The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Book of the Week: 5 July 2020

The subtitle of this 1996 book by Carl Sagan is Science as a Candle in the Dark and it is an eloquent plea for a more general understanding of the scientific method and the application of critical thinking and scepticism to what we read and hear. Along the way, the reader learns about the work of various scientists such as James Clerk Maxwell and Edward Teller as well as beautifully-expressed details of Sagan’s own life.

The chapter entitled The Fine Art of Baloney Detection listing such guidelines as:

“Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the ‘facts’.

Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.

Spin more than one hypothesis.

Always ask whether the hypothesis can be, at least in principle, falsified. Proposition that are untestable, unfalsifiable are not worth much.”

should be read by everybody, particularly those people given to pontificating on social media.

If you are unable to get to a bricks-and-mortar library, there are some alternative science books that can be borrowed free from Warwickshire Libraries