What do you think?
Rate this book
Notes from the Holocene: A Brief History of the Future
In a thought-provoking, humorous, and engaging style, Dorion Sagan combines philosophy, science, and an understanding of illusion to probe the deep questions of existence.
Operating on the precept that the universe is far weirder than we might imagine, Sagan-- son of acclaimed scientists Carl Sagan and Lynn Margulis--uses his knowledge of philosophy, science, sleight-of-hand magic, and the fantastical writings of Philip K. Dick to explore some of the deepest questions we face on Earth. He provides fresh insights as to why we are here, the nature of technology, the prognosis for humanity, the living nature of our planet, and a reasoned explanation to why our universe is probably just one of an infinite number.
Sagan also provides answers to twelve pressing Notes from the Holocene is a prime example of the writing coming from a new generation of scientific writers. It will inspire readers to think for themselves while leaving them chuckling with tongue-in-cheek anecdotes--a rare combination that Sagan delivers with ease. And yes, as geneticist J.B.S. Haldane says, "the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine."
Operating on the precept that the universe is far weirder than we might imagine, Sagan-- son of acclaimed scientists Carl Sagan and Lynn Margulis--uses his knowledge of philosophy, science, sleight-of-hand magic, and the fantastical writings of Philip K. Dick to explore some of the deepest questions we face on Earth. He provides fresh insights as to why we are here, the nature of technology, the prognosis for humanity, the living nature of our planet, and a reasoned explanation to why our universe is probably just one of an infinite number.
Sagan also provides answers to twelve pressing Notes from the Holocene is a prime example of the writing coming from a new generation of scientific writers. It will inspire readers to think for themselves while leaving them chuckling with tongue-in-cheek anecdotes--a rare combination that Sagan delivers with ease. And yes, as geneticist J.B.S. Haldane says, "the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine."
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2007
7 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Dorion Sagan
48 books50 followersDorion Sagan (born 1959 in Madison, Wisconsin) is an American science writer, essayist, and theorist. He has written and co-authored many books on culture, evolution, and the history and philosophy of science, most recently The Sciences of Avatar: from Anthropology to Xenology and Death and Sex, which won first place at the 2010 New York Book Show in the general trade nonfiction category. His Into the Cool, co-authored with Eric D. Schneider, is about the relationship between non-equilibrium thermodynamics and life.
A Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association, he has been a Humana Scholar at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and received an Educational Press Association of America Excellence in Educational Journalism Award for “The Riddle of Sex,” which appeared in The Science Teacher. His Death and Sex, a two-in-one hardcover published by Chelsea Green, won the 2010 New York Book Show in the competitive general trade nonfiction category. His current interests include philosophy and science fiction.
Sagan is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and biologist Lynn Margulis. His younger brother is Jeremy Sagan and his half-brother is Nick Sagan.
A Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association, he has been a Humana Scholar at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and received an Educational Press Association of America Excellence in Educational Journalism Award for “The Riddle of Sex,” which appeared in The Science Teacher. His Death and Sex, a two-in-one hardcover published by Chelsea Green, won the 2010 New York Book Show in the competitive general trade nonfiction category. His current interests include philosophy and science fiction.
Sagan is the son of astronomer Carl Sagan and biologist Lynn Margulis. His younger brother is Jeremy Sagan and his half-brother is Nick Sagan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 13, 2012
This was one that I almost passed on because of the cover, the loss would have been mine. It turned out to be a quite complex read that took far longer than I anticpated as the material required time to digest.
Some of my favorite parts. This one aimed at creationists and environmentalists.
"It is amusing that, as soon as we lose the biblical arrogance that persuades us that the entire earth was made for us, we overcompensate with the opposite delusion that we are so dangerous, that all life is imperiled by our actions. Both of these egotistic views, although opposed, are highly unlikely."
Saving the planet is really a quite selfish delusional business. What makes the situation so funny is that most of the environmental community seems to take a rather harsh view of humanity, that we are a plague to be exterminated. In which case in the long run there is nothing to worry about. The other motivation that ensuring our species continues to exist is also so self serving that it becomes amusing.
Is it really relevant that humans exist 200 or 2,000 years from now? Why is this important to us? What qualities of mankind do we find so exceptional that it becomes so essential that the survival of our species becomes everything? I can understand not wanting to die or see ones loved ones perish but I'm not quite as attached to humans in the distant future. I guess I take the view that they, like us and others before us will find ways to adapt or perish.
"The ordinary person wants to save the earth. But she doesn't mean save the earth without humans. When she says Earth, she means the system that supports humans. This system was in place long before humans, however, and will likely carry on long after us."
So is the goal ensuring that humans survive no matter what or do we really place other life forms on the same level as us? The answer seems to be that nature will allow us to continue flourishing so long as we have something to offer the greater system. Not exactly a reassuring thought.
"No matter how adapt an organism is at propagating itself, if it does not fit the life cycles of others, it will fail."
"We are selected because we add stability to the system."
This book is quite a slap in the face to a large number of people. Not only are we not above the natural order (we can be exterminated) we are also naive to think we can exert substantial control over events (climate change).
Not to suggest that we shouldn't take actions to reduce our impact on the earth, but the evidence suggests our efforts will have no discernible impact. The forces involved are complex and the system has multiple safety measures that easily prevent our meddling with things.
The majority of all the species ever created have gone extinct, after each mass extinction life comes back with greater abundance than before. All our hand wringing and worries are for naught. Not only are we incapable of destroying life on this planet we are also incapable of guaranteeing our survival as a species.
Like I mentioned to start with, a really interesting book with quite a message that takes a while to digest. Like life itself this book has a magical quality that can take a bit to appreciate.
Some of my favorite parts. This one aimed at creationists and environmentalists.
"It is amusing that, as soon as we lose the biblical arrogance that persuades us that the entire earth was made for us, we overcompensate with the opposite delusion that we are so dangerous, that all life is imperiled by our actions. Both of these egotistic views, although opposed, are highly unlikely."
Saving the planet is really a quite selfish delusional business. What makes the situation so funny is that most of the environmental community seems to take a rather harsh view of humanity, that we are a plague to be exterminated. In which case in the long run there is nothing to worry about. The other motivation that ensuring our species continues to exist is also so self serving that it becomes amusing.
Is it really relevant that humans exist 200 or 2,000 years from now? Why is this important to us? What qualities of mankind do we find so exceptional that it becomes so essential that the survival of our species becomes everything? I can understand not wanting to die or see ones loved ones perish but I'm not quite as attached to humans in the distant future. I guess I take the view that they, like us and others before us will find ways to adapt or perish.
"The ordinary person wants to save the earth. But she doesn't mean save the earth without humans. When she says Earth, she means the system that supports humans. This system was in place long before humans, however, and will likely carry on long after us."
So is the goal ensuring that humans survive no matter what or do we really place other life forms on the same level as us? The answer seems to be that nature will allow us to continue flourishing so long as we have something to offer the greater system. Not exactly a reassuring thought.
"No matter how adapt an organism is at propagating itself, if it does not fit the life cycles of others, it will fail."
"We are selected because we add stability to the system."
This book is quite a slap in the face to a large number of people. Not only are we not above the natural order (we can be exterminated) we are also naive to think we can exert substantial control over events (climate change).
Not to suggest that we shouldn't take actions to reduce our impact on the earth, but the evidence suggests our efforts will have no discernible impact. The forces involved are complex and the system has multiple safety measures that easily prevent our meddling with things.
The majority of all the species ever created have gone extinct, after each mass extinction life comes back with greater abundance than before. All our hand wringing and worries are for naught. Not only are we incapable of destroying life on this planet we are also incapable of guaranteeing our survival as a species.
Like I mentioned to start with, a really interesting book with quite a message that takes a while to digest. Like life itself this book has a magical quality that can take a bit to appreciate.
September 19, 2015
Subtitle: A Brief History of the Future. I am trying to figure out exactly why I found this book unsatisfying. I am not sure if the problem was with it or me.
Dorion Sagan, let's get this out of the way early, is the son of the late Carl Sagan. He is also the son of Lynn Margulis, who is credited with being the originator of the idea that mitochondria and chloroplasts began as independent bacteria, and were then absorbed (or invaded) other cells and became organelles. So, lots of good prominent scientist DNA in his makeup.
However, he himself is not a scientist, and it shows in some ways in his writing. One of the things which bugged me was that he was almost never giving details on his sources. For example: "Fully 50 percent of the Nitrogen atoms in your body were recently in a fertilizer factory." Weird, kind of creepy, and an interesting point about how the concept of "me" is somewhat arbitrary. However, is it true? Or is this one of those things, like our bodies being 98% water, that are repeated but not actually true? I don't know, and he doesn't give a source. So this bugged me.
It is more than just a nitpick, because he is aiming at big game, with this book, and if you're after big game you'd better be sure you have your details right. Because, to be sure, Sagan is after Big Game here. By the time he says something like, "...we, despite our finitude, are fractally fixed within an infinite universe", it actually seems to mean something, rather than being word salad. Not sure that I can say what now that I'm NOT reading it any more, but I'm not sure that isn't just my fault, though.
Basically, Sagan seems to be trying to think well and deeply about what science has discovered in the last fifty years about Life, the Universe, and Everything, and put it together into a new and coherent world view. I agree that this is something that needs doing. Some of his imagery, like the repeated use of the phrase "slow green fire" to mean Life, do seem to be worth keeping in mind. One can imagine it kindling, slowly, on a cold gray planet sometime in our past, and then spreading into a great conflagration that consumes everything in its path.
In the end, though, I'm not sure if I know what to do with this book. It may be that you just can't get a satisfying result when you take on topics this far-reaching in just 200 pages. It may be that I'm expecting a tidier and more easily summarized result than I have a right to expect, given the scale of the topic. It may be that this is more or less like what might have happened if Darwin had written "On the Origin of Species" immediately after returning from his journey on the Beagle, instead of spending a couple decades pondering what he had seen, and supplementing it from his own and his correspondents' experience.
It may be that I will buy and read another Dorian Sagan book. But I'm just not sure yet.
Dorion Sagan, let's get this out of the way early, is the son of the late Carl Sagan. He is also the son of Lynn Margulis, who is credited with being the originator of the idea that mitochondria and chloroplasts began as independent bacteria, and were then absorbed (or invaded) other cells and became organelles. So, lots of good prominent scientist DNA in his makeup.
However, he himself is not a scientist, and it shows in some ways in his writing. One of the things which bugged me was that he was almost never giving details on his sources. For example: "Fully 50 percent of the Nitrogen atoms in your body were recently in a fertilizer factory." Weird, kind of creepy, and an interesting point about how the concept of "me" is somewhat arbitrary. However, is it true? Or is this one of those things, like our bodies being 98% water, that are repeated but not actually true? I don't know, and he doesn't give a source. So this bugged me.
It is more than just a nitpick, because he is aiming at big game, with this book, and if you're after big game you'd better be sure you have your details right. Because, to be sure, Sagan is after Big Game here. By the time he says something like, "...we, despite our finitude, are fractally fixed within an infinite universe", it actually seems to mean something, rather than being word salad. Not sure that I can say what now that I'm NOT reading it any more, but I'm not sure that isn't just my fault, though.
Basically, Sagan seems to be trying to think well and deeply about what science has discovered in the last fifty years about Life, the Universe, and Everything, and put it together into a new and coherent world view. I agree that this is something that needs doing. Some of his imagery, like the repeated use of the phrase "slow green fire" to mean Life, do seem to be worth keeping in mind. One can imagine it kindling, slowly, on a cold gray planet sometime in our past, and then spreading into a great conflagration that consumes everything in its path.
In the end, though, I'm not sure if I know what to do with this book. It may be that you just can't get a satisfying result when you take on topics this far-reaching in just 200 pages. It may be that I'm expecting a tidier and more easily summarized result than I have a right to expect, given the scale of the topic. It may be that this is more or less like what might have happened if Darwin had written "On the Origin of Species" immediately after returning from his journey on the Beagle, instead of spending a couple decades pondering what he had seen, and supplementing it from his own and his correspondents' experience.
It may be that I will buy and read another Dorian Sagan book. But I'm just not sure yet.
January 28, 2017
This is basically an updated and re-organized version of the author's earlier book, Biospheres, which is one of my favorite books by any author. I found that this newer book to be more loosely organized and not as readable, but the subject matter—to what extent can the Earth itself be considered a living organism, and what is the cosmic significance of life—to be just as compelling.
September 17, 2010
NOTES FROM THE HOLOCENE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE BY DORION SAGAN: Dorion Sagan, son of the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan, attempts to outline our possible future in his latest book now in paperback, Notes From the Holocene. Sagan uses every informational tool possible, not just drawing from the sciences of physics and evolutionary biology, but also from “science fiction, knowledge of magic tricks, and even a little metaphysics to speculate on basics questions of who and what we are in relationship to the Earth and the universe.” It is a book that at times seems almost silly in its thoughts, drawing from ideas that are certainly not facts, and yet when viewed as a whole is comprehensive of the way things are and what they might turn out to be. As humans, we are always asking the “Why are we here?” question, sometimes with our own answers in mind. Notes From the Holocene is Dorion Sagan’s answer to this question and many more.
The book is split into four distinct parts: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. Each section goes into immense detail about these specific components, educating the reader greatly in these areas, but at the same time, Sagan ties each part significantly to the overall idea of the book. The afterword, “Twelve Mysteries,” does an excellent job of quickly summing up his answers to the questions posed throughout the book. The twelve questions are:
Why does life exist?
Why do we drink water?
Can we save the earth from global warming?
Are human beings central and special?
Is it possible that we’ve arisen by pure chance?
Is the Earth an organism?
Are we part of its exobrain?
If Earth is alive, can it reproduce?
Can the universe?
What does the future hold in store for us?
Does God exist?
What is the nature of human reality?
Whether you’re an absolute scientist, a fundamentalist, or one who believes in reading the future in tea leaves, there is something for everyone in this book. The key is that Sagan is open minded and non-judgmental in every regard, saying that nothing is right or wrong, for nothing is certain, but here are all the possibilities. Notes From the Holocene is a book that may not have your answer to life’s questions, but it may get you thinking more about these questions, and start you on a journey with a destination where you will have your own satisfactory answers to these great questions.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
The book is split into four distinct parts: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. Each section goes into immense detail about these specific components, educating the reader greatly in these areas, but at the same time, Sagan ties each part significantly to the overall idea of the book. The afterword, “Twelve Mysteries,” does an excellent job of quickly summing up his answers to the questions posed throughout the book. The twelve questions are:
Why does life exist?
Why do we drink water?
Can we save the earth from global warming?
Are human beings central and special?
Is it possible that we’ve arisen by pure chance?
Is the Earth an organism?
Are we part of its exobrain?
If Earth is alive, can it reproduce?
Can the universe?
What does the future hold in store for us?
Does God exist?
What is the nature of human reality?
Whether you’re an absolute scientist, a fundamentalist, or one who believes in reading the future in tea leaves, there is something for everyone in this book. The key is that Sagan is open minded and non-judgmental in every regard, saying that nothing is right or wrong, for nothing is certain, but here are all the possibilities. Notes From the Holocene is a book that may not have your answer to life’s questions, but it may get you thinking more about these questions, and start you on a journey with a destination where you will have your own satisfactory answers to these great questions.
For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.
July 16, 2008
where science and prose poetry meet and decide to engage you in a reflective, provocative discussion about the nature of the biosphere and the future of earth. feel very tiny, very appreciative, and very awestruck.
Read
February 1, 2015This was a fascinating book, but I only got through part one. It was just too difficult to read for me right now - very dense. I want to come back to it for sure, because it offered me a variety of shifts in my world view, which I love. Maybe someday when I'm less busy...
January 8, 2008
Beautiful and intricate but way over my head. My brain doesn't work quite as fast as I read when it comes to science. This one is for the brainiacs!
August 26, 2010
the future of the past...this book feels important to my art practice but it was a lot to sort through. It will take me a while to fully understand all that this book is.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews