Broca's Brain
Cosmos |
Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science is a 1979 book by the astrophysicist
As long as there have been human beings, we have posed the deep and fundamental questions. ... If we do not destroy ourselves, most of us will be around for the answers. ... By far the most exciting, satisfying and exhilarating time to be alive is the time in which we pass from ignorance to knowledge on these fundamental issues.
— p. xiii
Title
The title essay is named in honor of the French
Contents
A major part of the book is devoted to debunking "paradoxers" who either live at the edge of science or are outright charlatans. An example of this is the controversy surrounding Immanuel Velikovsky's ideas presented in the book Worlds in Collision. Another large part of the book discusses naming conventions for the members of our solar system and their physical features. Sagan also discusses science fiction at some length. Here, he mentions Robert A. Heinlein as being one of his favorite science fiction authors in his childhood. Near-death experiences and their cultural ambiguity is another topic of the essays. Sagan also criticizes ideas developed in Robert K. G. Temple's book The Sirius Mystery, published three years earlier in 1975.
In the final section of the book, "Ultimate Questions", Sagan writes:
My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence were provided by such a god ... on the other hand if such a god does not exist then our curiosity and intelligence are the essential tools for survival. In either case the enterprise of knowledge is essential for the welfare of the human species.
Reception
Kirkus Reviews stated that, as an essayist, Sagan was "no Bronowski", and overall judged the collection to be "a mixed, often surprising bag of treats".[2]
People considered that—aside from the "strangely touching" chapter about Broca's preserved brain—the book as a whole "rambles", with "plenty of science ... but little romance."[3]
References
- ISBN 9780307800992
- ^ Broca's Brain: Reflections on the romance of science, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published May 1, 1979; archived online ??; retrieved April 7, 2020
- ^ Picks and Pans Review: Broca's Brain, in People; published June 18, 1979; retrieved April 7, 2020