Popular science proselytizer Carl Sagan makes an impassioned plea for society to understand, accept and encourage science that goes far beyond the movement of planets or subatomic particles and extends to the heart of intellectual freedom and the meaning of democracy. Many may know the astronomer primarily from his television appearances as popular conduit to understanding the rarefied atmosphere of pure science. They may be startled at the ferocity and elegance with which Sagan attacks what could be called the approach of the second Dark Ages.
The text begins as a scholarly and deliberate attempt to explain how important intellectual curiosity is to science. It evolves into an impassioned statement for personal and intellectual freedom as understood during and after the Enlightenment. This was manifested in such uniquely American treasures as the Declaration of Independence through thought.....
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