Carl%20Sagan%20-%20The%20Demon%20Haunted%20World

THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD
received from Parade readers has greatly enhanced my understanding
of the issues described in this book and the variety of
public attitudes. I have in several places excerpted some of my
mail from Parade readers which, it seems to me, has provided a
kind of finger on the pulse of the citizenry of the United States.
The Editor-in-Chief of Parade, Walter Anderson, and the Senior
Editor, David Currier, as well as the editorial and research staff of
this remarkable magazine have in many cases greatly improved
my presentation. They also have permitted opinions to be
expressed that might not have made it into print in mass-market
publications less dedicated to the First Amendment of the US
Constitution. Some portions of the text first appeared in The
Washington Post and The New York Times. The last chapter is
based in part on an address I had the pleasure of delivering on 4
July 1992 from the East Portico at Monticello - the 'back of the
nickel' - on the occasion of the induction to US citizenship of
people from thirty-one other nations.
My opinions on democracy, the method of science and public
education have been influenced by enormous numbers of people
over the years, many of whom I mention in the body of the text.
But I would like to single out here the inspiration I have received
from Martin Gardner, Isaac Asimov, Philip Morrison and Henry
Steele Commager. There is not room to thank the many others
who have helped provide understanding and lucid examples, or
who have corrected errors of omission or commission, but I want
them all to know how deeply grateful I am to them. I must
however explicitly thank the following friends and colleagues for
critically reviewing earlier drafts of this book: Bill Aldridge; Susan
Blackmore; William Cromer; Fred Frankel; Kendrick Frazier;
Martin Gardner; Ira Glasser; Fred Golden; Kurt Gottfried;
Lester Grinspoon; Philip Klass; Paul Kurtz; Elizabeth Loftus;
David Morrison; Richard Ofshe; Jay Orear; Albert Pennybacker;
Frank Press; Theodore Roszak; Dorion Sagan; David Saperstein;
Robert Seiple; Steven Soter; Jeremy Stone; Peter Sturrock and
Yervant Terzian.
I also am very grateful to my literary agent, Morton Janklow,
and members of his staff for wise counsel; Roger Houghton, my
editor at Headline Book Publishing; William Barnett for ushering
410