I find it weird that I have suddenly become interested in science books when I got out of school. I guess my brain craves something other than the usual literary forms I grew up with. Lately, fiction has taken the backseat after dominating 15 years of my life.
Since I became engrossed with chaos theory, I would often find myself buying science books from Booksale. For some reason, my lack of science courses in college gave me this thirst, this feeling that my education lacks something essential for me to have a clearer grasp of the natural world. One of the books I bought is Carl Sagan's Broca's Brain, which struck me at first as a sci-fi novel. (I didn't know any scientist named Broca, that's why!)
One thing I like about the book is that it is written for the lay reader, for those like me who are not science majors. The book on the whole is very engaging as Sagan not only focuses on scientific findings and discoveries but also touch on myths and pseudoscience. Reading the introduction part, one is already tempted to read the book from cover to cover in just one sitting. There's just this excitement that I felt when I read the following words:
In Broca's Brain, Carl Sagan successfully captures the attention of readers to hear the side of science as he tackles major claims made by pseudoscientists. In particular, he debunks Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collisions which explains why catastrophes were experienced by ancient cultures, as reflected in their myths and religions. After a detailed critique, Sagan suggests that science should not be kept in an ivory tower and should be demystified so that technological initiatives can be supported by the people since scientific research is expensive and more often than not, funds are sourced from the taxes that dutiful citizens pay.
Sagan also offers a personal snippet of his life as he traces his early interests in science through science fiction, though he has come to think that science is way cooler than fiction. While sci-fi is too romantic and too full of speculations, he notes one benefit of sci-fi is that it becomes an avenue through which readers can learn bits and pieces of scientific knowledge. He is quick to point out though that one downside to science students having been exposed to sci-fi would have prejudices which would be difficult to detach from when they do their own experiments.
Another point of interest in the book is how the celestial objects got their names, as well as the widely debated extraterrestrial life. At the end of the book, Sagan juxtaposes sciences to religion, touching on the question of origins and which inevitably would lead to the question of whether God exists or not. To this question, Sagan plays it safe by saying that "we simply do not know" (p. 337) quoting the passage below from the Rig Veda:
Since I became engrossed with chaos theory, I would often find myself buying science books from Booksale. For some reason, my lack of science courses in college gave me this thirst, this feeling that my education lacks something essential for me to have a clearer grasp of the natural world. One of the books I bought is Carl Sagan's Broca's Brain, which struck me at first as a sci-fi novel. (I didn't know any scientist named Broca, that's why!)
One thing I like about the book is that it is written for the lay reader, for those like me who are not science majors. The book on the whole is very engaging as Sagan not only focuses on scientific findings and discoveries but also touch on myths and pseudoscience. Reading the introduction part, one is already tempted to read the book from cover to cover in just one sitting. There's just this excitement that I felt when I read the following words:
"We live in an extraordinary age. These are times of stunning
changes in social organization, economic well-being, moral and ethical
precepts, philosophical and religious perspectives, and human self-knowledge,
as well as in our understanding of that vast universe in which we are embedded
like a grain of sand in this cosmic ocean. As long as there have been human
beings, we have posed the deep and fundamental questions, which evoke wonder
and stir us into at least a tentative and trembling awareness, questions on the
origins of consciousness; life on our planet; the beginnings of the Earth; the
formation of the Sun; the possibility of intelligent beings somewhere up there
in the depths of the sky; as well as, the grandest inquiry of all--- on the advent,
nature and ultimate destiny of the universe. For all but the last instant of
human history these issues have been the exclusive province of philosophers and
poets, shamans and theologians. The diverse and mutually contradictory answers
offered demonstrate that few of the proposed solutions have been correct. But
today, as a result of knowledge painfully extracted from nature, through
generations of careful thinking, observing and experimenting, we are on the
verge of glimpsing at least preliminary answers to many of these questions."
In Broca's Brain, Carl Sagan successfully captures the attention of readers to hear the side of science as he tackles major claims made by pseudoscientists. In particular, he debunks Immanuel Velikovsky's Worlds in Collisions which explains why catastrophes were experienced by ancient cultures, as reflected in their myths and religions. After a detailed critique, Sagan suggests that science should not be kept in an ivory tower and should be demystified so that technological initiatives can be supported by the people since scientific research is expensive and more often than not, funds are sourced from the taxes that dutiful citizens pay.
Sagan also offers a personal snippet of his life as he traces his early interests in science through science fiction, though he has come to think that science is way cooler than fiction. While sci-fi is too romantic and too full of speculations, he notes one benefit of sci-fi is that it becomes an avenue through which readers can learn bits and pieces of scientific knowledge. He is quick to point out though that one downside to science students having been exposed to sci-fi would have prejudices which would be difficult to detach from when they do their own experiments.
Another point of interest in the book is how the celestial objects got their names, as well as the widely debated extraterrestrial life. At the end of the book, Sagan juxtaposes sciences to religion, touching on the question of origins and which inevitably would lead to the question of whether God exists or not. To this question, Sagan plays it safe by saying that "we simply do not know" (p. 337) quoting the passage below from the Rig Veda:
"Who knows for certain? Who shall here declare it?
Whence was it born, whence came creation?
The gods are later than this world's formation;
Who then can know the origins of the world?
None knows whence creation arose;
And whether he has or has not made it;
He who surveys it from the lofty skies,
Only he knows--- or perhaps he knows not."
