There's one thing I don't like about this book: that it took me this long to finally read it.

Carl Sagan is one of my personal heroes (of the "if you could meet any person in history..." variety) who first inspired me at the age of 10 when his Cosmos TV series screened in Australia. Such a knowledgeable, well-read and intelligent man exhibited such a sense of wonder at the universe, whether it be a drop of pond water on a slide under a microscope to stellar nurseries in nebula, taught me that it's possible to discuss, debate or argue with someone with a conflicting viewpoint without making it personal. Even his skepticism (nearly always) had a good-natured, patient, almost paternal quality about it. By his actions he taught me that you don't have to be nasty, dismissive or derogatory - even if receiving that treatment yourself - when wearing one's skeptic hat. I wish more people realised that.

But you know who he was, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this...

This book effectively contains his final words to the world, before his untimely death a year after publication. It teaches the scientific method and demonstrates its application and ease of misapplication in nearly every facet of our lives (including economics), and illustrates the legendary Baloney Detection Kit that many skeptics will have cobbled together out of personal experience: understanding of basic logical fallacies, our tendency towards anthropocentrism and naturalistic fallacies, and - without malice - outlines history's failure to apply such basic concepts. It contains a lot more - I'll leave it to you to read the table of contents from Amazon, etc.

You need to read this book. Whether you're in high school or retired, religious or not, scientist or layperson, housewife or corporate CEO, everyone will gain something out of it. If the thought of such a printed tome is daunting, then the audiobook version is an excellent alternative.