The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God | 
| Author: Carl Sagan
Creator: Ann Druyan
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 53639
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0143112627
Dewey Decimal Number: 523
EAN: 9780143112624
ASIN: 0143112627
Publication Date: November 6, 2007
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Product Description
Carl Sagans prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spirituality
The late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other planets, creationism and so-called intelligent design, and a new concept of science as informed worship. Originally presented at the centennial celebration of the famous Gifford Lectures in Scotland in 1985 but never published, this book offers a unique encounter with one of the most remarkable minds of the twentieth century.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Excellent Reading. July 5, 2008
Let me first say that it is very sad that amazon is practically giving this book away, such is its demand.
In it, Dr. Sagan talks about everything from the possibility of life on other planets, to the existence of god(s). He discusses how life arose on this planet, its likely hood on other planets. He compares ideas scientists had in the past to what we know today about this process. He also discusses what UFO sightings really are and also ideas about god, gods, religion, and belief. Very mind-opening and ponderous, I might add.
This book would be great reading for philosophy students, college students, and people looking to expand their critical thinking skills generally.
This book is basically a transcript of the Gifford lectures that Carl Sagan gave in the University of Glasgow in 1985. Since it is basically a transcript of the lectures, reading it is almost like being in the lecture hall and hearing them yourself.
from wikipedia:
"The Gifford Lectures were established by the will of Adam Lord Gifford (d. 1887). They were established to 'promote and diffuse the study of Natural Theology in the widest sense of the term -- in other words, the knowledge of God.' The term natural theology as used by Gifford means theology supported by science and not dependent on the miraculous. The lectures are given at the Scottish universities: University of St Andrews, University of Glasgow, University of Aberdeen and University of Edinburgh.
A Gifford lectures appointment is one of the most prestigious honors in academia. They are normally presented as a series over an academic year and given with the intent that the edited content be published in book form. A number of these works have become classics in the fields of theology or philosophy and their relationship to science."
The only atheist book you should bother with July 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wonderfully entertaining and educational. (These lectures were first given in the 80s; footnotes update most outdated information.) I'm usually as irritated by atheist dogma as I am by religious, but Sagan manages to not be annoying. In fact, this is the only atheist book I've ever read (and I've read many) that I found worthwhile.
(In the interest of perspective: I am an atheist. I generally find writing about it unnecessary.)
 Mentally stimulating and entertaining April 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
A mentally stimulating as well as entertaining look at science and religion. A book prepared by his wife after his death. Material used during a speaking engagement made many years ago but still very relevant. A new look at religion from the outstanding brain of a scientific genius. I like to study and consider other religious ideas, no religion is good if it can't be questioned.
A Gift to Mankind--Cosmos Vision for Leaders February 13, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
I have ten pages of notes on this book. It is a beautifully presented volume of lectures that includes slides and stunning color photographs in the body.
The forward by Ann Druyan, editor, has several noteworthy lines:
+ He believed that the little we do know about nature suggests that we know even less about God.
+ His argument was not with God but with those who believed that our understanding of the sacred has been completed.
+ We are spiritually and culturally paralyzed, unable to face the vastness, to embrace our lack of centrality and find our actual place in the fabric of nature.
+ [His] vision of a critically thoughtful public, awakened to science as a way of thinking, impelled him....
+ The working title for these lectures was "Ethos."
The occasion of the lectures was a series on Natural Theology, which is defined as everything about the world not supplied by revelation.
Here are my flyleaf notes:
+ Coping with godliness versus superstition
+ Universe is mostly nothing/blackness; light is the rarity
+ Religion means "binding together" (consistent with those who seek to make religion more of a communitarian endeavor instead of supporting vast hierarchies of "leaders" living off the backs of the far-flung people)
+ 500 million years from now Earth will probably explode--worlds have lifetimes just as humans do.
+ Earth consists is one of a trillion bits in the universe, with 400 billion comprising our galaxy.
+ Churchs have sought to build a wall against science and be exempt from scientific examination.
+ Origin of earth can be conceptualized as a natural selection over millions of years, in which a single particle of dust, this one time, leads to a chain of collisions, electrical energy, and heat melting reactions that took millions of year to evolve to this point
+ Stability of atoms is a *spectacular* phenomenon.
+ Bio-chemical fossils have been recovered.
+ Sir William Higgins frightened the Earth in 1910 when gas-light analysis revealed that cyanide was present in distant stars some thought were on a collision course with earth.
+ Given millions of years the accidental or incidental spontaneous creation of amino acids is perfectly reasonable.
+ Densities in outer space are consistent with organic matter
+ Titan, specifically, has great lakes of liquid hydrocarbons ("chicken soup" for life) Date of this information from NASA: July 2006)
Search for extraterrestial intelligence could be compared to the search for God. There are two calculations:
+ Tough formula: just one, and it is us.
+ Liberal formula: a million other planets with life, but the nearest one is 100 light years away
+ Mathematics would appear to be the common language for inter-galactic communication (see my online review of "Google 2.0: The Calculating Predator--their computational mathematics are "out of this world."
+ UFO fraud is akin to the sale of religious relics
+ Scientology (declared a cult in Germany) has transmorgified from Dianetics
+ Spinoza and Einstein considered God to be the embodiment of all natural scientific principles
+ Religious "conversions" tend to "join" the existing prevalent community religion
+ Six arguments about the origins of the universe do not satisfy:
- Cosmological
- From Design
- Moral
- Ontological
- Consciousness
- Experience
+ Indigenous peoples recognize other levels of consciousness
+ Emotions may be bio-chemical attributes, and "religion" could be a molecule that produces social conformity
+ Book concludes with a chapter on "Crimes Against Creation" that is most t imely. The author worried about nuclear holocausts leading to firestorms (I would add, aggravated by the collapse of urban water systems). He speaks of a witches' brew of pyrotaxins, ultraviolet light, and time scale readiological fall-out (see also books such as
High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health
Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink
Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power
+ Golden Rule matters!
+ The author saw a steady trend of individuals identifying with ever larger wholes to the point of "Whole Earth" [Co-Evolution Quarterly by Stewart Brand, Whole Earth Review by Howard Rheingold, Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link or WELL in the 1970-1990 timeframe; today, the World Index of Social and Economic Responsibility led by Paul Hawken and Peggy Duvette, among others).
The Q&A section is a very fine segue to the book.
Q: How do you recognize truth?
A: It must be consistent of itself, not inconsistent with what is already proven, and we must really understand how badly we want to know or are biased toward accepting without question. Good science is reproducible; miracles are not.
Q: If universe expanding, what is it expanding into?
A: Additional dimensions beyond three.
Q: What is to be done to avoid self-immolation?
A: Demand and practice participatory democracy with a vengeance.
On this latter, see also:
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents)
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus)
101 Myths of the Bible
Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World
To Govern Evolution: Further Adventures of the Political Animal
The Age of Missing Information
Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography
Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin
Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West
The Republican War on Science
Other books I would have linked if allowed:
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Third Edition
The Future of Life
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
I put the book down regretting that I never had a chance to hear the author speak in person.
A lost voice of reason January 1, 2008
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This collection of Sagan's 1985 Gifford Lectures are as fresh and relevant today as they were over 20 years ago...perhaps even more so. In this collection, we are reminded of what made Sagan such as successful spokesman for scientific endeavor and rationality in general.
The material Sagan uses to frame his arguments are familiar to anyone who watched his Cosmos series on PBS. In these lectures, he hits on many of the same themes: the vastness of the universe, the immensity of time, the tiny amount of time that humankind has inhabited the earth relative to the planet's geological age, the wonders of evolution, our willingness (or even "need") to believe in the paranormal and the perils posed by nuclear weapons. These lectures are, however, more pointed about the nature (or "causes") of religion. While Sagan is quite careful and indeed artful in avoiding the direct disparagement of religion and its reliance on God as an explanation for all mysteries, his position is clear. What he requires of all statements and assertions is rigorous proof, demonstrable evidence. In this, he finds paranormal beliefs lacking. The thoroughness, forthrightness and delicacy of his arguments are all the more refreshing in this time of theocratic political leanings and scientific illiteracy in the United States.
Perhaps the most effective aspect of his arguments are that they are not condescending, mocking or inconsiderate. Rather, he dispassionately challenges the listener to find fault with his position that those things which are knowable and true are subject to analysis and confirmation. All else belongs to the realm of subjective emotion.
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