How do we know if a treatment works, or if something causes cancer? Can the claims of homeopaths ever be as true – or as interesting as the improbable research into the placebo effect? Who created the MMR hoax? Do journalists understand science? Why do we seek scientific explanations for social, personal and political problems? Are alternative therapists and the pharmaceutical companies really so different, or do they just use the same old tricks to sell different types of pill? We are obsessed with our health. And yet – from the media’s ‘world-expert microbiologist’ with a mail-order PhD in his garden shed laboratory, via multiple health scares and miracle cures, to the million pound trial that Durham Council now denies ever existed – we are constantly bombarded with inaccurate, contradictory and sometimes even misleading information. Until now. Ben Goldacre masterfully dismantles the dodgy science behind some of the great drug trials, court cases and missed opportunities of our time, but he also goes further: out of the bulls---, he shows us the fascinating story of how we know what we know, and gives us the tools to uncover bad science for ourselves.
Bad Science
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Review
‘The most important book you’ll read this year, and quite possibly the funniest.’
Charlie Brooker
‘Bad Science inroduces the basic scientific principles to help everyone to become an effective bullshit detector.’
Sir Iain Chalmers, Founder of the Cochrane Library'
“There are two compelling reasons to read this book. The first is to revel in its systematic dismantling of the nonsense put forth by nutritionists, homeopaths, cosmetic companies and the pharmaceutical industry in their attempts to persuade us to buy their products or buy into their philosophy. The second is for the fascinating discussion of why we are so easily duped, and what inclines us to see patterns in randomness or cause where there are none. Throw in the book's sheer entertainment value and you have one the essential reads of the year so far” New Scientist
“A hugely entertaining book…While every chapter is entertaining, a few are genuinely eye-opening…This isn't just an essential primer for anyone who has ever felt uneasy about news coverage of faddish scientific 'breakthroughs', health scares and 'studies have shown' stories – it should be on the National Curriculum.” Time Out
Books of the Year, The Scotsman, Alexander McCall's choice
Review
`It is an important book and if you were to pick up just one non-fiction book this year you'd do well to make it this one.'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
563 of 604 people found the following review helpful
By Bill Cutter
Format:Paperback
A thoroughly excellent book from a practising doctor and medical researcher, who is also one of the few science journalists to actually understand scientific method. He is nearly a lone voice in the media, exposing the astonishing journey of 'health news' from the pages of academic journals to the tabloids and broadsheets, without passing through a critical brain in between. Thus, on a daily basis, the papers produce "X CAUSES/CURES CANCER" stories, based on very shaky understanding of experiments done in a petri dish. Whilst these stories may give false hope or fear to thousands of people, which is bad enough, in the case of MMR, they actually caused harm. He also explains how and why science fails to explain itself clearly and loudly in the face of emotionally charged 'my son has autism due to MMR' stories.
Goldacre also lays bare the facts about such 'complementary' therapies such as Homeopathy and Nutritionism, which when stripped of the accolades given them in the media, are revealed to be little more than eccentric ideas which somehow have gained unquestioning credence in the popular mind, and even, perversely, created a deep-rooted suspicion of maninstream medicine which is now taken at face value.
I thoroughly recommend this book, especially for journalists, but it is also essential reading for scientists, doctors and anyone who finds their mouth flapping when trying to put their friends / family straight on why spending 100 quid on dipping their feet in water and watching it go brown is a spectacular waste of money.
Final thoughts - if this book demonstrates how bad science reporting is, what else is being reported badly that we should know about? Finance? Politics? Help!!... Read more ›
Goldacre also lays bare the facts about such 'complementary' therapies such as Homeopathy and Nutritionism, which when stripped of the accolades given them in the media, are revealed to be little more than eccentric ideas which somehow have gained unquestioning credence in the popular mind, and even, perversely, created a deep-rooted suspicion of maninstream medicine which is now taken at face value.
I thoroughly recommend this book, especially for journalists, but it is also essential reading for scientists, doctors and anyone who finds their mouth flapping when trying to put their friends / family straight on why spending 100 quid on dipping their feet in water and watching it go brown is a spectacular waste of money.
Final thoughts - if this book demonstrates how bad science reporting is, what else is being reported badly that we should know about? Finance? Politics? Help!!... Read more ›
157 of 168 people found the following review helpful
By W. James
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I would support all the positive comments made by other reviewers of the book itself. However, I feel very short-changed by Amazon over the Kindle edition. If they want to charge more for the Kindle edition (which can't be lent to a friend or donated to Oxfam) than the paperback version, they surely need to do a tiny bit of copy-editing, rather than dumping the OCRed version on their site as if it were a Project Gutenberg freebie. Most pages of this book had one of two simple typesetting errors that could have been corrected with about 30 minutes of a copy-editor's time: "soft" hyphens, which presumably occur at the ends of lines in the print edition, are retained in the mid-dle (sic) of words on the line; conversely, spaces between words areomitted (sic), which presumably reflects line breaks in the print edition. After a while, this annoyance becomes exasperating. To add a final twist, one cross-reference in the text retained its print format, as a reference to a page number in the regular book, utterly meaningless in the Kindle edition.
Come on Amazon! Kindle is a neat bit of technology, but the quality of Kindle editions needs at least to match that of the published book if you're going to charge bookshop prices, or you'll lose your customers.
Come on Amazon! Kindle is a neat bit of technology, but the quality of Kindle editions needs at least to match that of the published book if you're going to charge bookshop prices, or you'll lose your customers.
88 of 94 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly informative and most entertaining - a must for science enthusiasts
20 Mar 2010
By Ms. R. L. A. Amelan
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
I have been towing this book around with me for some weeks reading a chapter here and there. Sitting in cafes and other public venues, I have frightened passers-by with my screams of laughter at Goldacre's entertaining prose which can make some fairly dry topics not only accessible but downright funny.
I feel that I have a genuine reason for reviewing this book because I am a nurse working in clinical audit and know only too well how easy it is to manipulate statistics to mean exactly what you want. I have thus recommended this to more than one doctor about to embark on audit as a useful insight into the subject.
Frankly, I learned loads from this volume, which actually frightens me because I thought that I had a passing grasp of the power of stats. As a result, I now treat the information that comes up on my pivot tables and graphs with a new respect and query it much more closely.
My favourite part of the book has to be about Goldacre's handling of Gillian McKeith, the food guru (or whatever she is). His handling of her lack of bioscientific knowledge was excellent and made me smile. What I particularly liked was his correct explanations of the science behind the facts. There is something very elegant and beautiful about true science and he brought this out to perfection. He is clearly a great enthusiast and, at the end of the book, he recommends people to adopt a greater spirit of enquiry into the subject. Go for it!
Initially, I, like many, had thought that Mr. Goldacre would just debunk alternative therapies but I was in for a surprise. His comments on mainstream scientific research were illuminating and I must say that I had not realised that responsible minds could skew things this much - through both good intention and mendacity.... Read more ›
I feel that I have a genuine reason for reviewing this book because I am a nurse working in clinical audit and know only too well how easy it is to manipulate statistics to mean exactly what you want. I have thus recommended this to more than one doctor about to embark on audit as a useful insight into the subject.
Frankly, I learned loads from this volume, which actually frightens me because I thought that I had a passing grasp of the power of stats. As a result, I now treat the information that comes up on my pivot tables and graphs with a new respect and query it much more closely.
My favourite part of the book has to be about Goldacre's handling of Gillian McKeith, the food guru (or whatever she is). His handling of her lack of bioscientific knowledge was excellent and made me smile. What I particularly liked was his correct explanations of the science behind the facts. There is something very elegant and beautiful about true science and he brought this out to perfection. He is clearly a great enthusiast and, at the end of the book, he recommends people to adopt a greater spirit of enquiry into the subject. Go for it!
Initially, I, like many, had thought that Mr. Goldacre would just debunk alternative therapies but I was in for a surprise. His comments on mainstream scientific research were illuminating and I must say that I had not realised that responsible minds could skew things this much - through both good intention and mendacity.... Read more ›
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Jinanne
Format:Paperback
It should come as no surprise that there are unscrupulous businessmen and women in the world. I'm sure we'd all like to make a lot of money; this book profiles some people who display a horrifying disregard for the truth in pursuit of their own success. But Goldacre doesn't just peel the lid off suspicious moneymakers and drug companies; the scope of the book is much wider, and he swings from dubious nutritionist claims, through the state of science reporting in our national press, via homeopathy, to some quite alarmingly incorrect science being taught, right now, in UK schools.
The author never makes you feel stupid, which is skilful in a book which will make you question many assumptions and `facts' you might have believed for years.
It seems tragic that so much is known and researched in science and yet, through the filters of PR and marketing spin, so little makes it through to us. I'm guessing that the British Medical Journal isn't usual bedtime reading for most people. Goldacre bridges the gap between fascinating scientific studies published in academic journals, and the general public who might like to hear about them. He synopsises but never dumbs down, and simplifies without patronising.
The book starts off with a nice explanation of the scientific method. I use the word `nice' for a reason, because it's not at all dry or text-bookish. It's chatty and friendly, with real-world examples, and most of all it makes science accessible. This is not a book which is a chore to read, far from it. It seems like there's a juicy revelation on every page.
Some of it is unbelievable. You might have thought antioxidants were good for you; a Cochrane review of 230,000 subjects showed that taking antioxidant vitamin pills may increase your chances of dying.... Read more ›
The author never makes you feel stupid, which is skilful in a book which will make you question many assumptions and `facts' you might have believed for years.
It seems tragic that so much is known and researched in science and yet, through the filters of PR and marketing spin, so little makes it through to us. I'm guessing that the British Medical Journal isn't usual bedtime reading for most people. Goldacre bridges the gap between fascinating scientific studies published in academic journals, and the general public who might like to hear about them. He synopsises but never dumbs down, and simplifies without patronising.
The book starts off with a nice explanation of the scientific method. I use the word `nice' for a reason, because it's not at all dry or text-bookish. It's chatty and friendly, with real-world examples, and most of all it makes science accessible. This is not a book which is a chore to read, far from it. It seems like there's a juicy revelation on every page.
Some of it is unbelievable. You might have thought antioxidants were good for you; a Cochrane review of 230,000 subjects showed that taking antioxidant vitamin pills may increase your chances of dying.... Read more ›
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
my opinions made writ.
A great read to understand the difference between truth and perception. Loved it. Ben Goldacre is my new favourite person to have at a dinner party.
Published 4 days ago by Dr A
1.0 out of 5 stars
result
Professor Madeleine Ennis, an expert in pharmacology at Queen's University Belfast, became embroiled in the homeopathy debate after she performed a laboratory test where histamine... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Alma Hodzic
5.0 out of 5 stars
a very interesting reading
a very interesting reading for everyone even remotely interested in science and for everyone interested in her own health, Ben Goldacre, M.D. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Tomarchio Salvatore
4.0 out of 5 stars
failed bad title
Good book excepting the title and what that supposes.
Because I think there aren't such things as "Bad Science", "Good Science", "False Science or Alternative Science". Read more
Because I think there aren't such things as "Bad Science", "Good Science", "False Science or Alternative Science". Read more
Published 9 days ago by Carlos Vazquez Quintana
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book - a myth exploder.....
Superb read and well written - should be a compulsory text for students and anyone interested in how science can be misrepresented by the media
Published 14 days ago by Mr. V. Summers
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant book if you are NOT a homeopath
Recommended text as a funny read. this book is great. well written and a great tongue in cheek look at the research processes which guide our health professionals to make... Read more
Published 16 days ago by aimee
4.0 out of 5 stars
Persuasive but with empathy
Persuasive review but at times it feels like the author writes in ways similar to those of his subjects of accusation...
Published 24 days ago by Evangelos
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
A charmingly written exploration of the scientific technique and its abusers. Even statistics is made interesting and important through Goldacre's engaging and narrative style. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Anon.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love it
I think this is a tremendous book and everyone should read it. I gave it to a friend as a present.
Published 1 month ago by Judith Paice
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yes!
With chapters like "Why clever people believe stupid things" and "Is mainstream medicine evil?", a great read, couldn't put it down until finished. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sass Alessi
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