Reviews - Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science

Ritchie lays out the challenges that science currently faces surrounding research, funding, publishing, and the public's views on the reliability and credibility of science. The challenges lay in the incentives and systems that we have created to support, fund, hire, and promote scientists themselves as well as the mechanisms for supporting their research. The biases of the scientists, the popularity of hyping "breakthrough" research, the funding of "breakthrough" scientists at a higher rate, and the need for scientific journals to be relevant all play into creating challenges within science that limits scientific progress, wastes private and public funding, and sends the wrong messages to academia, students, and the public about the significance and capability of science. I found Ritchie's book enlightening, if not a little disappointing, for pointing out the blatant problems as they exist. Still I have hope where there are individuals and groups of scientists pushing for reform and improvements. I think this is an excellent read for those who want to understand the significance or insignificance of science headlines, scientific studies, and all of the things to look for when researching how relevant a particular study or topic is.

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