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title: "The Demon-Haunted World"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:31:38.450954+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Reception and legacy ==
The book was a New York Times bestseller.  The contemporary skeptical movement considers it an important book. The Demon-Haunted World has been criticized (in Smithsonian magazine and The New York Times) for not incorporating certain information relevant to the items he discusses in his book. The Smithsonian article by Paul Trachtman argues that Sagan relates issues of government choices and declining scientific thinking skills to pseudoscience topics like astrology and faith healing but ignores other issues that may be causing governmental bodies and other individuals to turn away from science. One such issue is consequences of pouring governmental money into cancer research. Trachtman writes, "it is not because of such beliefs that Congress now approaches the NIH budget with an ax. In fact, billions of dollars spent on years of research in the war on cancer have spawned growing professional bureaucracies and diminishing medical benefits." Trachtman argues that Sagan does not include problems like growing bureaucracies and diminishing medical benefits as reasons for a lack of scientific attention. In his review for The New York Times, James Gorman also argues for an unaddressed issue in Sagan's book, saying Sagan fails to emphasize the idea that scientists should take a more active role in teaching science to the public, while he does mention the failures of the education system to do so.
The review in the Smithsonian magazine and a review by academic biologist Richard Lewontin in the New York Review of Books provide a range of opinions on Sagan's attitude towards religious ideas. Per the New York Review article, "when it comes to the Supreme Extraterrestrial he is rather circumspect." The Smithsonian article suggests Sagan was very clear about his religious beliefs in the book, for he "splits his universe in two, into science and irrationality." The Smithsonian goes on to say that Sagan's defined religious views fall within the area of an untestable claim, a type of claim he argues against in The Demon-Haunted World.
Lewontin's review also claims that Sagan includes something in The Demon-Haunted World which he also is arguing against in that same text. The article mentions how Sagan discusses a natural predisposition people have towards science; but, the article says, "He does not tell us how he used the scientific method to discover the "embedded" human proclivity for science." Sagan heavily discusses the importance of using the scientific method in his book, and this article claims he strays away from his own message by not including a description of his use of the scientific method on this topic.
A review by Lee Dembart in the Los Angeles Times was positive. It described Sagan's book as "a manifesto for clear thought", with the main issue being the length of eight chapters. Gorman's review in The New York Times also criticised the length of the book.
The book has received a number of retrospective reviews. An article in The Guardian, 2012, described the book as somewhat dated, though still insightful. Another article from The Verge in 2017 noted that a quote from the book regarding Sagan's pessimistic prediction for a future America had gone viral on Twitter, which the article described as "chillingly prescient". The article praised the book, stating that Sagan "practiced the scientific skepticism and thinking that he preached, and that's what helped him accurately analyze the trends of his time and forecast their eventual outcomes in ours."

== See also ==

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds – 1841 book by Charles Mackay
Junk science – Scientific data considered to be spurious or fraudulent
Pathological science – Area of research which persists despite being widely discredited
Rationalism – Epistemological view centered on reason

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Ayala, F. J. Ayala (July 26, 1996). "The Demon-Haunted World, reviewed". Science. Vol. 273, no. 5274. pp. 442–444. Bibcode:1996Sci...273..442S. doi:10.1126/science.273.5274.442.
Dembart, Lee (April 18, 1996). "Book Review / Non Fiction : For This Scientist, the Truth Is Out There : The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan". Los Angeles Times.
Gorman, James (April 7, 1996). "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The New York Times.
Schult, Jeff (April 1996). "The Case for Science (Carl Sagan: The Demon-Haunted World – Science as a Candle in the Dark)". American Reporter.