Dorion Sagan Dorion Sagan is the author of numerous articles and sixteen books translated into eleven languages, including Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life (with Eric D. Schneider, 2005) and Up from Dragons: Evolution of Human Intelligence (with John Skoyles, 2002). His What is Life? (with Lynn Margulis) was chosen (with works by Billie Holiday, Shakespeare, and others) as one of fifty "mind-altering masterpieces" by the Utne Reader. Sagan's essays are included in collections edited by Richard Dawkins and E. O. Wilson. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a degree in history and has interests in philosophy and literature. Reviewing Sagan's Microcosmos in the New York Times Book Review, Melvin Konner wrote: "This admiring reader of Carl Sagan, Lewis Thomas, and Stephen Jay Gould has seldom, if ever, seen such a luminous prose style in a work of this kind." Sagan has written for The New York Times,The New York Times Book Review,Wired,The Skeptical Inquirer,The Smithsonian,The Ecologist, Omni, Natural History, and many others.
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Dorion's Books Dazzle GraduallyReflections on the Nature of NatureThe sometimes-dry topics of evolution and ecology come alive in this new collection of essays.  Notes from the HoloceneA Brief History of the FutureIn a quirky yet highly thought-provoking style, Dorion Sagan uses his knowledge of philosophy, science, and sleight-of-hand magic to probe some of the deepest questions we face on Earth.  The Purpose of LifeScience’s Surprising Answer to Religion’s Most Profound QuestionWhat is the purpose of life? Some say it's to reproduce, others to glorify God, but behind these and other proposed purposes lies a scientific purpose. In The Purpose of Life, science writer Dorion Sagan and biophysicist Eric D. Schneider lay out the fascinating evidence for life’s natural purpose —its function in an energy-driven cosmos. New evidence shows that the evolution of life on Earth over the past three-and-a-half billion years has not been random but has a clear direction, and its direction is related to life's function as a natural system. Indeed, life shares its function —its purpose —with that of certain other complex natural systems. Although the answer is simple and not exclusive —life may have other purposes —its profound implications may change the way we see ourselves, our relationships to other living beings, and our future on this shared, energy-driven planet. |
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