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Why is the book so expensive (in Britain)? I found a picture online of the back cover showing ISBN 0-7472-5156-8 and £7.99, but the prices I see for ordering it

by bloak 1y ago

Why is the book so expensive (in Britain)? I found a picture online of the back cover showing ISBN 0-7472-5156-8 and £7.99, but the prices I see for ordering it now are ... discouraging.

dfxm12 1y ago
£7.99 might have been the price for a new copy 30 years ago. There are used copies on eBay for around this price with free shipping from the states. Consider that out of print hardcover first printings might ask a premium & if you have a local bookstore that you might want to support.
tim333 1y ago
Free online at archive.org https://ia801202.us.archive.org/6/items/DemonHauntedWorld_carlSagan/Sagan_-_The_Demon-Haunted_World___Science_as_a_candle_in_the_dark.pdf https://ia801202.us.archive.org/6/items/DemonHauntedWorld_ca...
- bloak 1y ago
  Thanks! Quick review: The 25 chapters are mostly independent and some of them are updated versions of something published earlier. Obviously the chapters complaining about the state of science education in the USA in the 1990s are less interesting for a European reading today. For me the most interesting chapters were 4-15 and 24, about witchcraft and human gullibility, for example. I find the cheerleading for science in the initial chapters rather tiresome. That's just a personal reaction. I don't think the author is in any way "wrong". I suppose it's partly because it's something I feel I've grown out of. I read a lot of science popularisation when I was young, and I studied sciences, but in my old age I usually prefer literary fiction. I can't help feeling that "Science works!" is a very dull claim in view of the fact that anything that works gets accepted as "science". And the much vaunted "scientific method" is really just common sense, isn't it, really? Can that be taught? I have my doubts. Interestingly, his chapter 18 on !Kung San hunters somewhat makes that same point ... A nit: He repeats the tired old myth about rhino horns being used medicinally to prevent impotence. More credible writers on that subject[] say they are used for jewellery, knife handles and the like. [] "Last chance to see", co-authored by Douglas Adams, perhaps? I can't remember whether it's mentioned in there but I'd recommend that book in any case.

by bloak 1y ago

Why is the book so expensive (in Britain)? I found a picture online of the back cover showing ISBN 0-7472-5156-8 and £7.99, but the prices I see for ordering it now are ... discouraging.

dfxm12 1y ago

£7.99 might have been the price for a new copy 30 years ago. There are used copies on eBay for around this price with free shipping from the states. Consider that out of print hardcover first printings might ask a premium & if you have a local bookstore that you might want to support.

tim333 1y ago

Free online at archive.org https://ia801202.us.archive.org/6/items/DemonHauntedWorld_carlSagan/Sagan_-_The_Demon-Haunted_World___Science_as_a_candle_in_the_dark.pdf https://ia801202.us.archive.org/6/items/DemonHauntedWorld_ca...

bloak 1y ago
Thanks! Quick review: The 25 chapters are mostly independent and some of them are updated versions of something published earlier. Obviously the chapters complaining about the state of science education in the USA in the 1990s are less interesting for a European reading today. For me the most interesting chapters were 4-15 and 24, about witchcraft and human gullibility, for example. I find the cheerleading for science in the initial chapters rather tiresome. That's just a personal reaction. I don't think the author is in any way "wrong". I suppose it's partly because it's something I feel I've grown out of. I read a lot of science popularisation when I was young, and I studied sciences, but in my old age I usually prefer literary fiction. I can't help feeling that "Science works!" is a very dull claim in view of the fact that anything that works gets accepted as "science". And the much vaunted "scientific method" is really just common sense, isn't it, really? Can that be taught? I have my doubts. Interestingly, his chapter 18 on !Kung San hunters somewhat makes that same point ... A nit: He repeats the tired old myth about rhino horns being used medicinally to prevent impotence. More credible writers on that subject[] say they are used for jewellery, knife handles and the like. [] "Last chance to see", co-authored by Douglas Adams, perhaps? I can't remember whether it's mentioned in there but I'd recommend that book in any case.