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Title: Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0-345-33689-5 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 February, 1986 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (25 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Cosmology at its best
Comment: Carl Sagan established his reputation as a writer with three works: Cosmos, Broca's Brain, and Contact. Cosmos is renowned as one of the century's best non-fiction works and Contact became a top-grossing, award-winning film. Broca's Brain meets the standard of Sagan's more famous pieces. Even were you to only read one chapter, the book would still be worth purchase. I especially recommend this book to those who have read John F. Haught (theologian) or Stephen Hawking (physicist) and assume that science and religion are locked in a death match.
Rating: 5
Summary: Writing that is almost religious in power
Comment: Carl Sagan is so widely known for his popularization of science that his thoughts on the philosophy of science are easily forgotten. Which is unfortunate, because he also shines in this area. This is never more aptly demonstrated than when he discusses the ideas of Immanuel Velikovsky. The ideas themselves are “explanations” of many of the ancient myths created by invoking rather extreme and unusual astronomic phenomena. While the explanations are clearly preposterous, Sagan does not simply dismiss them, but subjects them to a thorough critical examination. Along the way he also criticizes some of his scientist colleagues, pointing out that the role of science is not to make preconceived value judgements, but to subject all ideas to the ruthless meritocratic critical analysis that makes science work. His reasoned arguments against Velikovsky’s ideas and against some who rejected them using attacks beyond the normal bounds of legitimate criticism, is the best explanation of how science should work that you will ever find.
The title of the book is derived from his finding the preserved brain of Paul Broca in a French museum. Broca is best known for discovering the previously unsuspected fact that the brain is compartmentalized into functional regions. Broca’s brain is preserved in a jar of formalin and when he finds it, Sagan asks some questions that go to the heart of what makes humans what they are and what we become after death. His simple question, “How much of that man known as Paul Broca can still be found in this jar?” is a very profound one. If you possess a religious nature, the answer is probably “nothing.” However, if you follow modern studies of how the brain functions, there is the fascinating thought that since memories seem to be stored in proteins, it may be theoretically possible to “recreate” a dead person by manipulating their memory proteins. Such thoughts could also be used to argue in favor of life after death, in that we live on if our protein patterns live on. The soul of a human could then be considered as a permanent record of these patterns, that are continually updated as a person generates new memories.
The first book by Carl Sagan that I ever read was Intelligent Life In The Universe, which he co-wrote with I. S. Shklovski. I struggled through the book when I was still in elementary school, being overwhelmed with the science but so enthralled with the writing and subject matter that I refused to quit until I completed it. He was clearly the most lucid, readable and passionate expositor of what science is that his generation produced. His passing left a void that is not easily filled.
Rating: 5
Summary: A time to think
Comment: The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. Sagan is a master of distilling scientific complexity for a layman's understanding.
A fascinating journey through various aspects of science. There are few books in the world which can instill such wonderment for the meaning of things.
Sagan was always opinionated, but seldom shows bias. He lets the reader make up his mind by asking the questions, not giving the answers.
One of the pillars of any good book collection.
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Title: Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345346297 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345384725 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 07 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Demon-Haunted World by Ann Druyan, Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345409469 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 25 February, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Cosmos by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345331354 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 October, 1985 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Billions & Billions by Carl Sagan ISBN: 0345379187 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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