re/reading The Demon-Haunted World

Carl Sagan today is perhaps best remembered as the author and narrator of the tv series Cosmos, or maybe as the author of the novel Contact, made into the identically titled movie with Jodie Foster.

But today, thirty years after it was written, The Demon-Haunted World is sadly more relevant than ever. This is NOT at all obvious from a perusal of its chapters - it's obviously a book of its time, dealing with pseudo-science fads of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

So the book almost reads as an historical document, allowing us to laugh at the misbeliefs of the past, or at Sagan's inaccuracies that time has revealed.

But astute readers (that's you - especially if you've made it this far through my write-up!) will see beyond the specific examples, and realize that Sagan's defense of science and inquiry has actually become controversial.

I was tempted to suggest excising various chapters to make this a shorter read, as it is a bit long, but it's not for me to edit Carl Sagan.

Ps. Note that both time and date may change.