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A review by nicolamichelle
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
5.0
Ive been wanting to read this one for a while as I’ve heard it was a great book, it didn’t disappoint! Knowing there’s so much ‘bad science’ and misinformation around, it went a long way to dispel myths and point out bad science and breakdowns in the scientific process.
It certainly does help you to spot and understand any less than optimal ‘science’ around! With reportings and science in the media, business and consumer backed ‘science’ (with the all too common bad statistics to go with it)
And covering topics from ‘detoxing’ (and why it’s all bogus), cosmetics and the ‘miracle creams’, the effect of placebo in trials and how it may affect the outcome of analyses and results, so called ‘experts’ in scientific fields and the problems in mainstream medicine to name a few.
It also went into many examples of bad science including named studies and why their techniques or methods were flawed or less than optimal.
It’s written extremely well and incredibly funny, striking the balance between being both light and understandable and laced with plenty of good info. I can understand why it’s has such a good reputation!
It certainly does help you to spot and understand any less than optimal ‘science’ around! With reportings and science in the media, business and consumer backed ‘science’ (with the all too common bad statistics to go with it)
And covering topics from ‘detoxing’ (and why it’s all bogus), cosmetics and the ‘miracle creams’, the effect of placebo in trials and how it may affect the outcome of analyses and results, so called ‘experts’ in scientific fields and the problems in mainstream medicine to name a few.
It also went into many examples of bad science including named studies and why their techniques or methods were flawed or less than optimal.
It’s written extremely well and incredibly funny, striking the balance between being both light and understandable and laced with plenty of good info. I can understand why it’s has such a good reputation!