![]() As an astronomer, Sagan is especially plagued by reports of UFO visitations and abductions, so that is what he focuses on, analyzing these reports in detail, starting with the origins of the ``flying saucer'' craze in the pulp science fiction of the '30s and '40s. Despite the proven power of science to change the world, pseudoscience thrives-claiming as its adherents bright, inquisitive people who, according to Sagan, have not learned the basic techniques of careful inquiry. He starts with an anecdote of a cab driver who, upon learning that his passenger was ``that scientist guy,'' insisted on quizzing him on UFOs, Atlantis, the shroud of Turin, and similar topics from the fringes of rational discourse. ![]() Sagan (Pale Blue Dot, 1994, etc.) takes it as his mission to defend the worth and importance of science against the irrational crossfire of New Age philosophies and religious fundamentalism. ![]() Alarmed by the rise of superstition and pseudoscience, a leading science writer rallies the forces of reason and scientific literacy. ![]()
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