54 pages • 1 hour read
Carl SaganA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Sagan discusses his feelings of grief after the death of his parents, to whom he was very close, and his natural longing to believe that aspects of them remained in one form or another after death. He then disparages those who capitalize on this human need, such as mediums and channeling spiritualists, before providing an exhaustive list of what he calls “cases of proved or presumptive baloney” (209), in which people knowingly deceived someone else by assuming beliefs to which they do not actually subscribe. To counter this, Sagan presents what he calls the “baloney detection kit” full of “Tools for skeptical thinking” (210), which provide a foundation of falsifiability against spurious claims, such as abduction by aliens:
After providing tools for proactive thinking, Sagan next reveals what not to do by listing 20 logical fallacies, which are common errors in reasoning that weaken or invalidate arguments.
By Carl Sagan
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