BAD SCIENCE. A paperback book written by Ben Goldacre, published by Harperperennial

Essential Stats

• Pages: 288
• Published: Thursday 2nd April 2009
• Dimensions: 20cm tall, 13cm wide, 3cm thick
• Weight: 359 grams
• ISBN: 000728487X
• RRP: £8.99
• Availability at Amazon UK:
  • 41 new books from £2.75
  • 12 used books from £0.80

Bad Science Cover

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• English
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Reviews

Even for a science phobe, this book makes excellent reading. It is well structured, thoughtful, articulate, witty and very informative. There are some excellent examples of exploding the myths and secrecy about trials, media reporting and people working in the nutrition and alternative therapy industry that will really amaze you. Whether you're a science buff or just want a very good expose of some very dodgy practices, this book is an absolute must. I adored every minute I spent reading it and it had me hooked right to the end.

As aphorisms go, it's not a bad one. "You cannot reason people out of positions they didn't reason themselves into." I've never seen it put better. That could possibly refer to theism as much as into refers to the use and abuse of science and alternative medicine practitioners. I really liked this book. Goldacre has plenty more pithy quotes that really struck a chord with me. I recently read The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth and Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial and I think BS compares favourably to both those titles. To quote Goldacre, this book is "a bit more complicated" than it would at first appear and he does deal with journalists taking liberties with science more than the other two books I've mentioned, which is good, but the second half of the book is a little stagnant. It deals with statistics (yawn) and last decade's MMR vaccine scandal in the press. That's over half a book's worth and it was a little tedious. Also, not at all to Goldacre's credit, he often picks up on bad science reporting in other newspapers, but he rarely if ever does so with the newspaper in which he writes a column, the Guardian, or its sister the Observer. This is quite a poor show for someone who makes a living out of doubting other journalists' integrity. Still, this is worth reading despite its flaws.

Everyone should read this book and I honestly do believe it should be taught in school. The writer of the Bad Science Column for the Guardian, Ben Goldacre is insightful, witty and justifiably pissed off. The book covers topics mainly concerning the ways in which we are mislead, either by the media or by our own prejudices and instincts, into believing things that are ridiculous and mistrusting evidence-based reasoning. Some parts are hard to read as the examples wary from the virtually comedic to the heart-breakingly sad but every word is interesting, informative and guarenteed to make you want to talk about it with your friends. If you are confused or angered by the way we handle science both in the media and in real world terms, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I loved it.

Quite simply the best book available from Amazon (although to be honest I haven't quite read them all yet...)

I really enjoyed the book. Quite readable.
Being an engineer I am very aware of the scientific ignorance of most people. And the annoying attitude of media people - misunderstanding and arrogance. Science is not a religion. Something is not true because an eminent person, a celebrity or a person in funny clothes says it is.
But in the field of health the ignorance and misunderstanding of science is dangerous.

I was left needing to know more detail of all the topics raised. But that is up to me to do my own further study

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