To see or not to see

The late Dr. Carl Sagan, astronomer who became world-renowned for popularizing science like no one has since Robert Heinlein, left us with one last great contribution to human knowledge. That work is "The Demon Haunted World."

"World" is the mark by which all other skeptical works will be measured. There are more thorough books on the shelves, and more skeptical ones, but none of these presents skepticism in a fashion so accessible to mainstream readers as does "World." It is a milestone.

Much has already been written about it here on Epinions, but I noticed that no one mentioned what I thought was the important section of the book: The Skeptical Toolkit. In this chapter, Sagan outlines the most common logical fallacies, and gives well-known examples demonstrating how and why these are fallacies. With a wry sense of humor, he manages to keep the reader entertained despite the potentially dry subject matter.

"World" ought to be required reading in every junior and senior high school classroom in the world. If it were, we would see much less pseudoscience, far fewer fraudulent nutritional supplement companies, far fewer politicians making obviously empty arguments, and far less nonsense in our every day lives. What a "World" it would be.

Run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore (or Amazon.com) to buy "Demon Haunted World." It is the best $14 I have ever spent.