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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
In Bad Science, Goldacre debunks some of myths surrounding popular science and its presentation in mainstream media. He takes on (amongst other things) detoxing, "Brain gym", cosmetics, homeopathy, science representation in the media, inadequate case evidence, health scares and (my personal favourite chapter) Gillian McKeith and other nutritionists. Goldacre highlights inadequate clinical trials, false claims, and bad science practices. He often offers practical experiments that readers can use at home to prove his points. Goldacre makes science accessible to all in a humorous and informative book. It has made me more aware of these issues and more critical of news items relating to science and health. I am keen to read his other book "Bad Pharma" now.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
It's a good book but clearly written for lay people. I skipped about 80% of it as I already know how empirical research works.
This book is still very relevant today, 7 years after it was published. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I try to be an intelligent consumer, but Ben Goldacre gave me lots of specifics to think about and apply. Most "scientific" results are based on bad science, and he explains what to look for. Look carefully for sample size, if all the results are reported, if the results are skewed, if there is a control, if it's been replicated. What is the degree of significance? Look at the procedures and results before reading the conclusion. Conclusions often are the best spin possible.
One of the things he spent a lot of time talking about what how powerful the Placebo Effect is and how it can be viewed as helpful.
One of my favorite examples was the background of current homeopathic medicines that can be traced back to the old world times when a flask was tapped 9 times on a leather surface to imbue it with healing properties.
The narrator was easy to understand and made it enjoyable. I think this is a good book for everyone, even if you don't agree with him.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
this was an absolutely brilliant book. my mind was blown. i feel like i need to read it again immediately to truly absorb what was written.
Goldacre has a way of making complex science subjects accessible to the wider public. His first book, Bad Science, highlighted the way that the media dealt with reporting science, and in this book he concentrates his ire onto the $600 billion global pharmacy industry, now dominated by a handful of behemoths.
And what he reveals is frankly terrifying. He details the way that the industry hides a large majority of the trial data, the way that the legislation requiring data to be published is ignored by companies, and in the EU it is still secret in some cases. There is loads of detail on the way that the data is cherry picked to demonstrate that a particular drug is so much better than the competition. There is lots of detail on the appalling way that the industry is regulated, even though it is very heavily regulated, most of it is ineffective and not enforced, and where the regulation could be improved to help patients and save lives these are not enforced or are not enacted on after lobbying from the industry.
The biggest chapter though is on the marketing that these companies employ. Their budgets for marketing are normally twice the R&D budgets, which gives you some idea of where their priorities lie. He explains how they sponsor various ‘conferences’ and provided sweeteners to medical professionals at all levels, from lunches to flights to what most people would consider bribes. The nefarious dealings of the drugs rep are dealt with too, from the pressure that they put onto doctors to use their medicines and the way that they collect data directly from surgeries and pharmacies. A lot of academic papers are ghost written, and a leading figure puts their name to it, shocking really.
There is some details on NICE, but not a huge amount. He looks at the way that they select the drugs for use in treatment, noting that even they do not have access to all the trail data for each medicine that they consider.
He also writes about how a lot of the drug companies fund patient groups either overtly with cash donations or covertly by funding particular conferences and so on. They have been proven to use them to exert pressure on national agencies (FDA and NICE) to supply the latest drugs regardless of the cost; i.e. £50K spent with a group means that they get their £21k per patient drug treatment approved, even though the trial evidence is not there or is at best not proven to be any more effective than the current items on the market. A real scandal.
Throughout the book he does give suggestions on how the situation can be improved but he does realise that they is an endemic problem and powerful vested interests do hold sway. Even just enforcing the current rules would make a difference, but it seems unlikely at the moment.
The phrase for illegal drugs used to be: Just Say No. Perhaps it should apply to legal drugs too...
And what he reveals is frankly terrifying. He details the way that the industry hides a large majority of the trial data, the way that the legislation requiring data to be published is ignored by companies, and in the EU it is still secret in some cases. There is loads of detail on the way that the data is cherry picked to demonstrate that a particular drug is so much better than the competition. There is lots of detail on the appalling way that the industry is regulated, even though it is very heavily regulated, most of it is ineffective and not enforced, and where the regulation could be improved to help patients and save lives these are not enforced or are not enacted on after lobbying from the industry.
The biggest chapter though is on the marketing that these companies employ. Their budgets for marketing are normally twice the R&D budgets, which gives you some idea of where their priorities lie. He explains how they sponsor various ‘conferences’ and provided sweeteners to medical professionals at all levels, from lunches to flights to what most people would consider bribes. The nefarious dealings of the drugs rep are dealt with too, from the pressure that they put onto doctors to use their medicines and the way that they collect data directly from surgeries and pharmacies. A lot of academic papers are ghost written, and a leading figure puts their name to it, shocking really.
There is some details on NICE, but not a huge amount. He looks at the way that they select the drugs for use in treatment, noting that even they do not have access to all the trail data for each medicine that they consider.
He also writes about how a lot of the drug companies fund patient groups either overtly with cash donations or covertly by funding particular conferences and so on. They have been proven to use them to exert pressure on national agencies (FDA and NICE) to supply the latest drugs regardless of the cost; i.e. £50K spent with a group means that they get their £21k per patient drug treatment approved, even though the trial evidence is not there or is at best not proven to be any more effective than the current items on the market. A real scandal.
Throughout the book he does give suggestions on how the situation can be improved but he does realise that they is an endemic problem and powerful vested interests do hold sway. Even just enforcing the current rules would make a difference, but it seems unlikely at the moment.
The phrase for illegal drugs used to be: Just Say No. Perhaps it should apply to legal drugs too...
I got a lot out of Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma, and was looking forward very much to Bad Science, which I'd have to say didn't meet my admittedly high expectations.
The book appeared more scattered than I expected - pulling out case studies of bad practice rather than the systematic approach of Bad Pharma. I learned a lot about the vitamin industry, for example, but without much idea of how this could be applied to other areas. Even the coverage of this is scattershot, focused on individual outrages, without pulling it all together as much as I wanted.
By far the best material is the chapter on the MMR vaccination scare, which non-coincidently is the longest chapter. Here, Goldacre focuses and takes the reader through the growth of a media story, systematically de-constructing the science, media, regulation and practice which went wrong, with potentially fatal results. Along the way, you learn more about the underlying issues with modern medicine than through any of the individual pieces. For that alone, the book was worth it. I just wish there had been more of this quality.
The book appeared more scattered than I expected - pulling out case studies of bad practice rather than the systematic approach of Bad Pharma. I learned a lot about the vitamin industry, for example, but without much idea of how this could be applied to other areas. Even the coverage of this is scattershot, focused on individual outrages, without pulling it all together as much as I wanted.
By far the best material is the chapter on the MMR vaccination scare, which non-coincidently is the longest chapter. Here, Goldacre focuses and takes the reader through the growth of a media story, systematically de-constructing the science, media, regulation and practice which went wrong, with potentially fatal results. Along the way, you learn more about the underlying issues with modern medicine than through any of the individual pieces. For that alone, the book was worth it. I just wish there had been more of this quality.
informative
medium-paced