Bad Science (Paperback)

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• This item: Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

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Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland 4.2 out of 5 stars (26)  £6.99

Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives by Richard Wiseman 4.4 out of 5 stars (28)  £4.79

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Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media by Nick Davies 4.2 out of 5 stars (35)  £6.29

Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?: And 101 Other Intriguing Science Questions by New Scientist 4.4 out of 5 stars (13)  £4.03

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Review
'From an expert with a mail-order PhD to debunking the myths of homeopathy, Ben Goldacre talking the reader through some notable cases and shows how to you don't need a science degree to spot "bad science" yourself.' Independent (Book of the Year) 'His book aims to teach us better, in the hope that one day we write less nonsense.' Daily Telegraph (Book of the Year) 'For sheer savagery, the illusion-destroying, joyous attack on the self-regarding, know-nothing orthodoxies of the modern middle classes, "Bad Science" can not be beaten. You'll laugh your head off, then throw all those expensive health foods in the bin.' Trevor Philips, Observer (Book of the Year) 'Unmissable!laying about himself in a froth of entirely justified indignation, Goldacre slams the mountebanks and bullshitters who misuse science. Few escape: drug companies, self-styled nutritionists, deluded researchers and journalists all get thoroughly duffed up. It is enormously enjoyable.' The TImes (Book of the Year) 'Thousands of books are enjoyable; many are enlightening; only a very few will ever rate as necessary to social health. This is one of them.' Independent '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' Benjamin Beasley-Murray, Daily Mail 'Goldacre's prose always reads well' TES 'Duck the health quacks with a brilliant new book that debunks medical nonsense.' Metro 'The book's light-hearted tone is a help to the reader nervous of science and statistics!This is a fundamentally good book.' Druin Burch, TLS 'The most important book you'll read this year, and quite possibly the funniest.' Charlie Brooker 'One of the essential reads of the year so far.' New Scientist 'There aren't many out and out good eggs in British journalism but Ben Goldacre is one of them!Fight back. You could start by reading this book.' Telegraph '[A] hugely entertaining book!This isn't just an essential primer for anyone who has ever felt uneasy about news coverish of faddish scientific "breakthroughs", health scares and "studies have shown" stories -- it should be on the National Curriculum.' Time Out 'A fine lesson in how to skewer the enemies of reason and the peddlers of cant and half-truths.' Economist '"Bad Science" introduces the basic scientific principles to help everyone to become an effective bullshit detector.' Sir Iain Chalmers, Founder of the Cochrane Library 'This book reawakened my love of science.' BBC Focus (Peer Review) 'Read this book.' Sunday Business Post '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.' Daily Mail

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.'
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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142 Reviews 5 star:  (111) 4 star:  (18) 3 star:  (4) 2 star:  (5) 1 star:  (4)           Average Customer Review 4.6 out of 5 stars (142 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   251 of 263 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly excellent, 7 Oct 2008 By  Bill Cutter "Bill Cutter" (Hampshire, UK) - See all my reviews This review is from: Bad Science (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!! Also, why is there no organisation with teeth that can bring people to account for irresponsible reporting? A free press is central to our world of course, but not a wild press, trampling all over everyone and everything without so much as a backward glance. Comment Comments (13) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   126 of 139 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, 15 Sep 2008 By  R. de Vries "half_arsed" (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback) Like the very best popular science, this book is patient but fascinating in building up your knowledge of the subject area - in this case medical (and 'alternative' medical) research. However, it goes beyond this in building up to a damning indictment of the media's handling of the MRSA and MMR scares, as part of their wider crimes against the public understanding of science. In the hands of a polemecist such as Micheal Moore, these frauds perpetrated against the public would be described at a pitch of white hot rage (lkely with almost EVERY WORD IN CAPS). However Dr Goldacre describes the frankly horrifying details of these scares in patient and methodical detail, and is all the more compelling for it. This book is compulsory reading. It should be forcefully inserted onto every reading list prepared by anyone, for anything. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   102 of 119 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Collected Blogs, 2 Sep 2008 By  Tekken (UK) - See all my reviews This review is from: Bad Science (Paperback) From previews on website Bad science, this is an essential read for those fed up of being told nonsense by the media about everything from health scares to cures for cancer. Give it to your Daily Mail reading mother and vitamin pill popping sister for an early xmas present. Amusing, and an easy read but a serious message. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 142 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy from this supplier This book has never arrived. I contacted the seller and got no response. This seller has consistently had extremely negative feedback and should be removed from Amazon. Published 4 days ago by Marianne Paul 4.0 out of 5 stars a page turner This book makes you want to read it to find out if any of the things you thought were O.K. are actually not scientific, and could be rubbish. But then we only have his opinion. Read more Published 5 days ago by S. A. Giles 4.0 out of 5 stars Bad Science by Ben Goldacre A fascinating book and impressively well researched. Ben Goldacre's energy has to be admired. His chapter on Bad Stats is especially helpful for those who find the concepts... Read more Published 6 days ago by Dr. Michael Blackmore 4.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable read for most Brits I won't repeat all the praise given in other reviews. It's definitely an interesting book to read. I am not British and do not live in the UK, so I was unaware of... Read more Published 10 days ago by Demarion 5.0 out of 5 stars Should be mandatory reading Ben Goldacre can be excused for his tone of crusade -the book makes a great standing against superficial analysis and misleading reporting. Read more Published 11 days ago by Adriana Reis Menezes 3.0 out of 5 stars More message less Mr Goldacre The second-to-none important message in this book: "Enlightenment is the best thing that ever has happend to mankind" is delivered in a fragile vessel - a column writing witty... Read more Published 16 days ago by Mermaid on the Dolphin's Back 5.0 out of 5 stars Clarse book Brilliant book - buy it & read it now (and then start reading his weekly "Bad Science" column in the Guardian or, if you prefer, his blog of the same name). Read more Published 17 days ago by A. Jones 4.0 out of 5 stars Different perspective I found Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science was a good antidote to the media hype surrounding medical science and alternative therapies. Read more Published 22 days ago by J. Botwright 5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! I really enjoyed this book and cannot recommend it highly enough. Perhaps we are entering an age of facts and objectivity where products and services will be judged on real... Read more Published 23 days ago by T.O.R. Caza 5.0 out of 5 stars Like turning on a lightbulb; suddenly everything is clear. If you're a smart guy (or girl) who has always wondered, or an everyday layperson who never gave it a passing thought, this book manages to shed light on the subject of who to... Read more Published 28 days ago by Mr. J. Hewett Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 142 customer reviews...

Samuel Johnson BBC Prize for Non-Fiction 2009: A list by J. Holden "johnlholden"   Quality new humour: A list by The Cheerful Teacher   Irrationality, Bad Science and other misdemeanours: A list by Martin Wagner "pinterandmartin" Create a Listmania! list

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