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archytas 's review for:
Bad Science
by Ben Goldacre
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.