Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by hylian_narwhal
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
2.0
True rating; 1.5 stars
There were some aspects of this book that I found interesting, but what this book fails in is passing a basic vibe check.
Because who is the book's intended audience? Goldacre seems to alternatively lord his scientific expertise over the reader, while despising science writers who misrepresent the field by making it seem overly complicated and alienating people from understanding science (ironic).
Perhaps Goldacre's only true intended audience is himself, as I found out on page 282 when recommending buying a microscope for basic Science;
the 'Edu Science Microscope Set' at Toys'R'Us for £9.99 will do the job very well (if you do buy one, with the straightest face in the world, I recommend looking at your sperm: it's quite a soulful moment).
Now I hate to break it to him that it's not just the closure of Toys'R'Us that prevents me from following this advice. Hasn't he heard of women in STEM?
Then Goldacre speculates "humanities graduates in the media, perhaps feeling intellectually offended by how hard they find science, conclude that it must be arbitrary, made up nonsense, to everyone" (page 288). Which I don't have the energy to unpack, and I never will.
To end on a small highlight here's a quote from the end of the book - which I think would have a better place for the rest of the book to come from;
I don't generally talk or write about being a doctor - it's mawkish and tedious, and I've no desire to preach from authority* - but working in the NHS you meet patients from every conceivable walk of life, in huge numbers, discussing some of the most important issues in their lives. This has consistently taught me one thing: people aren't stupid. Anybody can understand anything, as long as it is clearly explained - but more than that, if they are sufficiently interested. What determines an audience's understanding is not so much scientific knowledge, but motivation: patients who are ill, with an important decision to make about treatment, can be very motivated indeed page 335
*asterisk is my own, just to say, the rest of this book proves the statement "I've no desire to preach from authority" to be a lie.
There were some aspects of this book that I found interesting, but what this book fails in is passing a basic vibe check.
Because who is the book's intended audience? Goldacre seems to alternatively lord his scientific expertise over the reader, while despising science writers who misrepresent the field by making it seem overly complicated and alienating people from understanding science (ironic).
Perhaps Goldacre's only true intended audience is himself, as I found out on page 282 when recommending buying a microscope for basic Science;
the 'Edu Science Microscope Set' at Toys'R'Us for £9.99 will do the job very well (if you do buy one, with the straightest face in the world, I recommend looking at your sperm: it's quite a soulful moment).
Now I hate to break it to him that it's not just the closure of Toys'R'Us that prevents me from following this advice. Hasn't he heard of women in STEM?
Then Goldacre speculates "humanities graduates in the media, perhaps feeling intellectually offended by how hard they find science, conclude that it must be arbitrary, made up nonsense, to everyone" (page 288). Which I don't have the energy to unpack, and I never will.
To end on a small highlight here's a quote from the end of the book - which I think would have a better place for the rest of the book to come from;
I don't generally talk or write about being a doctor - it's mawkish and tedious, and I've no desire to preach from authority* - but working in the NHS you meet patients from every conceivable walk of life, in huge numbers, discussing some of the most important issues in their lives. This has consistently taught me one thing: people aren't stupid. Anybody can understand anything, as long as it is clearly explained - but more than that, if they are sufficiently interested. What determines an audience's understanding is not so much scientific knowledge, but motivation: patients who are ill, with an important decision to make about treatment, can be very motivated indeed page 335
*asterisk is my own, just to say, the rest of this book proves the statement "I've no desire to preach from authority" to be a lie.