Notes from the Holocene

Dorion Sagan

Chelsea Green Publishers • 978 1 933392 32 5

Do not, whatever you do, be put off by the title. Written in a thought-provoking and humorous style, this one attempts to penetrate the veil of illusion in which we all find ourselves to answer the deeper questions of existence. Working from his premise that the universe is far weirder than we assume – or are comfortable with – Sagan, son of the acclaimed late scientist Carl, brings together strange but interesting bedfellows, from philosophy and science to sleight-of-hand magic and, weirdly, the writings of sci-fi author Philip K Dick, to explore the timeless and deepest existential questions. How often can one truly say that fresh insights have been brought to ageless question about why we are here, the prognosis for humanity, the cell-like nature of our planet and, from a mathematical point of view, why our reality, individual and collective, is most likely merely one among a very great many?