wolfgirl
Graduate Poster
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2002
- Messages
- 1,375
Has anyone here read the "new" Carl Sagan book, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God? It's actually a compilation of a series of lectures that he gave in 1985, edited by his widow, Ann Druyan, and released to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death.
I credit Sagan's series Cosmos (along with Randi's book, Flim Flam) with being the first to open my eyes to reality when I was in college. I had been raised a xian, but not strongly so, not much praying, church-going, bible-reading, etc. I hadn't really given the matter much thought until I was exposed to the concepts of critical thinking I learned from Sagan and Randi.
Years later, I felt that Sagan's Demon-Haunted World was the definitive book on the subject of critical thinking. I thought that any intelligent and open-minded individual who read it would absolutely have to come to the same conclusions as Sagan. I thought it should be required reading in schools.
Now comes this "new" book. When I first picked it up at the library, I thought there was nothing new I could learn from Sagan, but I felt I owed it to his memory to read it. I am still not finished reading it, but I am so overwhelmed by it that I simply had to post. The points that he makes are so amazing and so beautiful and so simple and yet so complex...I lack the words to give this book its fair due. I will simply say...read this book. I feel the way I did when I first discovered these things 25 years ago - in awe. And once more, I can't help but think "how could anyone read this and not give up their belief in a supernatural god?"
I have just finished reading Dawkins's The God Delusion. It was an excellent book and makes several of the exact same points. But nobody does it like Sagan. While Dawkins comes across as angry and hostile toward religion (for good reason, don't get me wrong), Sagan simply comes across as someone who has explored all of the options and come upon the only logical conclusion and simply wants to share it with everyone. A more people-friendly version of Dawkins.
Again, if you haven't yet picked up this excellent book, do it now. Your New Year's resolution just might be to think about everything you thought you knew in a whole new way.
I credit Sagan's series Cosmos (along with Randi's book, Flim Flam) with being the first to open my eyes to reality when I was in college. I had been raised a xian, but not strongly so, not much praying, church-going, bible-reading, etc. I hadn't really given the matter much thought until I was exposed to the concepts of critical thinking I learned from Sagan and Randi.
Years later, I felt that Sagan's Demon-Haunted World was the definitive book on the subject of critical thinking. I thought that any intelligent and open-minded individual who read it would absolutely have to come to the same conclusions as Sagan. I thought it should be required reading in schools.
Now comes this "new" book. When I first picked it up at the library, I thought there was nothing new I could learn from Sagan, but I felt I owed it to his memory to read it. I am still not finished reading it, but I am so overwhelmed by it that I simply had to post. The points that he makes are so amazing and so beautiful and so simple and yet so complex...I lack the words to give this book its fair due. I will simply say...read this book. I feel the way I did when I first discovered these things 25 years ago - in awe. And once more, I can't help but think "how could anyone read this and not give up their belief in a supernatural god?"
I have just finished reading Dawkins's The God Delusion. It was an excellent book and makes several of the exact same points. But nobody does it like Sagan. While Dawkins comes across as angry and hostile toward religion (for good reason, don't get me wrong), Sagan simply comes across as someone who has explored all of the options and come upon the only logical conclusion and simply wants to share it with everyone. A more people-friendly version of Dawkins.
Again, if you haven't yet picked up this excellent book, do it now. Your New Year's resolution just might be to think about everything you thought you knew in a whole new way.