The Demon-Haunted World
Carl Sagan
I am greatly saddened to hear of the death of Carl Sagan the weekend I write this and especially find myself losing a bit of hope after reading this book. Sagan warns of the danger of intellect and learning becoming something "elite". He shows examples -- and very convincing ones! -- of the evergrowing American backlash against intellectual growth. He warns of the easy acceptance of pseudoscience. The path to freedom is knowledge. Heck, if Thomas Jefferson said today what he said at the end of the American Revolution, he would be branded a traitor and certainly never come close to political office. Sagan's stories of Edward Teller's machinations to develop the hydrogen bomb and then later to proliferate the things are just plain spooky. I urge everyone to read this book, to understand this book and to take these warnings to heart and -- more importantly -- to mind.
