The Non-Fiction Bookshelf #2

Another foray into my non-fiction favorites! If you missed the first installment, you can find it here along with any and all motivations that propel me to do such things...

Cosmos – Carl Sagan


In my view, this book and the accompanying PBS series combined into one entity is Carl Sagan’s masterpiece. He fuses astronomy, history, philosophy, religion, biography, speculation, and art into this project in such an unique and astonishing way that one can’t help but be completely enthralled with the information given. We start off as a passenger on a ‘spaceship of the imagination’ that takes us back and forth through time from the moment of the Big Bang to the end of the Earth – either by the Sun’s expansion into a red giant star about 6 billion years from now, or the end of humanity through self-destruction. In between and along the way we see the evolution of life with the progression of natural and artificial selection, to the rise and fall of the Ionians in Greece, we hear the questions posed about alien life and what it would mean to humanity, we find explorers of the future in their nuclear powered spaceships, and to the present where Sagan gives a moving plea in the final chapter, ‘Who Speaks for Earth?’ as he asks the people of the Earth to cooperate and help each other in ways that promote a global community that appreciates cultural diversity, as well as a common stewardship of the planet that we all share.
Being that this is one of the best selling science books of all time and the most watched PBS series ever; Sagan’s message of education and wonder made it out to a lot of people – including a 4 year-old and a 31 year-old version of me! As a professional astronomer and science populizer, he understood the importance of communicating to the public the contemporary discoveries of science and the lessons of history.

On exploration then and now:

These voyages of exploration and discovery are the latest in a long series that have characterized and distinguished human history. In the 15th and 16th centuries you could travel from Spain to the Azores in a few days, the same time it takes us now to cross the channel from Earth to the Moon. It took then a few months to traverse the Atlantic Ocean and reach what was called the New World, the Americas. Today it takes a few months to cross the ocean of the inner solar system and make planet-fall on Mars or Venus, which are truly and literally new worlds awaiting us. In the 17th and 18th centuries you could travel from Holland to China in a year or two, the time it has taken Voyager to travel from Earth to Jupiter.

On theology:

Every human culture rejoices in the fact that there are cycles in nature. But how, it was thought, could such cycles come about unless the gods willed them? And if there are cycles in the years of humans, might there not be cycles in the aeons of the gods?... It is said that men may not be the dreams of the gods, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men.

On humanity and stewardship:

There are not yet any obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours always rush implacably, headlong, toward self-destruction. National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical ethnic or religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of stars… What account would we give of our stewardship of the planet Earth? We have heard the rationales offered by the nuclear superpowers. We know who speaks for the nations. But who speaks for the human species? Who speaks for Earth?

On Bullshit – Harry G. Frankfurt


It’s a funny title and subject for sure, but this book is a serious philosophical inquiry into the nature of bullshit and its applications. I might also say that Frankfurt is a Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton – just to appease anyone that thinks this is all a bunch of bullshit.

Opening argument:

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit... In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, and what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, we have no theory. I propose to begin the development of a theoretical understanding of bullshit, mainly by providing some tentative and exploratory philosophical analysis.

One of the main subjects of the book is the distinction between a liar and a bullshitter. Frankfurt contends that a liar is more vile than a mere bullshitter.

Telling a lie is an act with a sharp focus. It is designed to insert a particular falsehood at a specific point in a set or system of beliefs, in order to avoid the consequences of having that point occupied by the truth. This requires a degree of craftsmanship, in which the teller of the lie submits to objective constraints imposed by what he takes to be the truth… In order to invent an effective lie, he must design his falsehood under the guidance of truth. On the other hand, a person who undertakes to bullshit his way through has much more freedom. His focus is panoramic rather than particular. He does not limit himself to inserting a certain falsehood at a specific point, and thus he is not constrained by the truths surrounding that point or intersecting it. He is prepared, so far as required, to fake context as well. This freedom from the constraints to which the liar must submit does not necessarily mean, of course, that his task is easier than the task of the liar. But the mode of creativity upon which it relies is less analytical and less deliberative than that which is mobilized in lying. It is more expansive and independent, with more spacious opportunities for improvisation, color, and imaginative play. Hence the familiar notion of the “bullshit artist.”

Frankfurt’s descriptions of bullshit are so succinct and poignant, that I can’t elaborate or bullshit my way through any analysis of his theoretical study. The only thing I can add here, on a personal note, is that I get a giddy chuckle every time I read the word ‘bullshit’ and ‘bullshitter’ in this insightful book!