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Books like The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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, 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.
Liked The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan? Here's what readers who loved it picked up next.
- The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins (2009) · 4.16★
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976) · 4.11★
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris (2004) · 3.93★
- Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (2006) · 4.04★
- The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Hitchens (2007) · 4.02★
- The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859) · 3.97★
- The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene (1999) · 4.06★
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1987) · 4.12★
- god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens (2007) · 3.96★
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003) · 4.19★
- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman (1984) · 4.29★
- Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (1997) · 4★