Book Report: Carl Sagan The Demon Haunted World; Science as a candle in the dark

     Carl Sagan was an Astronomer that was very into science and physics. In this book, he talks a lot about science and pseudoscience and how it has shaped the world we live in today. The paranormal myths that have been popular for the last decade/century, were even more popular in the 1800s-1900s. Sagan mentions that people were uninterested in science and didn't know how it worked, unlike him. Scientists and Astronomers used skepticism and critical thinking to understand a lot of the claims and theories that were presented. 

    He used the art of "baloney" detection a lot throughout this book when deep diving into different claims and theories, to weed out delusions and false information which encapsulated our daily lives. Sagan explained how the science used in this book, taught us a deep understanding of our universe. He uncovered a lot of topics on the planets in our universe, astrology, aliens, witches, etc. and how most of them are no good because there's no concrete evidence to back them up. To truly experience and have a better understanding of the world, Sagan suggests using real science (evidence) and critical thinking. 

    Chapter 7 was definitely my favorite chapter because it talked about witches, demons, whether they were real or not and discussed the (physical) evidence people have reported. Demons were causing people to have nightmares/night terrors, and how they would come down from the sky and sexually assault people of their choosing. It was disturbing to read that, but it was interesting and shocking because it was mainly done to women, and demons would leave "devils marks" on their victims private parts. If you were found to have "devil's marks" on your body, you were stripped naked and displayed to the public. Similar things happened to witches; If you were accused of being a witch, that makes you one. If you were accused of being one, people would do torturous things to you until you eventually die. That part is interesting because in today's society, witches are more looked up upon (as far as I know) than something that's bad.