|
|
Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with V
|
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God |
Author: Carl Sagan
Published: 2007-11-06 |
List price: $16.00
Our price: $5.99
|
Usually ships in 24 hours
As of: November 22nd, 2008 01:26:31 AM
|
|
|
Customer comments on this selection.
 The humble atheist.
Sagan delivers his characteristically eloquent and humbling assessment of our place in the universe. Certainly a thought provoking read and illuminated with a tasteful selection of colorful photographs. However, since it is a transcription of lectures, the chapters are necessarily brief and often only scratch the surface of the many issues he brings up. For example, he examines the grounds for religious belief (including supposedly fulfilled prophesies, religious experiences, etc.) and tries to rebut each of them. But each of them requires a lengthy discussion--which can be found in other places (e.g. the works of Dawkins or Dennett for the atheist perspective, or apologetics texts for the religious). A recurrent theme is the parallel between the search for God and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (EI). There is at present no evidence for the existence of either, Sagan contends. However, through arguments involving the Drake equation, he argues that EI has a plausible chance of existing and of making contact with us. So, it makes sense to set up radio telescopes and listen for them. As for God, Sagan is, like myself, all ears.
The Q&A section at the end of the book is a valuable addition, though it is a bit hard to follow at times. Through it, one can get a better sense of Sagan's personality. For me, it's clear that though he held strongly to his principles, Sagan ultimately had an open mind and took to heart the humbling perspective that our modern view of the universe provides. As he points out, we are very little and we know so very little. All the more important, then, that we proceed carefully and in accordance with tested and proved principles. For Sagan, as for myself, this means only accepting claims for which we have good evidence. It is our duty and our adventure to find that evidence.
 Why Dr. Sagan Was a Fulfilled Agnostic
I would love to spend a paragraph or two on how lucky we were and are to have had Carl Sagan among us. Of course, anyone reading this review likely already knows that this is true and the extent of its truth. So, I will get to the point.
This is a very impressive posthumous collection of Sagan's Gifford's lectures where he talks about the intersection (or lack thereof) of sceince and religion. Most importantly, he talks about how the religious experience - more appropriately, the experience of extreme awe at our surroundings - is more apt for science than in religion. Where religious awe and wonderment revels in mystery, sceintific awe acknowledges the mystery and goes about extirpate that mystery via some explanation. Wheras religion's version of solving a problem is to postulate magic, science's version of solving problems involves solving them with evidence.
The first few essays are about the idea of the 'religious experience' - the acknowledgement of how small we are and how vast is the universe; the acknowledgement of how sublime all of our surroundings truly are. But science, suggests Sagan, seeks to find out about those surrounding, while religion revels in the idea of the 'incomprehensible.'
There is an essay that continues this theme by postulating on the possible NATURALISTIC origins of life. While we have not solved the puzzle, Sagan walks us through very plausible examples of how the chemical process COULD HAVE gone (certainly more plausible than an infinitely complex god deciding to create all of this, by which you then have to explain how THAT god arose.)
Another essay exposes the very embarassing 'proofs' of god that theologians have come up with through the years. Most atheists or agnostics will already be familiar with most of these, but Sagan rehashes and debunks them with crystal clear prose that is not so much combative as matter-of-fact. (Sagan wins over Dawkins here.)
The next few essays - of concern to Sagan his whole career through - talk about the importance of we humans realizing that just as our existince wasn't inevitable, neither is our continued existence. Sagan died in 1996 and, sad to say, not much has changed in terms of nuclear proliferation, etc. In fact, Sagan died before terrorism really took center stage via 9/11. Had he lived to see it, doubtless these essays would sound more urgent (a la Sam Harris). Yet, he writes of the dangers humans face should they want to live a full and long 21st century.
The common theme in this book - as in his earlier Demon Haunted World - was to guard against the perils of superstition, be it religious beliefs that cannot be subjected to scientific scrutiny, the belief that our planet is the center of everything, the belief that humans continued existence is assured because of divine fiat, etc.
I am not sure how else to end my review of this very worthy book but to say - Thank You, Mr. Sagan (and Mrs. Drunyan).
Carl Sagan Knows How To Reason Effectively
I became aware of Carl Sagan when I first watched his TV series, COSMOS, many years ago. Not only was he a fine communicator, but it was clear that he was also a sound thinker.
I was attracted to this latest work, a compilation of his 1985 presentation of the Gifford Lectures on Natural Theology at the University of Glasgow by the books subtitle: A Personal View of the Search for God.
I attended a small Jesuit College almost 50 years ago in part to search for God. I did not find what I was looking for. My search continues and Sagan adds a grand perspective to the search by offering his thoughts regarding his search, in this interesting and very readable effort, The Varieties of Scientific Experience. The book is edited by Sagan's wife, Ann Druyan and she adds an introduction that sets the reader off on a proper path of expectations.
I am a physician and a writer and reading this work offered some ten years after Sagan's death was enriching to my on-going search for answers that are neither revelation nor dogma, regarding where we humans are from and where we may be going.
The Varieties of Sagan's Experience
Here is a great gateway into Carl Sagan, a preeminent scientist and thinker of the 20th Century. I don't find it quite as accessible as his PBS series "The Cosmos" or his book/film "Contact." But I really enjoyed it.
This book is actually a series of lectures Carl gave, all relating to science and the search for God. Especially fascinating is the final chapter, transcribed excerpts from Carl's Q&A sessions following each lecture. The give and take between Carl and audience members of different attitudes is a great top off to the lectures themselves.
If you are a Carl Sagan fan, this book is a must read. It's a great contribution to the debate between religion and science. The early chapters are really heavy on scientific terminology. But Sagan does a good job of couching complicated astronomical theory in everyday analogies.
read it
This isn't necessarily an attack on religion like some knee-jerk responses might indicate. Instead, it is for me an attack on the idea that science is itself an attack on religion. Dr. Sagan attempts to impart upon us a sense of awe and wonder at the counterintuitive (and therefore "magical") reality uncovered by the last 4,000 years or so of science. If you are religious then I hope you will come away with a new appreciation for how clever your Creator has been, and how long an arduous a task we scientists have ahead of us in understanding this creation. If you are not religious, you will appreciate that simply being here is improbable enough as to be enjoyed in precisely the same way as a miracle.
|
|
Our Religious book picks:
|
|
Search the Religious Products Store
LCS Amazon Store 2.5 © 2008
|
|
|