Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
This is simply brilliant and should be compulsory reading in schools - for the teachers as well as the pupils. Goldacre is standing ready to give us all a sharp lesson - tempered by humour and compassion - in critical thinking.
Meanwhile... If you've ever got annoyed at a sloppy newspaper report that dumbs down or completely miscontrues a recent scientific development or discovery, this book is for you. If you've ever asked yourself why the government pays scientists to do studies into which celebrity has the wiggliest bottom, this book is for you. If you've ever found yourself wondering why the NHS still aren't funding complementary therapies, or the latest miracle drug, this is the book for you.
Meanwhile... If you've ever got annoyed at a sloppy newspaper report that dumbs down or completely miscontrues a recent scientific development or discovery, this book is for you. If you've ever asked yourself why the government pays scientists to do studies into which celebrity has the wiggliest bottom, this book is for you. If you've ever found yourself wondering why the NHS still aren't funding complementary therapies, or the latest miracle drug, this is the book for you.
Another one handed to me by the poli sci prof who had me read [b:Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception|7972148|Proofiness The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception|Charles Seife|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280851195s/7972148.jpg|12133334]. This book about statistical errors focuses on medical trials and pharmaceuticals. It was mostly pleasantly entertaining, although his assumption that the reader is completely innumerate of grated on my nerves a bit.
It highlighted some things about stats I had never really thought about as applied to this area, so I learned some things. A quick, reasonably light read.
It highlighted some things about stats I had never really thought about as applied to this area, so I learned some things. A quick, reasonably light read.
I'm a fan of Ben Goldacre. I've heard him interviewed on a number of podcasts and he's always interesting and makes great points. I just did not connect at all with this audiobook, however. I was very familiar with most of the subject matter, as much of the material has been covered in depth on the podcast The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. The book felt like a review and a lot of rehash.
The book attacks medical quackery, homeopathy, nutritionists, anti-vaxxers, and several other health-related and anti-science topics. A couple chapters I found interesting were about Brain Gym and statistics manipulation. Brain Gym is a brain training company which is apparently a bigger deal in the UK (I've never even heard of it) which Goldacre claims is bad science and he takes it down in a big way. The Andrew Wakefield / MMR vaccine scare is covered in depth in this book. The author does a great job presenting his case against lousy science in a concise and sometimes funny way.
Despite my rating, I would recommend this book for anyone looking to become more proficient in seeing through anti-science claims and recognizing scams and pseudoscience. If this subject matter is new to you, you will probably find this book enlightening. It was written in 2012 and the message is as important now as it was then. Maybe more so, actually.
The book attacks medical quackery, homeopathy, nutritionists, anti-vaxxers, and several other health-related and anti-science topics. A couple chapters I found interesting were about Brain Gym and statistics manipulation. Brain Gym is a brain training company which is apparently a bigger deal in the UK (I've never even heard of it) which Goldacre claims is bad science and he takes it down in a big way. The Andrew Wakefield / MMR vaccine scare is covered in depth in this book. The author does a great job presenting his case against lousy science in a concise and sometimes funny way.
Despite my rating, I would recommend this book for anyone looking to become more proficient in seeing through anti-science claims and recognizing scams and pseudoscience. If this subject matter is new to you, you will probably find this book enlightening. It was written in 2012 and the message is as important now as it was then. Maybe more so, actually.
Actual rating: 2.5 stars.
I think I was both not enough and too much the intended audience of this book. I didn't particularly enjoy it but I can appreciate that it is well written and would do a good job of explaining certain aspects of science to a lay person. As someone who deals occasionally with clinical trials the sections pertaining to them were interesting.
I think I was both not enough and too much the intended audience of this book. I didn't particularly enjoy it but I can appreciate that it is well written and would do a good job of explaining certain aspects of science to a lay person. As someone who deals occasionally with clinical trials the sections pertaining to them were interesting.
A really great book with a heavy dose of didactic teaching. You can literally plot the learning curve in this book from “Here is an example. Here is what you do with it.” to “Here is an example. You may be starting to have suspicions about what you should do with it.” to “Here is an example. You should by now have an idea what to do but don’t worry if you don’t.” to “Here is an example. Everyone together, on three...” That may sound a bit heavy and, in places, this book can be but it’s so funny, so informative, so downright snarky, and so meta in discussing the writing of the book while writing the book, that I couldn’t look away.
Many of my friends are scientists, I am not. They often talk about news articles that cite studies that didn’t actually say what the article claims they did. The Daily Mail and its causes/cures for cancer is a particularly easy target for their ire. I enjoy lambasting the Daily Mail as much as the next person but I could never quite get my head around this idea of manipulating data from studies happening even in even reputable newspapers. I feel like Bad Science, in all its righteous indignation, does a really good job of letting a lay person know how to think critically about the reporting of advancements in science and medicine. I obviously can’t interrogate statistics without stabilisers on my bike but I at least know that that’s something that needs doing.
I’m grateful to any book that can teach me something. Let alone one that I feel has introduced me to a whole topic to the point that I know what people are talking about with regard to statistics.
Many of my friends are scientists, I am not. They often talk about news articles that cite studies that didn’t actually say what the article claims they did. The Daily Mail and its causes/cures for cancer is a particularly easy target for their ire. I enjoy lambasting the Daily Mail as much as the next person but I could never quite get my head around this idea of manipulating data from studies happening even in even reputable newspapers. I feel like Bad Science, in all its righteous indignation, does a really good job of letting a lay person know how to think critically about the reporting of advancements in science and medicine. I obviously can’t interrogate statistics without stabilisers on my bike but I at least know that that’s something that needs doing.
I’m grateful to any book that can teach me something. Let alone one that I feel has introduced me to a whole topic to the point that I know what people are talking about with regard to statistics.
I recommend this book to all people who are constantly bombarded by "health advice".
So, everyone.
In short, Goldacre tears apart and lays bare the ways that science is (horrifyingly often) abused, misused, altered, ignored... and often from basic misunderstandings about science or the scientific process (whether intentional or not).
Oh, and there's also the specific relevance of Goldacre's dissection of the MMR anti-vaccine rhetoric being a clear echo to the present-day COVID-19 anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Read this. Or any of the myriad of suggested readings at the back. Or anything on the website.
Also, get vaccinated.
So, everyone.
In short, Goldacre tears apart and lays bare the ways that science is (horrifyingly often) abused, misused, altered, ignored... and often from basic misunderstandings about science or the scientific process (whether intentional or not).
Oh, and there's also the specific relevance of Goldacre's dissection of the MMR anti-vaccine rhetoric being a clear echo to the present-day COVID-19 anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Read this. Or any of the myriad of suggested readings at the back. Or anything on the website.
Also, get vaccinated.
I struggle a bit with giving this book three stars because it brings up a lot of topics that I think are critical for people to be educated on. It is so easy to make data say what you want it to say, either through ignorance or malice and we each benefit in being better educated and calling BS when the standards of scientific methodologies are not meant.
The author does a great job explaining the concepts (randomization, controlled trials, systematic study, ...) and the variables that lead us to misuse data and draw inaccurate conclusions.
I am conflicted in my reaction with his tone in parts of the book which I wish were more constructive.
The author does a great job explaining the concepts (randomization, controlled trials, systematic study, ...) and the variables that lead us to misuse data and draw inaccurate conclusions.
I am conflicted in my reaction with his tone in parts of the book which I wish were more constructive.
Interesting book, but really hard to engage with as an audiobook. Will probably try reading it again as a physical book.
The title is already provoking. "Bad Science". There is no such thing, just like there is no bad knife, or bad hydrogen. Let's take the knife - I can use it to cut veggies for a nice meal, or be clumsy, drop it and stab myself in a foot, or commit a cold blood murder with robbery.
The stories in this book fall into the clumsy and the cold blood categories. The clumsy is the misinterpretation with good intentions. The cold blood is twisting existing research or creating results out of thin air to suit the purpose. The purpose is almost always the same. Ego driven need for fame and hunger for money.
I started reading grinning to myself. The book begins lightly, exposing diet and healthy lifestyle fads. The detox! (look up the history of the word if you want some fun on the side). Then it gets darker, and soon my grin was gone. When the 'fads' and silly trends cross over into fake cures for AIDS and cancer and people start to die, then it's no longer funny but horrific and outrageous. This book exposes the mechanism of such outrages, the whole chain from the source which can be a genuine research done badly, or something just dressed as 'research' but financed by someone who will profit from the results and therefore the result is set before even such 'research' begins. Then there are people who bring the findings to the masses - the media or as the author calls them 'the churnalists'. Their hunger for the limelight, their scramblings to stay there. Then there are the people who are fed these 'news', the addicts who abandon all their ability to think clearly under the avalanche of confusing information. It is so easy to drown, to give up the fight for the truth.
I am so glad I've found this book. I was always aware of the importance of objective, thorough scientific method. Long time ago when I was still studying (mathematics) I did a semester of statistics with psychology students, out of curiosity. Some of them had such disdain for hard maths as a tool. Others struggled with the concept of variables and abstract thinking. It was such an eye opener for me. So I don't have much problem with debunking fake-ism when I see it. The book gives me motivation - and tools - for informed debate. I usually tend to keep quiet around people of different opinion. It's their problem, I think. I know what I know. This book made me realise that we all need to fight for the truth and we need to be well armed for that. Armed with facts, quotes and valid sources and ability to discern what is what. This book shows us how.
The stories in this book fall into the clumsy and the cold blood categories. The clumsy is the misinterpretation with good intentions. The cold blood is twisting existing research or creating results out of thin air to suit the purpose. The purpose is almost always the same. Ego driven need for fame and hunger for money.
I started reading grinning to myself. The book begins lightly, exposing diet and healthy lifestyle fads. The detox! (look up the history of the word if you want some fun on the side). Then it gets darker, and soon my grin was gone. When the 'fads' and silly trends cross over into fake cures for AIDS and cancer and people start to die, then it's no longer funny but horrific and outrageous. This book exposes the mechanism of such outrages, the whole chain from the source which can be a genuine research done badly, or something just dressed as 'research' but financed by someone who will profit from the results and therefore the result is set before even such 'research' begins. Then there are people who bring the findings to the masses - the media or as the author calls them 'the churnalists'. Their hunger for the limelight, their scramblings to stay there. Then there are the people who are fed these 'news', the addicts who abandon all their ability to think clearly under the avalanche of confusing information. It is so easy to drown, to give up the fight for the truth.
I am so glad I've found this book. I was always aware of the importance of objective, thorough scientific method. Long time ago when I was still studying (mathematics) I did a semester of statistics with psychology students, out of curiosity. Some of them had such disdain for hard maths as a tool. Others struggled with the concept of variables and abstract thinking. It was such an eye opener for me. So I don't have much problem with debunking fake-ism when I see it. The book gives me motivation - and tools - for informed debate. I usually tend to keep quiet around people of different opinion. It's their problem, I think. I know what I know. This book made me realise that we all need to fight for the truth and we need to be well armed for that. Armed with facts, quotes and valid sources and ability to discern what is what. This book shows us how.
We read this for chemistry in homeschool. It was super interesting for me and a great way to teach my 17 year old skepticism of miracle cures that seem too good to be true.