Sagans “cosmos” series was excellent.

Not having read anything about it I have no idea what he would have “bamboozeled” about.

Whatever it was, he sure got people interested in “the stars”, which I believe was his goal.

Funny, seems we find everything is “bamboozeled”, everything except our religions of course.

As long as you’re entertained, right, b?

Referring to the book that GH linked to, this is for you:

By John Scott on December 2, 2010

This book is a blow-by-blow account of how Carl Sagan systematically misrepresented Velikovsky, and used the full weight of his reputation and position within the establishment to complete the work of suppression begun over two decades earlier by Harlow Shapley and Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. The sheer hypocrisy, dishonesty and self-regard of Sagan is brutally exposed for all the world to see. Unfortunately, for Sagan fans and true believers, the book will be so unpalatible that they might not get beyond the first few pages. Indeed, I would venture to suggest that almost none of the critics of this book, who have here given it a one-star rating on Amazon, have actually read it. The very act of reading it would dispel all notions one might have had of Sagan’s nobility and intellectual honesty. He was a fraud and, in some respects at least, a bully. He was also a very poor scientist, as Ginenthal demonstrates in literraly dozens of ways.
The detail into which Ginenthal has gone over each and every point raised by Sagan is phenomenal, as is his understanding of the problems and his mastery of the technical terms and concepts involved. Quite simply, as a previous reviewer remarked, Ginenthal has done the research that Sagan couldn’t be bothered to do.
Particularly impressive is his deconstruction of Sagan’s “explanation” of the unexpectedly high temperature of Venus (unexpected by everyone that is except Velikovsky). Rather than admit Velikovsky right on this issue, Sagan invoked a “runaway greenhouse” effect to account for the planet’s 900 degrees Fahrenheit surface temperature. As Ginenthal explains, greenhouses are warm primarily because they have a glass ceiling to prevent the loss of heat; and, as everyone (even Sagan) was aware, planets don’t have glass ceilings. In short, there is absolutely nothing on Venus, or any other planet, to prevent surface heat rising to the upper atmosphere and dissipating into space. Furthermore, the clouds of Venus are so brilliantly white that they deflect virtually all of the sun’s heat back into space; and even if they didn’t – even if they were dark and absorbed the sun’s energy – they still couldn’t carry that energy down to the surface of the planet. That, as Ginenthal remarked, breaks the second law of thermodynamics.
Sagan, of course, in order to “disprove” Velikovsky, was quite prepared to break every law in the book – and the establishment was quite happy to let him get away with it.
All in all, a masterful take on the continuing “Velikovsky Affair” and well worth the read.

Agreed. I’ve been interested in Immanuel Velikovsky’s catastrophe theory for a while , and like many great thinkers, he was mocked and unfairly marginalized by the scientific community.

I did always get a kick out of Carl Sagan though, and the Cosmos series is a classic.

Carl Sagan – ‘A Glorious Dawn’ ft Stephen Hawking (Symphony of Science)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc