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38 reviews for:
Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash
Timothy Caulfield
3.56 AVERAGE
38 reviews for:
Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash
Timothy Caulfield
3.56 AVERAGE
The Science of Celebrity....or Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong about Everything? by Timothy Caulfield educates while it entertains. Professor Caulfield is an expert on ethics, science, health, law and the influence generated by famous people. Just because someone is an household name, does it mean that what they preach, recommend, endorse and promote is safe, tested and good for your body and your mind. We have reached a point where many of us believe celebrity Twitter feeds, facebook and all social media are filled with truth and good advice. Caulfield himself has put many an endorsement to the test, some of the results being somewhat lacking in usefulness, some of them downright comical. When it comes to science, one is better off taking the advice of professionals. Celebrity does not necessarily make one an expert. Educational and fun: enough reasons to read this book. Recommended.
This book took a left hand turn downhill really quickly.
First off - the title is misleading. To a point. The first chapter is exactly what I expected/wanted: documented and scientifically performed research that underlines why fad diets, lifestyles and other regimes most often promoted by celebrities are bullshit. It was glorious. I devoured it.
Then come parts one and two. Here we lose a lot of science - while studies are cited, they are admittedly (by the author) not the most methodological. And even more annoyingly, the author admits (in a roundabout way), that some of this is stemming from his own failed shot at celebrity. These parts aren't telling us why we shouldn't believe the magazine headlines at the grocery store checkout - it's instead examining our (or at least, Western culture's) obsession with celebrity. And it's slim pickings, and oft repetitive.
So if the title of this book (and the blurb, which is from the stellar first chunk), is what drew you in, only read part one. You do not miss absolutely anything from not reading the last two. Except some blather about an author who is a professor who wishes he was a rock star and how impossible it is for you to be one too.
First off - the title is misleading. To a point. The first chapter is exactly what I expected/wanted: documented and scientifically performed research that underlines why fad diets, lifestyles and other regimes most often promoted by celebrities are bullshit. It was glorious. I devoured it.
Then come parts one and two. Here we lose a lot of science - while studies are cited, they are admittedly (by the author) not the most methodological. And even more annoyingly, the author admits (in a roundabout way), that some of this is stemming from his own failed shot at celebrity. These parts aren't telling us why we shouldn't believe the magazine headlines at the grocery store checkout - it's instead examining our (or at least, Western culture's) obsession with celebrity. And it's slim pickings, and oft repetitive.
So if the title of this book (and the blurb, which is from the stellar first chunk), is what drew you in, only read part one. You do not miss absolutely anything from not reading the last two. Except some blather about an author who is a professor who wishes he was a rock star and how impossible it is for you to be one too.
This is a fascinating look at the vagaries of celebrity life, along with a fantastic debunking of the 'health claims' made by various celebrities (from snail facials to juice cleanses). Caulfield uses himself as a guinea pig for much of this, and reports back on the results and the science. From trying out for American Idol, to facials, to Gwyneth Paltrow's 21 day cleanse diet.
Caulfield is a great writer - funny and wry, and easily able to describe the science and the studies behind what he is talking about.
The first part of the book was probably the best (The Illusion of Celebrity Authority), and by part three the book did drag a bit, but not enough to make me enjoy it any less. The topics get a bit more serious the further into the book you go, but still remain relevant and funny.
Caulfield mentions, in passing, Jenny McCarthy and the anti-vaccine movement, but doesn't really go into it at all, which, considering recent events is a bit of a bummer. I would have loved to read his takedown of McCarthy.
Overall, a very funny book, on a fascinating topic.
Caulfield is a great writer - funny and wry, and easily able to describe the science and the studies behind what he is talking about.
The first part of the book was probably the best (The Illusion of Celebrity Authority), and by part three the book did drag a bit, but not enough to make me enjoy it any less. The topics get a bit more serious the further into the book you go, but still remain relevant and funny.
Caulfield mentions, in passing, Jenny McCarthy and the anti-vaccine movement, but doesn't really go into it at all, which, considering recent events is a bit of a bummer. I would have loved to read his takedown of McCarthy.
Overall, a very funny book, on a fascinating topic.
Interesting read. Starts off with debunking beauty/skin product myths and promises, then evolves into a deeper discussion about the nature of celebrity and the problems with society's obsession with celebrity culture. Kind of meanders a bit at the end, but still a worthwhile and relatively entertaining read with lots of scientific studies backing up the suppositions.
Not quite what I expected, so I suppose my two-star review is more of a personal issue than an issue with the book itself. I had expected the book to me more like the first section in that it focuses on the clash between health and celebrity culture. However as you continue on, the book is more so about celebrity culture as a whole. It looks like the book is being re-released in April of this year with a new name to reflect this. Good idea.
Despite being a bit repetitive at times this book is overall an easy read with some interesting studies and commentary on celebrity culture.
Despite being a bit repetitive at times this book is overall an easy read with some interesting studies and commentary on celebrity culture.
The first half of this book was quite enjoyable as it talked about how there are many celebrities out there who embrace pseudoscience, but I found the last half of the book a bit of a let-down as it was more about how America is more interested in becoming a celebrity, and the pitfalls therein.
It was good, but not great.
It was good, but not great.
tl;dr: Yes. But you knew that.
A thoroughly entertaining meetup of science and celebrity culture, by an author who loves both (and never once mistakes correlation for causation).
I feel compelled to reproduce this bit about musicians at SXSW:
"The constant posing was annoying. By posing, I mean the carefully curated social angst, the orchestrated I-am-on-the-fringes-of-society wackiness and the feigned disinterest, as if the musicians really had someplace better to be. It was all a serious turnoff. I am fully aware that few musicians are consciously adopting a pose that is meant to look like a pose. Indeed, looking like you aren't posing is one of the most important elements of successful posing, unless, of course, you are doing it ironically, in which case you must adopt a pose that projects a knowing pose-ness, but is still, at its core, authentic and anti-posing. It must be exhausting."
A thoroughly entertaining meetup of science and celebrity culture, by an author who loves both (and never once mistakes correlation for causation).
I feel compelled to reproduce this bit about musicians at SXSW:
"The constant posing was annoying. By posing, I mean the carefully curated social angst, the orchestrated I-am-on-the-fringes-of-society wackiness and the feigned disinterest, as if the musicians really had someplace better to be. It was all a serious turnoff. I am fully aware that few musicians are consciously adopting a pose that is meant to look like a pose. Indeed, looking like you aren't posing is one of the most important elements of successful posing, unless, of course, you are doing it ironically, in which case you must adopt a pose that projects a knowing pose-ness, but is still, at its core, authentic and anti-posing. It must be exhausting."
I am a definite anti-fan of people who peddle fake "cures" for everything from obesity to brittle hair (I'm looking at you "Dr" Oz!) So the title of the book grabbed my attention right away as Gwyneth is definitely up there with the worse offenders, made even worse by the fact that the stuff she sells requires a celebrity income to afford. Due to these feeling, the first part of the book was really enjoyable, ripping apart the myths of things like 'organic', 'natural' and any number of 'miracle cures' for ailments both real and imagined... it kinda went downhill from there.
Don't get me wrong the rest of the book is informative, but is focused more on the myths surrounding celebrity, how great it is, how easy it is to obtain it, etc. I was hoping for more examining of claims made by celebrities/pseudo-experts about miracle products. So I was disappointed in that regard. But for a while researched, very in depth look at western cultures obsession with celebrity culture the book does not disappoint.
Don't get me wrong the rest of the book is informative, but is focused more on the myths surrounding celebrity, how great it is, how easy it is to obtain it, etc. I was hoping for more examining of claims made by celebrities/pseudo-experts about miracle products. So I was disappointed in that regard. But for a while researched, very in depth look at western cultures obsession with celebrity culture the book does not disappoint.
I liked the chapters about pseudoscience pushed by celebrities, but halfway through the book changes gears and talks more about the American desire to become a celebrity and why that's a bad idea. Interesting, but not really what I was hoping for in the book. It's like the author ran out of celebrity pseudoscience and decided to write the rest of the book about something else.
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced