims like Atlantis or the canals of Mars.
There is a great deal of interesting material about the unreliability of memory. Its easy to get someone to remember being lost as a child even if the event never happened. Memory gets even more unreliable under hypnosis where it is vulnerable to suggestion by the therapist. If the therapist believes in childhood satanic abuse or abduction by aliens its no wonder that those in therapy start remembering being abused by humans or aliens.
An understanding of science is necessary for making informed decisions in a technological democracy. The values of science and the values of democracy are essentially the same. Sagan is all too aware that big business and the abuse of technology often go hand in hand. So understanding how to think about the science will allow us to bring democratic thinking to bear upon its possible abuse.
Like Richard Dawkin's Unweaving the Rainbow Sagan hopes to convince that the truth is better, more inspiring, more wonderful than make believe. It has the added virtue of being true.
Sagan asks some interesting questions for champions of ufo abductees. If humans are the result of an alien breeding experiment how come we share 99 per cent of our dna with chimpanzees? Why are the aliens so backward in their knowledge of genetics that they are taking so long to breed human alien hybrids? Why don't they just take some human cells and clone them? Isn't it funny how the Venusians have stopped visiting now we know that Venus is uninhabitable.
I'd recommend this books along with Dawkins Unweaving the Rainbow.
Enthusastic Overview and Endosement of FreethoughtMarch 26, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Required reading. I'd be up for having this book be required for all high school or first year college students.
Sublime! The "manifesto for clear thought"!!!March 15, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book changed my life. EVERYONE can and should read this book!
I second what one reviewer noted below: "Science at it's best-accurate, timely, well-argued, emotionally and mentally invigorating, spiritually uplifting; and filled with boundless enthusiasm and hope. Like the author, Carl Sagan himself."
Keep an extra copy to give to friendsFebruary 18, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How do you begin? I looked this over and realized I had not written a review of this book, in spite of considering it probably one of my favorite books of all time.
This book is an excellent walk through history into the (relatively) present day, detailing various effects of pseudoscience and other brain-junk, and showing how simple skeptical thought can help overcome this in everyday life. Sagan uses the term "baloney detector" as a tongue-in-cheek reference to keeping a skeptical mindset...and I firmly believe that every child in our country - no, make that our world - should be given this tool. I cannot recommend this book more strongly, the skill of skepticism being that valuable.
Children, adults - anyone can use the ability to eliminate BS from their lives, and this book is an excellent resource on how to help do just that.
Buy two. You're going to want to give one to a friend.
T
demonsFebruary 18, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Carl Sagan is the expert on UFO's and this book is mostly about that subject. But the parts I found most interesting were his discussions about the history of believing in 'demons'. He explores the psychology behind the reasons why people will so readily believe in invisible imaginary beings, but will demand strict proof for anything presented by science (the logical fallacy of 'inconsistency').
